Youtube’s New Wave
I mean, you could make the argument that anything somebody creates is art. The Wal-Mart logo is art. But what I really mean when I ask, ‘are these videos art?’ is, do these videos have value and meaning beyond just making people laugh. I would argue that yes, they do. Idubbbz, Filthy Frank and Maxmoefoe are all popular, sure, but their subscribers pale in comparison to channels like Lele Pons, Smosh or Liza Koshy. Despite that, nearly everyone who’s ever gone on social media has probably seen them somewhere before, such as, on various *memes*. Now it’s true that nearly anything can become a meme, but their specific brand of humour and the memes that come from them are clearly tapping into a very specific, disenfranchised, lonely and depressed segment of the population. And despite having a fraction of the audience of YouTube’s royalty, these three have managed to be influencers to far bigger and older channels such as JacksFilms and even Pewdiepie, the unsurpassed king of the website. So clearly, there’s more to these guys than just a bunch of dirty jokes and dangerous stunts. (*note: Idubbz currently is bigger than Jacksfilms, but Jacksfilms has been around forever and was much larger when he first took notice of Idubbbz brand of humour)
For the purposes of this essay, we’re going to be reading these videos within the context of YouTube, and not within the context of cinema, television or other visual media as a whole. If we think of YouTube as its own industry, which at this point, it is, let’s think of it like Hollywood. I think modern youtube is more than comparable to modern Hollywood. YouTube is currently very corporate, with loads of popular, harmless, sanitised, unchallenging and easy to digest content. But it wasn’t always this way.
A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF YOUTUBE
YouTube began in 2005, far from the first video streaming website, but YouTube stood out because anybody could upload a video about anything they wanted, so long as it met the guidelines. The uploader also did not have to pay for bandwidth out of their own pocket. I was in grade 6 at the time and by early 2006 every kid at school was talking about it. Mainly, it was a place to watch videos of people getting hurt, weird Japanese commercials and episodes of family guy split up into five parts. At the time, YouTube’s biggest stars were famous for weird one-off videos, such as Chocolate Rain or Leave Britney Alone. But eventually, people, mainly kids. Like, actual children, figured out that if you upload similar content to one channel, people will keep coming back. The reason Fred was the first channel to reach a hundred thousand subscribers is that he was one of the first channels with any reason to subscribe. Most channels in 2005 and even well into 06 did not have more than a couple of videos.
06 and 07 YouTube really became established as a source for visual entertainment. There was only a handful of what would be considered “famous YouTubers”, dealing mainly in sketch comedy though there were other popular genres. These guys were the pioneers of YouTube. Channels like Smosh, Shane DawsonTV and Fred may not have aged well, but they offered something that people couldn’t get anywhere else. They were ridiculous, over the top, low-budget, and inappropriate for their young audiences.
However, things did not stay that way. As YouTube became more popular, its user base shifted over time. If we were to think of YouTube as a high school, back in the day the popular creators would have been what we consider the losers. The underdogs. Socially awkward, loners, wannabe filmmakers or comedians. Making YouTube videos was considered a weird thing to do. Now, the popular creators are the rich kids. The beautiful people. Vlogging is cool, and most kids don’t want weird poorly acted sketches. They want to live vicariously through a wealthy and attractive celebrity. That’s always been true. In 2010, teenagers wanted to be Selina Gomez, and now they wanna be Liza Koshy. As the site becomes more popular with ordinary people, like Hollywood, it begins to cater to those ordinary people.
And when anything becomes mainstream, eventually, you’re going to get a counter-culture.
While watching the collective videos of iDubbbz, Filthy Frank and Maxmoefoe, what they immediately reminded me of was New Wave. Specifically, Japanese New Wave and French New Wave. These were separate film movements, that were direct responses to mainstream cinema. They rejected the conventions of classical cinema. They featured taboo subject matters such as sexual violence, youth culture and delinquency. The trio similarly utilizes these themes in their videos, along with depression, self-loathing, misanthropy and many others.
