YouTube, for me, is a place where I can indulge all of my needs as a fan, a critic and a victim of the post-modern attention deficit that drives us all to expect instant gratification at the click of a button. Its accessibility and endless supply of content demands that it be visited several times a day, and often I find myself abandoning the paper that’s due tomorrow mid-sentence just to get my fix of mash-ups, music videos and reviews.
My interaction with YouTube is mostly as a fandom member. I feel a connection to other fans when I watch a fan-made mash-up of clips from a movie or a television show which is only humorous to the cognoscenti of that particular fandom. It is even better when these fandoms intersect, as in the video below.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxfo24D1bpA[/youtube]
The use of an audio rip of the iconic Mean Girls trailer set to clips from another pop culture franchise is a popular meme on YouTube, but this example is particularly thrilling because of the possibility that the tropes and arcs in a show like Game of Thrones – in which medieval warfare, political turmoil and the gruesome deaths of beloved characters are standard fare – could be mapped onto comparatively mundane affair of high school drama.
Then there are fan creations which are so irreverent of the source material (and of societal mores in general) that they border on (and likely are) offensive. I included Todrick Hall’s Mean Girls parody, which places the story of the movie in a stereotypically “black” school setting, in my playlist because it raises a lot of questions.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCMmt3pm-bk[/youtube]
Is it acceptable to laugh at this video which features offensive and historically pernicious ideas about race? Is it so outrageous and self-aware that it can be read as a critique of the exploitation of such stereotypes? Does it matter?
Additionally, there are videos which are created for entertainment but have a more obvious didactic intention. These often fall under the category of YouTube celebrities, people who find a level of fame by marketing their personalities online. An example of such a celebrity in my playlist is Tyler Oakley.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6K26g6FTUM[/youtube]
Such figures often walk a fine line between self-expression and vanity, but such is the nature of a platform whose very purpose is to democratize the exchange of ideas and give voice to the otherwise average citizen. This democratization is, however, a double-edged sword. In the past I have enjoyed having my own channel for the purpose of saving my favourite videos for further viewing and discussion. I have found that the YouTube community is rife with keyboard warriors; individuals who their online voices to verbally attack others or otherwise abuse the comments section to create a negative experience for those who intend to use it for harmless discussion. Overall I believe that YouTube has an important role in society in that it in some measure gives users the freedom to engage in discourse about that which is important to us as individuals.
Forgive me fandom, for I have sinned: I have not actually seen Mean Girls. But I’m on the Internet, so I get the references!
Everyone keeps commenting on how the comments section is full of trolls. I agree — there are a lot of “keyboard warriors” out there. I don’t really venture out into the public, though.
Your reflection raises a lot of interesting ideas that I feel many of us, including myself, take for granted. YouTube has the ability to break down and exploit racial barriers, as you showed with “Mean Gurlz.” I feel that many of us do not look at YouTube for this distinction. Rather, most people use YouTube for music or other simplistic purposes. Even a parody such as, “Mean Gurlz” raises important questions about our society.