"The bike is effort", comes out of the mouth of that forty entered in flesh that has become a cyclist, with its complete equipment, three latest bicycle models, an encyclopedia of routes, times, efforts, pulsations, but instead of going out on the road pedals in his living room, and at the end asks for delivery -delivered, oh paradox, by bike- because he is unable to go down to the street.

"Interesting" is practically the only thing that says that young couple of impeccable look in a restaurant of those where "the experience" is what counts. Three forks and three spoons of different sizes are spread on the table around a single knife that does not cut or butter in the sun. They won't use them. The "experience" here consists of having the beer thrown over your head, licking the dessert from your hands, starting with a "soak" of wet earth ... "The taste of staining", you know.

With a hilarious mix between a meme and a chapter of Black Mirror, the Putos Modernos collective has gone from the screen: from their native Instagram to television. Or not, but we'll come back to that later. The fact is that these days they are testing an "experimental audiovisual project" with Filmin as a testing ground, "worth the redundancy", they already say it themselves. They are accompanied in the deed by other illustrious modern networks such as Raquel Córcoles, alias Moderna de Pueblo, or Inés Hernand, to compose four chapters of three minutes, each with its start, its knot and its outcome. All like a slap in the whole face of the viewer. From the modern viewer, it is understood.

Inés Hernand is a clerk in an eco, bio... FILMIN

"We insult loudly, but they are going to insult us back. It is clear that it will be mutual, "announces Joan Alvares, founder of the collective after spotting graffiti as a revelation back in 2005, a full-fledged cultural appropriation, although the author of the graffiti has never appeared to claim copyright. "We are of shaky ego, always very aware of the like, so yes, this series has its risks. If it can be called a series..." The worst thing they have been told is that they could pass for José Mota sketches. They don't happen there. "It has a point of farce," he concludes at last, "there are those who may think that we are teasing him. And indeed, that's what we do in the networks, only here maybe they don't know us"

The experiment is back and forth, explains Bibiana Ballbè, executive producer of Putos modernos: for three weeks it can only be seen on Filmin and then it will return to its "natural habitat" on social networks. "Although it is filmed cinematically, the idea is that it is consumed on mobile, we wanted to try new formats and see how they worked," he says. The final idea was to reinvent humor in social networks, get out of the home videos recorded with the mobile to achieve the aesthetics of cinema, without losing an iota of surrealism. "We are not Pantomima Full, we are not humorists, we do not even appear in our publications, we only write them, so this seemed like an interesting exercise," says Alvares.

From the networks take the modern Putos also the brand presence, always in their own way. It is no coincidence that kombucha is mocked in virtually every chapter. "It had to be made viable", justifies Ballbè, "more than advertising they are collaborations with brands related to the public, to modernity, and that accompany the story in a subtle way". All those involved in the project come from advertising, or anti-advertising, have come to qualify what they perpetrate modern puts. The first client they had hit the nail on the head of their philosophy: "You're going to laugh at me with my money." "People are not stupid, when they see James Bond driving an Aston Martin they know that the lord of the brand has put money to be there. Our idea was to caricature that a little," explains Alvares, who also serves as a writer of the series, "that's why we didn't hide it at all."

Many cutlery but dessert is eaten with hands in this "experience" restaurant. FILMIN

If brands are not offended, it seems that users, in general, do not too much either. They threaten a lot with unfollow, but in the end they stay. "He has a point of narcissism," Joan reflects, "in the end everyone thinks we're talking about him. If someone is very offended we have the perfect answer: we are also offended by writing it."

[Warning: this is going to make you feel older.] When modern fucking was born there were no social networks [don't say we didn't warn], but hipsters. Today that urban tribe is in decline. What does he who laughs at a modern laugh at today? "In the end, we do a little humor of kilometer zero, transversal, it is impossible for anyone to feel identified," analyzes the founder, "modernity is an era from which we can not escape, a constant contradiction, is to buy Greta Thunberg's latest book on Amazon. This consists of observing and looking in the mirror a lot."

Social networks were "a blessing", the pandemic provided them with "a great metatheme", artificial intelligence opens new paths to posturing... It seems that there are modern Putos for a while: "Creativity will run out the day the human species is exhausted because we are contradictory by nature. [a few seconds pause] Nor do I rule out that the human species is exhausted, actually."

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