Their sketches differ from traditional YouTube sketches. Rather than having everything scripted and story-boarded down to the letter, just like French New Wave, they rely on handheld cameras, improvisation and the natural sounds and goings-on of the environment. YouTube sketches pretty much live and die on their scripts. The phoney scripted nature is part of the style of channels like Lele Pons and Smosh. Their sketches, at least the ones with all three of them, don’t seem to have scripts at all, with the improvised nature coming off much more naturally. No doubt the most well-remembered director to come out of French New Wave was Jean Luc Godard. Jean-Luc Godard’s style of filmmaking was heavily anti-studio. Much like the trio’s rejection of mainstream YouTube, Godard allowed scenes to be built around any location he deemed interesting. He was very willing to change or come up with things on the fly.
In the same way, Godard liked to blur the lines between documentary and film, these videos blur the line between sketch and vlog.
For example, let’s look at the video Hair Cake. Obviously filled with genuine reactions and breaks of character, the video is not a straight-up vlog of three guys making a cake out of hair. And not just because Joji is playing Filthy Frank. The video has a fictional story it needs to move along. Not the most complicated story, simply that Ian’s hair is delicious and they forcibly shave his head as ingredients for the cake. This part of the video is fictitious. Yes, they did shave his head, but they obviously don’t actually love the taste of his hair and they did not shave him against his will. This part is woven into the rest of the video, and there are actually a lot of people who think Ian’s head was shaved forcibly The video itself even contradicts its own premise at points. They use the hair because they like the taste, but their own real reactions to trying to eat the finished product are, naturally, disgust.
It was Jean Luc Godard who famously said “All you need for a movie is a girl, and a gun.” Actually, that’s a misattributed quote. Well, he did say it, but he was quoting someone else. But, there is truth to this. What will hold attention? Violence, and sex appeal.
But these three are not simply a New Wave movement on YouTube only because they bear striking similarities to New Wave movements of the past. These videos aren’t a response to Japanese or French cinema of the 40′s and 50′s, they were a response to YouTube. These three creators are innovators, with many of their own signatures and video making styles.
RE OCCURING IMAGERY AND VISUAL MOTIFS
Blood - White People Club, Hair Cake, Boyfriend Does my Makeup, Gentlemen Guide, Watermelon BTS 3,
Vomit - Child Birth Sacrifice (blue) Ramen Off, Vomit Cake, Hair Cake, Human Cake,
Fire - Edward, Ramen Off, 1 Up Box, Super Trash Bros, Deadly Twister, Gentlemen’s Guide
Ingesting Chemicals - Life Hacks, 1Up Box, bugs Life, Boyfriend Does My Makeup, Silver Play Button
Destruction - White People Club, Reagan/Bush ’84, Ramen Off, Hair Cake, Gentlemen’s Guide, Human Cake (car, (TV and computer monitors)
Dead Animals - Loser Reads Hater Comments 2, Edward Watermelon Hands (bird, fish, fly), Kicked Out of Liberty Center,
Intentional Ugliness: Fan Edits, Hair Cake (burping; Loser 5, leafy response, white people club)
Cigarettes - Watermelon Hands, Hair Cake, Boyfriend Does my Makeup, Human Cake,
There are no hard and fast rules as to what different imagery means in film. Any image or visual motif can have any meaning to any director, or audience member. And furthermore, many of these images may have different meanings in their different contexts in various videos. But, it is no coincidence we see this same imagery being used over and over again. Now, some of you might be thinking, ‘oh, but some of that, like blood, that just happened organically. They didn’t make themselves bleed just for the video. it just happened.’ And that’s true, but it’s also true that visual is purposeful. That image of blood was intentionally put on screen. They chose to edit that into the video, and they did it for a reason.
You’ll notice something about all of these themes, and that is that they are dirty, often disgusting visuals. This is very different from what you would see in a typical YouTube video. Joey Graceffa is never gonna show you himself throwing up. In fact, in a lot of videos, when someone does throw up the vlogger will blur it out. This is because most YouTubers do not want to make their audiences uncomfortable in any way.
Idubbbz, Filthy Frank and Maxmoefoe on the other hand, intentionally use visuals like this not just to set them apart, but to make their videos seem a little off-kilter. To make people squirm and feel discomfort. To seem less like a pre-packaged YouTube video and more like life.
This is something known as realism. Realism does not refer necessarily to the believability of the characters or the story or the actions shown on screen. Rather, realism is the way in which the camera is utilized in re-creating reality. In this instance, as an aesthetic approach.
Let’s use smoking as an example. Most young people don’t smoke cigarettes, but plenty of YouTubers smoke pot. And, if we were to go back a generation to when smoking was actually in vogue, we’ll see that cigarettes in film and weed on YouTube serve many of the same purposes. They’re used to make characters seem glamourous or cool or to seem more relatable and down to earth.
The trio on the other hand usually use absurdly large amounts of cigarettes, or they actually eat cigarettes. They are using cigarettes to convey this sort of grunge realism. It’s unsettling and helps to paint this canvas of scumminess and sobriety.
Similarly, is their use of what I’ve dubbed intentional ugliness. Most YouTubers go out of their way to look attractive. Max, Joji and Ian are themselves, fairly attractive guys, but they have no problem altering their appearance for the sake of a joke or video. They don’t care about looking like models, as opposed to Lele Pons, or Rudy Mancuso, who rely on the fact that they look like models. If they're having an acne spell, they’ll go out of their way to show it. It isn’t that they just don’t rely on their looks, or that they are ugly people. They often actively fight against their own good looks.
RECURRING NARRATIVE THEMES
Self Deprecation —White People Club (faggot, japs) Pewdiepie Tattoo, Human Cake (vows, fat cunt)
Depression - Human Raman (end of video) Super Trash Bros 2:14, Vomit Cake, Filthy Frank feeling suicidal Pewdiepie tattoo, Life Hacks, Angriest Pokemon Go Player 5:50, Loser Reads Hater Comments 4, Loser Reads Hater Comments 2, Super Trash Bros its 1, Depression Compilation, Human Cake BTS (when do you plan on killing yourself)
Rape - Super Trash Bros, the Gentlemen’s Guide, Human Cake
Pain: Watermelon Hands (slapping), White People Club (trying to smash tea), Super Trash Bros (barrels), Boyfriend Does My Makeup (smokey eye), Deadly Twister,
These are comedy videos, so obviously these themes are used in a humorous way. It’s satirical. For example, depression and suicide is a major theme with these guys. These are all guys in their twenties, and not only does life generally suck when you’re in your twenties anyways, but the depression rates among millennials are 4x higher than previous generations, according to PEW research “they are The first in the modern era to have higher levels of student loan debt, poverty and unemployment, and lower levels of wealth and personal income than any other generation at the same stage of life.” and according to the Huffington Post millennials are facing the scariest financial future of any generation since the Great Depression.
What I’m saying is young people kind of need this type of outlet right now. People love their particular brand of depression themed humour because it’s relatable. And it allows us to laugh at ourselves, and laugh at our bleak futures.
Other YouTubers talk about suicide and depression too, but any mainstream YouTuber treats the issue delicately. It’s something to be whispered about. It’s something to cry about. But Ian, Max and Joji are loud and unapologetic. And people can relate to this. That’s why these three in particular have had such a big impact on current meme culture. Henceforth, on current humour. All those #relatable Instagram videos? About being rich and beautiful, and having to juggle all the different men and/or women who want you? Surprisingly enough, that’s not very relatable. This is the real #relatable.
Of course, it should be noted that just because somebody jokes about these topics, does not mean that they take the issue lightly, or that they’re bad people. You have to take these issues seriously in order to satirise them or use them for shock value.
ANTI VLOGGING
Anti-vlogging is a term I am almost 98% sure was coined by Joji Miller. I mean, I can’t find any results for anybody else using the term. And it was his initial idea behind the character of Filthy Frank.
So, what is Anti-vlogging? Well, there’s already something known as anti-film, which in simple terms means film without a story or characters. Filthy Frank has characters, and it has a story… Vlogging is someone either documenting their life or ranting into a camera, you could easily argue that vlogs still follow a basic narrative structure. So, it’s not just the YouTube version of anti-film, because as we’ve established, YouTube is different from film.
What these concepts do have in common is a subversion of expectations.
So let’s compare to regular YouTube. I’ve chosen four popular vloggers at complete random. Gigi Gorgeous, Jake Paul, Joey Graceffa and Liza Koshy. These four are very mainstream, very accessible and very promoted by YouTube itself. So, let’s take a look at their approach to vlogging and the aesthetic they utilize in their videos.
