Local Case to Global Phenomenon: The Vanishing of Elisa Lam in the Digital Streaming Era

Abstract

The viral video is an extremely well-known concept in the present era, especially fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. A great example of this phenomenon is the video of Elisa Lam, a Canadian student, who vanished mysteriously at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles during her vacation to California in the United States of America on January 31, 2013. The video of Elisa Lam became viral after the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) released the only video surveillance of her in the elevator of the Cecil Hotel on February 15, 2013, via its website. The reason for releasing the video by the LAPD was that they had difficulty finding Lam, and there was not enough evidence thus; they hoped that the public would help solve the case. After its release, the eerie video became viral as digital content creators and conspiracy theorists started sharing the video on multiple social media platforms. The primary platform, which supported and accelerated the viral spreading of the video, was YouTube. One of the first YouTubers who encountered the video on the LAPD website while looking for popular content that would grab people’s attention was John Lordan, the owner of the YouTube account LordanARTs. Lordan, among other YouTubers, started sharing the Lam video and began a discussion dissecting the many unusual aspects of the video, including Lam’s behavior, gestures, and environment. Following this, what started as a local missing person investigation became a global phenomenon. The viral video prompted the production of the Netflix documentary called Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021), exploring the Elisa Lam case, the notorious Cecil Hotel, and its violent unnerving history. As Netflix became one of the most popular subscription videoon-demand services (SVODs) in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the release of the documentary re-fired the popularity of this case and the Elisa Lam video even after eight years. This ongoing popularity is showcased by the view count of the Elisa Lam video uploaded by the YouTuber Dennis Romero, which has over 30 million views at the moment since its first release date of February 13, 2013. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how local news can become viral, therefore; global, especially fueled by the increase of digital content and while being spread by various platforms. This study investigates the concepts of media convergence, participatory culture, collective intelligence, and how various accounts on various digital platforms approached this case, making the video a global phenomenon. In addition, the public’s behavior on social media, shaped and influenced by each other, and how this behavior may transform into cyberbullying while impacting innocent bystanders’ lives are analyzed. © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Berlin 2022. All rights reserved.