In the reflection I wrote on my experience of YouTube at the beginning of the semester, I described it as ‘a platform whose very purpose is to democratize the exchange of ideas and give voice to the otherwise average citizen.’  In light of what I have learned during the course, I can identify aspects of this evaluation which can be problematised.  While earlier I viewed YouTube as an example of the power of new media to redistribute power more fairly than traditional media, I am now more aware of ways in which race and gender permeate this seemingly new and neutral institution called “New Media.”

I have learned through the readings, our class discussions, and through my own research in my group’s project on web series that YouTube’s “democracy” does not always equal meritocracy; that the government of YouTube by the consent of the governed is results in many of the same problems found in traditional media.  YouTube is like the company of which it is now a part, Google, in that promoted the most popular content, which is consequently viewed far more often than most unusual or transgressive content.  It gives people what they want (or what they think they want).  I learned that this type of popular consumerism is a major concern for the creators of webseries (not just on YouTube but on all platforms), whose content often deals with persons of colour, women and LGBT people.  The need to hold the attention of the masses means that those who want to create challenging material are taking a risk, and may ultimately fall prey to homogenising effect of mainstream culture which tends to either remove nonconformity by natural selection or simply absorb and compromise it.

This was a growing and sobering realisation for me over the course of the semester.  I, who had always thought of myself as critical of consumer culture, began to point my attention more towards new media, which I had thought of as the haven and weapon of the kinds of people who would not reduce racial minorities to offensive stereotypes, who would not reduce women to mere sexual objects and who wish for a more fair and inclusive system for distributing opportunities and protections.  Over the course of the semester I was forced to think about how technology has affected my life and influenced my decisions.  I confronted the fact that I have allowed Google to wield so much power over me since I was old enough to consider myself “computer literate” that I now picture the face of George Orwell’s Big Brother whenever I think about this seemingly harmless, benevolent organisation.  This Sunday when I sit down to watch my favourite network television show, Game Of Thrones, I will be more troubled than ever by the fact that all of the major characters seem to be white, heterosexual and conventionally attractive.  I wonder what it would take for the stories being told in web series about the less visible people in our society so reach such a large and rabid audience.  Ultimately, I understand that as a society and as individuals we can choose to use and interact with new media in ways that dismantle the power of homogeny in our society, or we can allow the resistance to be crushed by the heavy hand of consumer culture.