An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube

As we are first introduced to one of the worlds most popular viral videos, Numa Numa, it is demonstrated to us that anyone can make a video and have it go viral. Michael Wesch, PhD and professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, talks about his own experience with his video that he titled, Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us that he created to talk about how text on paper is virtually and physically different than digital text; how we are able to link to one another through a new varieties of ways almost every day. The number of people who viewed Wesch's grew to be so popular by the fourth day of its publicity, it had reached the number one most watched viral video by noon. Wesch wanted to show that it does not take millions and millions of dollars to create some big, elaborate video for it to become viral. He then goes on to give example of low-life beginners, such as early hip-hop artist Soulja Boy, that are like Wesch and have started from nothing, and become something that people cannot stop talking about all over the world.


Further into his talk about the connectivity of people around the world through new and old media. Wesch references Barry Wellman and his theory of 'networked individualism' and how have values, but we also long to express other emotions and actions that may be different than what we actually we want. Wesch and his students wanted to find the platform between building human connection through screens and how it affects both the user and the viewers, but how connected they both can feel by simply just talking into a camera. The students found that there was a certain sort of equation that people tend to follow when they are "hiding" behind a screen talking to others around the world. Humans feel that there is a deeper connection, somehow, through talking into a camera, rather than actually talking to someone one-on-one in person. Evidence from Wesch's experiment with his students gives personal experiences that allows us to connect more deeply than ever before with one another. When other individuals who only observe the inspirational and moving videos from single humans just about their lives can inspire others to do the same and recreate that experience to get their own effects and feelings out of it, because it is something that humans crave and value. 


Throughout the rest of the end of the video other videos, such as Lonelygirl15, were referenced when Wesch describes an 'identity crisis', where people were coming up with their own separate personalities to shield them from the real world so no one knows who they truly are; almost to protect a reputation. Others are outraged by all the "fakes" and "liars" that are out there, and hiding behind their screens; they want the truth to come out of them and for their lives to be publicly displayed. There are also the few who choose to remain simply anonymous from their very first video, to give some perspective and depth about how they want the audience to purposely see their videos. They provide an idea, or a symbol, to give inspiration or hope to people who feel as if they need it; to choose this figure as a "guiding light" to connect each other, which brings us back to the ventral idea of this video.

"Downfall" Parodies

With no knowledge of this video, or its previous popularity, "Downfall" Parodies depicts a scene from a famous movie about Hitler's reign on Berlin. Instead of producing the true translation from the original movie, people began changing the words on the screens so it seemed as if Hitler was talking about modern day things, such as college football standings and winnings. Another parody that I found while researching this viral video, was Hitler being personally mocked, as if he knew that people were changing his political rants to project this idea that Hitler is a fool. In the parody, Hitler says, " I should have done my rants in English!" because the entire original movie, was in German, so subtitles are essential to making this video viral. 

Original Video

"Downfall" Parody

Viral Video                                                

"Downfall" Parody

Lonleygrl15

In the early stages of Youtube (2006), there was a blogger known as Lonelygirl15 who was a young female actress from New Zealand, more formally known as Jessica Lee Rose. The young star came about in America on Youtube with her two co-workers who helped film her, became famous for their seemingly "normal" videos with weird and quirky little details in the videos that hinted towards the idea of a hidden cult that she was involved with. Unexpectedly, she vanished in 2008 for eight years with no sort of communication to her 24 million viewers, and rumors had spread that she had been killed but some secret organization called "The Order". She then reappeared in 2016 to say "I am completely fine..." and that she was "Being selected for the ceremony..." for The Order.


Lonleygirl15

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Everything Science Knows About Reading On Screen


The intermixing of books and technology can be quiet a controversial topic when it comes to things such as e-books, or other apps that you are able to read books on; the idea of "nonlinear" reading is based off of how people perceive e-books verses physically held books that make you work to find what you are looking for. While the true version of the written work is less distracting than reading online, there are positives and negatives to reading online. If you skim through novels that contain important details that you can only get by reading each and every single word one every single page. The little things do, and always will matter.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3048297/everything-science-knows-about-reading-on-screens

Reading in a Whole New Way


The very beginning how it all started, can be uncomprehending to some who are born of a later generation. They never have had to experience the feelings you get from writing a handwritten letter verses a simple text message. This article describes the past uses of communication and ways that people had only dreamed of experiencing. They give statistics about how screens project this idea of a false society that we are meant to believe, but reading from a physical book or a newspaper can provide a person with an intense feeling, and can also be less dangerous for a person in the long run. There is a quote at the end of the article that says, "Screens will be the first place we'll look for answers, for friends, for news, for meaning, for our sense of who we are and who we can be." And when the future is already determining who we will be turn out to be, then it may be hard to divert from that path that is already drawn.


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/reading-in-a-whole-new-way-1144822/

The Very First Last Class of My Senior Year

Today, I wrote a note to my mother; something I have not done in a long time. She always sends me letters, and cards through the mail for holidays, or just when she misses me. But I never return the favor. In this class, I was shown old images of my family home that I grew up in, and it brought to the surface, feelings of the past, as if I were still living in that house. It made me think differently; about my past, about my family, about where I am now, and how much I have grown. I miss that time in my life: When everything was simple.