Kassie and the Monster

Kristen LaNasa
English 2123
Video Response
October 5, 2007
You tube has become a part of everyday life for the public and can be used as a refuge for a person bored at the office, a student who is trying to do everything in their power not to study, or simply as an alternative to watching TV. You can find almost anything on you -tube including political debates or natural disasters/phenomenon, and many other types of clips from the media. There are also home videos, which usually provide comical relief. In the particular video that I chose, “Kassie kicks monster’s ass,” it does just that. It starts with the phrase “when a 3 year old is asked about monsters….. The answer may surprise you” and then changes frames to a little girl who is being asked what would she do if he would come here. She replies “I saidddd, I’m going to kick his ask!” The woman starts laughing, and Kassie then smiles this ridiculously adorable smile. The woman then says “that’s not nice…” and Kassie logically replies: “If he gonna come over here-a, he’s gonna kick my ask.” Kassie continues to repeat ‘ass,’ because she is obviously getting positive feedback and at one point says “he gonna come out of the movie, he gonna kick my ask,” until her mother explains that it’s not a nice word and you should say ‘but.’ “OOOOOHHHHHHH.”

In the essay “Webcams” in Convergences, it states that webcams have many purposes in our society including: acting as a public service, a mode of passive advertisement, a new type of exhibitionism, or self disciplinary act. When I first read the phrase ‘public service,’ I thought of the traffic cam that you see when you’re at a red light. But then I thought about it and it could also mean comic relief. People search for funny. That is what I personally use you tube for; to view something amusing. It all started back in the primitive stages of watching “America’s funniest home videos” in 1998. I am not going to lie, I still watch it from time to time, but cyberspace has made up a whole new set of rules. For example, anyone can post their video, you can watch it at any time and as often as you like. “Kassie and the Monster” video was posted for the public to serve as an amusing clip of everyday life. The message is showing the pure innocence of a child, and the humor that comes from kids ‘saying the darnest things.’ It is part of our culture to share private videos from our homes and show the entire world. Many people watch videos like Kassie and the Monster and relate to it some type or way. That is what is so important about webcams and video clips online; it creates a relationship with everyone who watches it no matter where the source or the receiver is from. For example: I know that I have no idea where Kassie and her family live, but when I pressed play, I was virtually in her living room. When I was looking for another source besides Convergences, I kept finding articles written about how cyberspace is a tricky place, and everything I typed in about “home videos” I got things about Jennicam and other things of that nature. It doesn’t seem like the critics are focusing on the good about cyberspace, only the bad. In an article “Watch me! Webcams and the Public Exposure of Private Lives” by Brooke Knight it states that Webcams and cyberspace present problematic issues because of the fact that you create a relationship with a physical distance. In other words, every article is about the people who have a web cam set up every day. But this is not the case of every video that is posted on websites. In the case of my video clip, the scenes are edited and scripted. It is obvious because the woman in the background says “tell me again…” so I can conclude that she went and got her video camera after she heard Kassie say ‘ass’ the first time. So why share this video with virtually all of cyberspace?
You can connect the media and the videos that are posted on you tube by noticing that there are T.V. shows that are based on just showing clips from the internet, or segments in talk shows that do the same thing. Kassie actually went on the Ellen Degeneres show and got interviewed. This helps prove that the audience for this video is very family orientated.
The media is now very involved with cyberspace and has recognized the popularity in websites such as you-tube. Maybe the woman who posted the video of Cassie was also passively advertising her because she knew that certain parts of the media would respond.
The article by Knight also says that the reason the web cam is so popular and intriguing is because it creates familiarity. My favorite quote from the article is the last line: “It is a self portrait of great importance because it is of seemingly nothing at all.” This supports the fact that my generation enjoys watching clips, videos, and tv shows about nothing in general. There is no extreme lesson to be learned in the video, besides that ‘ass’ is a bad word, and there is no super significance or strong moral values that we should learn. Which makes the statement of us as a culture enjoys watching things that we are familiar with and can relate to.
I feel my selection of the Kassie and the monster clip was a good choice because it is one that speaks for the stereotypical type of video that is watched on you-tube and other websites of that nature. My generation is not going to search political debates every day of the week. The public wants funny, and that is what a lot of web cams do for us today. Thanks to you-tube and other websites of its nature, we have found a place to laugh and be enlightened.

Bibliography
Atwan, Robert. (2005). Convergences: Message Method Medium. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Knight, Brooke A. (Winter 2000) Watch Me! Webcams and The public exposure of private lives. Art Journal.