Tag Archives: Videos

YouTube Playlist

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While trying to compile a playlist for this assignment, I sat for a while and tried to think of the last time I went on YouTube to watch something. I recently remembered looking up an album by one of my favorite rap artists, and I remember looking up choreography inspiration for a dance I am creating. These searches while over a month ago, was the last time I remember being on YouTube for a substantial amount of time. Anything beyond that was old searches and videos that I used to watch over a year ago. By trying to compose a playlist, I came to the realization that I do not actually use YouTube as much as I thought I did. Whenever YouTube comes to mind I think about this area of internet space where every video imaginable can possibly be found and I often take for granted this accessibility. I am not sure if getting older has made me less inclined to use it, but when it was first a “thing” I would look at hair tutorials, use it for karaoke sessions, and most importantly to me apparent in my playlist, my love for dance and how I would use it for inspiration. Class discussions  has also opened up a new world of YouTube to me where webisodes exist and viral videos live, something I never thought about before. Perhaps I will try to browse YouTube more and explore some of the options it has to offer.  Below on my playlist is some of the videos I spoke about, J Cole’s album which I recently listened to over winter break while cleaning my room, doing chores etc. While I do not use it often, Youtube is where I can access albums for free and listen to them easily. I have also used it to look up diy. There is a makeup tutorial, how to install a broken coat zipper, and as I mentioned a whole lot of dance videos which used to be my main use for the site.

Humor, Spectacle and Self-Referentiality

According to Alexandra Juhasz, there are three main qualities of any popular or viral YouTube video that make it entertaining.  These are humor, spectacle, and self-referentiality.  Juhasz claims that a video’s ability to be humorous stems from its ability to be “self-mocking” and “ironic”.  Whether or not a video can be considered a “spectacle” refers to how authentic that video feels to the viewer.  Self-referentiality simply points to a more meta quality of YouTube videos–that is, talking about YouTube within a YouTube video (i.e. – My YouTube Story videos, general YouTube commentary or criticism).

The main idea behind these three qualities of YouTube videos, Juhasz claims, come from methods practiced in earlier media which can be attributed to a sense of convenience and speed.  In other words, videos are easy to get to (if you know what you’re looking for), and easy to understand.  This also speaks to how recognizable a video is in terms of its main focus–Juhasz uses examples like a “big booty” or a “car crash”.  While a big booty or a car crash might not seem like authentic central focuses for a YouTube video, it is the authenticity of that specific big booty or car crash that ultimately makes an audience want to watch it.