It’s the cinematic and literary plotline passed down through the ages: average guy meets beautiful girl and attempts to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles standing between him and his goal of accompanying her to The Dance.
It usually ends up working out for characters on the big screen and between the bindings, but University of Alabama student Robert Burgess is leaving nothing to chance in his dance-partner request to actress Jennifer Lawrence. In fact, he fabricated the very dance to which he has invited her.
“The UA Library Ball does not exist at this moment,” said Burgess, a library science graduate student. “If [Lawrence] accepts the invitation, then we will make it happen. We’ll put something together in the library or here on the Quad.”
Of course, one can’t simply call up a busy Hollywood actress – she may not be home. Burgess decided to employ a more conspicuous route to deliver his message. Last week he filmed and uploaded a video to YouTube conveying his request to Lawrence.
The one minute-long clip, recorded by fellow library science graduate student Beth Dobson, features Burgess perched strategically on a Gorgas study-area chair before a loaded bookshelf and has accumulated 129 views as of Tuesday.
“I hit record and that’s about it,” Dobson said of her production role. “Robert did most of the planning. Though, I did make sure the furniture was arranged as optimally as possible.”
Burgess is confident the respect he shows Lawrence in the video significantly enhances the chances of the actress responding in the affirmative.
“I’m not inviting her just because she’s pretty, even though she is a very pretty woman,” he said. “I respect her art. In her movies, Jennifer embodies a literary figure that is a very positive female role.”
Lawrence’s most recent cinematic portrayal of a literary character served as the primary inspiration for Burgess’s YouTube proposition. She stars as Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming “The Hunger Games” movie, based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins and set for theater release on March 23.
“This all got started when I jokingly posted on Facebook that I wanted to marry Katniss from ‘The Hunger Games,’” Burgess said. “So my friends said, ‘Hey, we can do this. Why don’t we try to really put this thing together?’”
Graduate student Miranda Webster said the invitation spawned from a playful challenge from Dobson and herself.
“I think the idea came about when we were actually teasing Robert,” she said in an emailed statement. “I eventually dared him to ask her out on YouTube.”
Burgess said he has tentatively scheduled the Library Ball for Wednesday, April 28, but he is willing to accommodate Lawrence’s schedule. If the dance is held, an admission price will be charged, with proceeds set to benefit Tuscaloosa tornado relief efforts.
Webster said her job has been to get Burgess’ message out to the public and generate as much attention as possible.
“I’ve tweeted, emailed and shared the video across most forms of social media to get the word out,” she said.
Lawrence’s Los Angeles agent declined to respond to questions regarding whether or not the actress is aware of the video. Burgess could not predict the number of views necessary for the appeal to come to her attention, but he and Dobson agree his proposition’s chances for success could only stand to benefit from a larger audience.
“I hope Lawrence will respond,” Dobson said. “I really think it’s going to have to get picked up outside of [the School of Library and Information Sciences] and UA for her to see it.”
Burgess encouraged students to check out the clip on YouTube.
“Hopefully it’ll work out,” he said, “but if not, we had a fun time doing it.”
YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQQdfKuemvo
