走近Skellie，Instagram上的骷髏明星
With over 150,000 followers, Skellie the skeleton is a true Instagram celebrity. Her account, aptly titled ‘@omgliterallydead’, chronicles her daily activities like hanging out at Starbucks, brunches with her BFFs, makeup-free selfies, visits to the dentist, chilling in the bath, or just staying home to enjoy a Netflix binge.
骷髏Skellie在Instagram上面有15萬粉絲，是個不折不扣的Instagram紅人。她的賬號名 @omgliterallydead取得很妙，這個帳號記錄她的日常活動，如去星巴克喝咖啡，和閨蜜吃早午餐，素顏自拍，看牙醫，洗冷水澡或是宅在家裏用 Netflix狂看片。
The whole concept apparently started as a joke between a few co-workers at a Toronto-based social media marketing company. “In early October, a pose-able, plastic skeleton arrived at our office,” said social media manager Dana Herlihy. “My coworkers took to it; someone taped a Starbucks cup to the skeleton’s hand and I took a photo for my personal Instagram.” When that photograph went viral, Dana decided to take a few more, and before she knew it Skellie had her own account.
這個創意來自多倫多一家社交媒體營銷公司的員工間的玩笑，社交媒體經理丹娜•赫麗希（Dana Herlihy）說，“10月初，一具能擺出姿勢的塑料骷髏來到辦公室，同事們很喜歡她，有個同事用膠帶把星巴克杯子粘到她手裏，我拍了照片發到自己的 Instagram賬號上。”這張照片迅速傳播開來，丹娜決定再多拍一些照片，很快Skellie就有了自己的賬號
“I continued taking photos of the skeleton and then, on a whim, thought it would be funny for the office skeleton to have its own account,” she said. “I realized there was some interesting potential for contemporary satire, so I ran with it, and it has kind of snowballed since.”
她說，“我爲這架骷髏拍了很多照片，然後我突然想到如果她擁有自己的賬號會很有意思，我意識到這有着當代諷刺作品的有趣潛力，所以開始運營Skellie的賬號，並一發不可收拾。”
Skellie’s silly and amusing pictures have become a sweet escape for many people looking for a bit of fun online. As new photos are added every day, it’s easy to forget that she’s just a fake skeleton and not a real person.
Skellie或愚蠢或搞笑的照片爲很多在網絡上尋找樂趣的人提供了甜蜜的消遣，因爲她的帳號每天都會發布新的照片，人們很容易忘記她是個假的骷髏而不是真人。
But the photographs are more than just funny. Dana uses them to take a dig at ‘basic’ women, a term that refers to people who are into everything mainstream – pretty much the opposite of being a hipster. Dana has photographed Skellie doing some pretty ‘basic’ stuff like bragging about bottomless sushi, listening to mainstream music, watching Netflix marathons, and even meeting Santa. She even did a pose similar to Kim Kardashian’s on the cover of Paper magazine that subsequently broke the internet. Interestingly, her Instagram username stems from the gross overuse and misuse of the word ‘literally’.
不過這些照片的意義可不僅僅是好笑，丹娜用這些照片來挖苦“隨大流的女人”，指那些凡事跟隨主流，幾乎從不追求標新立異的女性。丹娜爲Skellie拍的 照片中，Skellie常做一些“隨大流”的事情，如炫耀自己吃不完的壽司，聽主流音樂，馬拉松式狂看Netflix視頻，甚至是見聖誕老人。她還曾模仿 金•卡戴珊（Kim Kardashian）在《Paper》雜誌封面上擺的姿勢，這張照片隨後在網上瘋轉。有趣的是，她在Instagram上的用戶名源於對 literally（照字面地）這個詞的濫用和誤用。
Reports suggest that while some people have become huge fans of Skellie, others are repulsed by the idea. “Some people love it, laugh, ask to take a photo, or make a witty pun as they pass by,” said Dana, who has experienced all sorts of reactions as she lugs Skellie around with her for possible photo-shoot locations. “Others will pretend there is no skeleton sitting beside me or give me frequent disapproving glances.”
報道顯示，雖然有些人成了Skellie的鐵粉，也有其他人很反感這個創意。丹娜說，“一些人喜歡她，對她笑、要求拍照或是在路過時說一句巧妙的雙關 語。”她在帶着Skellie尋找拍攝地點時遭遇過各種各樣的反應。“另一些人會假裝我身邊沒有坐着骷髏或是時不時地投來不贊成的目光。”
Still, the whole angle of satire that Skellie represents has become so popular that Dana has started an online shop on Society6 where she sells Skellie-themed merchandise – mugs, iPhone cases, T-shirts, framed art prints and more.
不過，總的說來Skellie展現出的諷刺視角還是大受歡迎的，丹娜在Society6網站上開了網店，出售一些以Skellie爲主題的商品，如馬克杯、iPhone手機殼、T裇和裝裱起來的藝術作品等。
Online magazine Vocativ recently did an interview with Skellie. She stated that her beauty motto is to “dress like every outfit is an #OOTD and always keep your eyebrows on fleek.” She also suggested that a “juice cleanse is the BEST way to detox, and if you don’t have a juicer, then you can just buy a bunch of orange juice from the corner store and start there.” 網絡雜誌Vocativ近日對Skellie進行了採訪，她稱自己的美麗格言是，“將每一件衣服都穿出OOTD (outfit of the day，今日最佳着裝)的氣場，一定要畫眉峯高挑的眉形。”她還說，“果汁清腸是排毒的最佳方法，如果你沒有榨汁機，就從去街角商店買一打橙汁開始。”
When asked about what it’s like to ‘literally die’, she replied: “Do I seem dead to you? I’m living life to the fullest, bae! You should too!”
當被問到“字面上地死了”是何感覺時，她回答說，“在你們看來我像是死人嗎？親，我正在盡情享受生活，你們也應該這樣！”
Vocabulary
chronicle: 記錄
brunch: 早午餐
binge: 瘋狂看片
on a whim: 突發奇想
satire: 諷刺
hipster: 趕時髦的人，追求新奇的人
subsequently: 隨後
repulse: 使反感
merchandise: 商品
mug: 馬克杯
detox: 排毒
