How do you shock a society that seems to have seen it all and done it all? We live in an era where nothing is impressive, its almost impossible to be offensive, and the idea of thinking outside the box seems to have disappeared along with the box itself. The entertainment industry is having a very hard time keeping this kind of society satisfied, no movie seems to be scary enough, no sitcom funny enough, no reality show ridiculous enough (I think they thought they had us with "I love New York" but instead we could handle more, hence, "I Love New York 2), no drug addict/alcoholic mother sick enough (Ms. Britney), and no celebrity break-up nasty enough (again Ms. Britney), even an exposed breast at the Superbowl didn't surprise most of us. If these things happened ten years ago, they would cause an uproar, but in 2007 nothing is out of the ordinary, we have seen it a million times, and if we haven't seen it yet, we knew it was only a matter of time. Even as little as five years ago I can remember watching the news or reading the newspaper and being shocked and appalled by what I saw and read, how could this be tolerated, how could this happen, and why is nobody stopping it? But those days are long gone, in fact, I cannot remember the last time I heard something that was going on in our pop - culture and being truly stunned or impressed. Nothing illustrates this point more vividly than one of our favorite new toys........Youtube.
"Youtube was started in Started in February 2005 and ever since then its popularity is exploding. In June alone, according to NielsenNet, YouTube drew 19.6 million visitors, almost triple the number from this past January." Youtube gave society our shock factor back. It gave us a reason to gasp in awe again, something we had been missing for a while. But the funny thing is Youtube didn't create anything, it didn't really even do anything, but instead it allowed average everyday society to connect with one another, but not just through text, now we had an image to attach to the text, and not just a still portrait but a moving motion picture. This changed everything. We no longer have to depend on the entertainment industry to entertain us, we could entertain each other. Ironically, the 24 year old kid living in his parents basement left alone with a webcam seems to be A LOT more creative than those entertainment executives that sit in a boardroom for hours attempting to find the element of "cool" or in this case "shock". The power has been given back to the people, and to be honest, I think we are doing a much better job at keeping each other satisfied in fact,
"YouTube is, according to The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith, mushrooming into the world's first online video network, featuring the latest and, in many cases, strangest videos from all over the world. It boasts a collection of some 70 million video clips, from the comedic, to the connoisseur, and averages 60,000 uploads a day......and the best part there's no fee for uploads."
The video I chose to post does not contain much shock at all. In fact, I realize it is kind of boring to watch, but the reason I chose it is to illustrate a point about Youtube that I have not touched on yet. Not only did Youtube give us the power to entertain one another it also gave those with true talent who may not have the funds for a demo tape or an agent to "broadcast themselves" to the world and show off their talent for free! This not only helps talented musicians, or actors, or even the fastest hot dog eaters a chance of fame without getting stuck in the bureaucracy of the entertainment industry it also lets society become talent scouts. We can now hand pick who will become famous and land a record deal. For example, the platinum solo artist Rhianna who has had amazing fame the past year started out posting her music on "Myspace", more and more people began listening to it, and visiting her profile, and downloading her music that within a few months she was signed with Jay - Z and is now one of the top selling female artists. The video I posted is of a man by the name of Ben Sharkey, Ben seems to have a great talent for singing and is aspiring pop - artist. Whether you like his song or hate the song is not what is important, personally I thought it was extremely corny, but at the same time its very catchy and perfect for mainstream radio (I heard it for the first time yesterday and I have not been able to get it out of my head since, no matter how hard I try, that is a clear cut sign of a # 1 hit single). The main point is that, even if you hate the song and hate Ben Sharkey and everything he embodies, there has been 151, 889 views of this video, 1136 people have commented on his performance, and he has gained 287 fans that are proud to list them on their as on of their favorite videos on Youtube. If Ben did not have the medium of Youtube available to him the only way he could gain that much exposure would be if he landed a gig playing in a packed stadium or if he was booked on a television performance. But today, that is not necessary, the only thing you need to become an overnight sensation is a webcam a computer and talent, or in many cases a lack of talent can be even more successful!
Bibliography
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/04/earlyshow/contributors/tracysmith/main1864812.shtml
CBS Broadcasting Inc. August 4, 2006
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