These videos are all high def, they make use of flashy editing, they have cringey jokes, they all use the same stock music, they’re very bright and colourful. The people at the centre of them are always very conscious of their physical appearance. They usually take place in an expensive house or an expensive destination. Or, like in the case with Liza Koshy’s dollar store video, she acts as though her audience has never been to a dollar store before.
Filthy Frank, on the other hand, presents himself as, well, filthy. He also uses basic text, an intentionally shitty green screen, he lives in a dumpy apartment, and a lot of his videos are kind of washed out.
Jake Paul, is very fake in his videos. Either, he is playing a character for the camera, or he is simply a very fake person in real life. So, who is the character of Jake Paul? He’s wealthy, conventionally attractive, not overly intelligent, obnoxious, douchy.
Liza Koshy, again, clearly a character. She’s whacky, obnoxious, she attempts to be relatable, When Liza acts embarrassing in public, it’s to the effect of “look how hip and relatable I am’. When Joji does it, it’s to the effect of “look at what a dumbass I am”. It’s self-deprecating, rather than self-congratulatory.
JUXTAPOSITION
Human Ramen vs Skittles Bath Tub Challenge
Deadly Twister vs Soapy Twister Challenge
Cake Videos vs Kylie Jenner and gross smoothie challenge, tin can challenge
Eating Cereal vs Shooting Myself With Confetti
Alien Dance Draw my Life vs Anthony Draw My Life
1 Up Box (0:30 not taking the hint that I don’t want them) vs 1UP Monthly Surprise
Pokemon Go Carwash vs Yachting in St. Tropez
Feeding Chickens vs Our Crazy Hawaiian Adventure
Drunkemon Go vs Pokemon Go Adventure
Convenience Store Clerk vs SuperHot VR Gameplay
Boyfriend Does my Makeup vs Boyfriend Does my Makeup Liza Koshy
I Am Pokemon vs Million Dollar Hot Wheels Collection
DIY Slime vs Human Cake
“What Juxtaposition!” - Kicked Out of Liberty Centre
So obviously, these videos are pretty different. In terms of tone, and just what they choose to show you. For example in Joey Graceffa’s Hawaii vlog, he focuses on the resort they’re staying at, the scenery and the luxury of the destination. In Max and Ian’s Hawaii vlog, which is still a traditional vlog in many ways, they choose to focus on the feral chickens of the island.
The same can be said for their scripted videos. I’ve already discussed the improvisational nature of these videos, in terms of acting, but it’s also present in the directing. I’m mainly focusing on Max’s directing, simply because the most footage of him doing it actually exists, as appose to the other two. He doesn’t just point the camera at his friends and wait for them to do something funny. He allows them to bounce off each other, but it’s also clear he knows what he wants. He has a vision, and maybe it’s not written down but it’s all in his head. Trash bros BTS 1 (mushroom bag) (mushroom box) Trash Bros BTS 2 (fuck that looks good)
He also incorporates whatever they can find on location. (fire flower) Like this rusted out old trailer. Sprinkle some banana’s around, and you’ve got yourself Donkey Kong’s place. No need for shitty looking CGI. He also tends to edit in natural occurrences that happen during filming (kangaroo). Or the way he keeps in breaks in character and laughing. He incorporates it into the story in Edward Watermelon Hands, but in Super Trash Bros, it’s just there. Or the fact that he leaves in this in-joke which is based on a fact the audience isn’t privy to.
If you were to look at something like Smosh, those videos clearly have their own rules and their own logic. It’s absurdist comedy, but it’s clear they are trying to present you with a specific universe where these actions make sense. It can be unpredictable, like in the Food Battle videos, but the characters know this and Ian and Anthony always remain in character. With the Cancer Crew videos, they are very self-aware, there are still clearly identifiable characters with clear identifiable character traits. But the blurred line of sketch and vlog can create an almost surrealist tone.
Videos like the cake trilogy seem to be direct responses to viral challenges like the Tin Can Challenge or the What’s in My Mouth Challenge. In Human Cake, they also deconstruct the popular idea of YouTube Collaborations.
CANCER CREW vs LITERAL CANCER CREW (Lele Pons and Friends)
Lele Pons and her buddies are kind of the rebirth of YouTube sketch comedy. It was dead for a long time, but these guys are massively popular. So let’s compare Super Trash Bros with Lele’s video Super Mario Run, seeing as they’re both Mario parodies.
