I know I stated previously that I may get into the theme of observing State of the Union Addresses, but lately a lot of Youtube videos have been catching my attention. Today's video comes from the famous Youtube make-up guru, Michelle Phan. With over a million subscribers and 61 million channel views, this girl is a pretty influential Youtuber. While I do acknowledge that she is a reputable Youtube makeup guru, I'm not really an avid follower of hers. In fact, the reason that I first ventured onto her channel was because Ryan Higa, aka "nigahiga" (the most subscribed channel in youtube history!), did a parody of her videos. You can find the hilarious parody here.
But this morning, I had a bit of spare time and clicked on my subscriptions page to find that Michelle had posted a new video. Curious, I clicked on it.
The video is entitled, "Perfect Red Lips." While indeed, the video is about finding your perfect shade of red lipstick, my attention was drawn away from the actual main content of the video.
As the video starts, we see three faces: a Caucasian, an African-American, and an Asian. It's no coincidence that the video starts off with a "politically correct" scenario. Along with the overly ostentatious "candid" laughing moments and awkward voice recording, the contents of the video succeeds in helping the viewer not only pick her "perfect shade of red" but also see how youtubers have changed over the past years.
If you look at Michelle Phan's earlier videos, you'll notice that while they lack the sense of professionalism her videos have today, they are very user-friendly and inviting. The not-so-subtle Lancome endorsements are not thrown at the viewer. Instead of having to present her videos in a politically acceptable light (probably due to her Lancome endorsements), Michelle's videos used to be exactly what the title of her videos claimed to be.
However, as the Youtube community has progressed and developed, Youtubers have been gradually forced to change the way they create their videos. While I'm all for those on Youtube who are making money off of their vlogging skills, the changing trends of the "Youtube Era" are starting to make me question the legitimacy of "creative content"....
Oh.. and don't get me wrong. I'm all for political correctness. =] It just amuses me when being politically correct overshadows creative thinking...
Here's the video:
I have absolutely no idea what she is talking about with the undertones, but I understand what you wrote about. YouTube channels have become very professional looking. There are people who run their channels and it looks almost like a television show. I don't always understand where they get the money to do such professional productions when they probably make less money than their counterparts and ads are almost always less subtle.
ReplyDelete