youtube and the 2048 election
I'm not really a youtubber. i don't usually spend time poking around the site--i usually prefer to let others (friends, digg, blogs) sift through all the shit out there for me then I just check out the cream of the crop.
but i did tonight -- my roommates and I spent a good hour watching "chipmunked" movie and video scenes on youtube today (this mean girls one is fucking hilarious. and my humps is pretty great, too). that lead to watching all the different dramatic chipmunk shorts (thriller, Casablanca, windows). but it all started because i'd never seen the clip of the newlyweds dancing to "i love big butts" at their wedding. now I'm not one to get sappy about weddings -- i really can't say i've imagined my wedding beyond how much the party afterward will rock and what kind of food we'll eat (and there will most definitely be an open bar) -- but that's fucking adorable. i'll know i've met the right guy when not only do we plan to choreograph our first dance to something like sir mix-a-lot, but that we actually go through with it, too. see, deep down I am a romantic.
but youtube ... but there's something about youtube that makes me uncomfortable. there's a lot of sad, sad clips on there. people dancing alone in front of their computers. people signing, dancing, thinking this is going to be their big break. i wonder how many collective hours americans ages 11 to 17 have spent learning the soulja boy dance? and then to do it in front of a webcam and post it to the internet. it's worse than watching reality tv. but i guess that's why people like audition outtake episodes for shows like american idol and whatever -- it's people making fools of themselves. i guess it's like how some people feel uncomfortable watching curb your enthusiasm.
i think of all the stupid shit and awkward moments in junior high and high school (basically before my friends and I started driving). some of those are captured on film, but at least with stills, you remember each episode how you want to -- it's personal, subjective. but with video and youtube, all those moments are forever documented. i definitely had some awkward moments hanging out in friend's basements that i prefer not to remember. hell, i can think of one video in particular -- me, my friend michelle my sister put on a "fashion show" and my cousin video tapped it -- that was a hell of a lot of fun making, and would be great to see in our living room sometime now that its 12 years later, but never on the internet. but i think that's going to change; today's youngsters are more accepting of that kind of exposure. almost welcoming of it. it's an acceptance of openness -- though not necessarily privacy invasion -- that's beginning to creep into this generation.
if a home video of obama dancing to the jackson five or hillary rocking out to cyndi lauper suddenly surfaced, everyone would have a field day. but i don't think that will hold true for the next generation. i think it will be interesting to see just how little "incriminating" or just plain old "embarrassing" videos will matter when today's 13 and 14 years olds are running for president.
but i did tonight -- my roommates and I spent a good hour watching "chipmunked" movie and video scenes on youtube today (this mean girls one is fucking hilarious. and my humps is pretty great, too). that lead to watching all the different dramatic chipmunk shorts (thriller, Casablanca, windows). but it all started because i'd never seen the clip of the newlyweds dancing to "i love big butts" at their wedding. now I'm not one to get sappy about weddings -- i really can't say i've imagined my wedding beyond how much the party afterward will rock and what kind of food we'll eat (and there will most definitely be an open bar) -- but that's fucking adorable. i'll know i've met the right guy when not only do we plan to choreograph our first dance to something like sir mix-a-lot, but that we actually go through with it, too. see, deep down I am a romantic.
but youtube ... but there's something about youtube that makes me uncomfortable. there's a lot of sad, sad clips on there. people dancing alone in front of their computers. people signing, dancing, thinking this is going to be their big break. i wonder how many collective hours americans ages 11 to 17 have spent learning the soulja boy dance? and then to do it in front of a webcam and post it to the internet. it's worse than watching reality tv. but i guess that's why people like audition outtake episodes for shows like american idol and whatever -- it's people making fools of themselves. i guess it's like how some people feel uncomfortable watching curb your enthusiasm.
i think of all the stupid shit and awkward moments in junior high and high school (basically before my friends and I started driving). some of those are captured on film, but at least with stills, you remember each episode how you want to -- it's personal, subjective. but with video and youtube, all those moments are forever documented. i definitely had some awkward moments hanging out in friend's basements that i prefer not to remember. hell, i can think of one video in particular -- me, my friend michelle my sister put on a "fashion show" and my cousin video tapped it -- that was a hell of a lot of fun making, and would be great to see in our living room sometime now that its 12 years later, but never on the internet. but i think that's going to change; today's youngsters are more accepting of that kind of exposure. almost welcoming of it. it's an acceptance of openness -- though not necessarily privacy invasion -- that's beginning to creep into this generation.
if a home video of obama dancing to the jackson five or hillary rocking out to cyndi lauper suddenly surfaced, everyone would have a field day. but i don't think that will hold true for the next generation. i think it will be interesting to see just how little "incriminating" or just plain old "embarrassing" videos will matter when today's 13 and 14 years olds are running for president.
posted by Erin at 12:53 AM
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