Right off the bat, you should notice some immediate aesthetic differences. But, these videos are similar, they use similar costumes, they are both shot in improvised locations and use game music as scoring. But whereas Max’s use of music sell you more easily on the weed field and abandoned trailer as a lair in a jungle, Lele’s use of music doesn’t really fit her suburban setting or the bland nature of her actors.
Even though Lele’s video is more professional looking and planned out, her portrayal of Mario and Luigi is incredibly weak. In Super Trash Bros, the characters are clear from the first five seconds. Mario is depressed, and Luigi is a well-meaning idiot with his head in the clouds. This Mario and Luigi just seem to be dude-bros. But that’s probably because Lele’s videos only have two character types. Crazy Latinas and Dude Bros.
Let’s also compare the way each video parodies video game conventions. In this case, the idea of extra lives. Super Trash Bros is clearly more subtle, whereas Super Mario Run spoon-feeds you the punchline. It also doesn’t make much sense that Luigi would be unfamiliar with the concept, being a video game character, whereas the Cancer Crew’s video plays more off the idea that Mario and Luigi are aware that they have extra lives. There’s also stuff that isn’t spelled out, like how Mario is depressed and suicidal and starts the Donkey Kong battle with one less life than Luigi.
Lele’s videos are built on the fact that they are lighthearted and goofy. It’s what makes them so shareable on Facebook, and her friends follow in this. But take a Filthy Frank video such as “a War is Coming”, which is so silly and ridiculous on the face of it, yet takes itself very seriously. The tone of the video is very heavy, despite the absurdity of what you’re actually looking at. And compare that even still to something like Linkara, which has equally goofy characters and ideas, but expects its audience to get emotionally invested in the storylines.
WOMEN
I’m not even a big fan of feminist readings. I avoided them in film school, despite the fact that they were easy to write. But Lele Pons and company’s portrayal of women is actually sexist. And I don’t say that often. Despite the fact that Lele Pons, Inanna Sarkis and other creators are women, they present unbelievably unrealistic portrayals of women. Lele and her peers regularly exploit and objectify themselves and their friends for views. Their videos present us with a world where women reward harassing behaviour with sex, stripteases, flirting, or just grabbing their friend’s big ass in the middle of the street. It’s the definition of visual pleasure. Laura Mulvey would have an aneurism watching these videos.
Comparatively, let’s look at the character Maxine AKA Max in a dress, and how she is presented on screen and the way other characters treat her and speak to her. She is similarly sexualized and objectified by the camera, though not for the expressed purpose of servicing the male audience members (of course, the comments say otherwise). She, just like Lele Pons, is also consistently lusted after by the male characters in these sketches. And, just like in Pons’ videos, the male characters debauchery is always rewarded. However, whereas a woman in Pons’ videos will start grinding on a guy in response to being slapped on the ass, Maxine is regularly the victim of manipulation, abuse, assault, and rape. The gritty realist aesthetic and handheld camera help to illustrate the idea. Maxine gives us a more realistic idea of a woman navigating a world in which men are really as scummy as Lele Pons’ characterization of them
I don’t think this is a direct response specifically to Lele, but more to a more general trend she just happens to be a part of. Similar themes are explored in the Pink Season song She’s So Nice.
CONCLUSION
Max is the greatest director of our time (meme compilation).
Okay, but seriously. Max, Ian and Joji, were at the forefront of a counter-cultural movement on YouTube. And while Papa Franku may be dead, their impact and influence will be with this website for a long time. So, yes, these videos are art. And I hope that not only their fans realize this, but I hope they realize it too. Joji recently retired his character for several reasons, including health problems which makes perfect sense. I really do wish him well with his music career and anything else he decides to do because I truly believe he is a smart, creative, influential person. I just hope he can look back on his body of work, despite everything, and be proud of it. Because he, Ian and Max truly created something special, and something that could have only come about at a specific moment from a specific group of people. And of course, we have to give props to HowToBasic and Chad, though, HowToBasic can probably be an entire essay of its own. This group started a new wave of content on YouTube and I am so glad I got to witness it.
If you enjoyed this video, please give it a like and leave some meme or something in the comments. If you wanna see more video essays like this, subscribe to my channel more are in the works. Thank you so much for watching this video, I worked really hard on it, and goodbye.