Link’d, a social commentary on the technological habits of today’s generation, describes the life of fraternal twins Vina and Nathaniel “Than” Anderson. The lives of Vina and Than were tragically changed after Than, who was texting and driving, crashed the car, thus resulting in the death of their Uncle Torrence.
A few years after the car accident, the twins have embraced opposite aspects of their generation. Than has created a smartphone app, inspired by the crash, to enter into the National Competition of Technological Innovation, hiding from the social world in HTML coding and application design. His sister, on the other hand, has separated herself from technology, which killed Torrence, and does not want to be a part of the bad reputation her generation has been given because of it.
Arianna Trames is the screen writer and one of the producers for Link’d. After taking a history of motion arts picture class, she decided she wanted to write a social commentary that addresses the topics of articles every student reads in college writing classes. These articles cover the use of technology in this generation and the question of whether or not newspapers will go out of business because of the recent dependence on technology. Trames explained, “I wanted to connect it to our generation.” Trames described Link’d as a “Dramady”, thus setting itself apart from the other comedies on Duck TV this term.
It is written as a science fiction comedy so that people laugh at themselves because of their own abuse of technology. In the original script, both of the twins were supposed to be female. Trames wanted to have a “strong female cast and crew” to reveal “even girls are good at technology.” Anna Connelly, the other producer of Link’d added, “We really wanted this show to be run be mostly girls because, until now, Duck TV has been predominately run by men. There have been a few female producers, but never both producers of the same show. We actually got a lot of criticism about the fact that all of our PA’s are female.” However, not enough actresses came to audition for the show.
Conor Stott, who is playing the twin whose gender was changed, was known to be a strong actor and Trames wanted to feature him in Link’d. “Conor Stott and I worked together last season on the set of IN$TINCT. Fortunately, while going through
auditions, I had the benefit of knowing his strengths as an actor, and it made me feel confident in my choice to change the gender of his character from female to male. Our season together really helped build a relationship. It’s comfortable on set, but I know that he can deliver,” Trames explained.The frequent occurrence of phones in this generation helps make the audience able to relate to the characters
and events portrayed in Link’d.
Hidden behind the comedy, there is a serious message being conveyed to the audience. “If we become too dependent on technology,” Trames stated, “we are going to go blind as a generation. If we are always on our phones, we cannot see what is going on around us.” Link’d discusses the current dependence on
technology among young adults who have grown up in this technological world. Trames explained that “the lack of connectivity among our generation. . .it makes me really sad”.Although Link’d is critical about today’s society, Trames warns her audience that it should be taken in both a light and serious way. “Don’t read too
much into it” she cautioned, “I want people to reflect on their own habits. Reflect on what you are doing technologically”.
Link’d will challenge its viewers to look into themselves as they watch Vina and Than attempt to overcome their differences with each other and with their surrounding society.
By Erin Coates