Girls and Race on Youtube

Girls and Race on Youtube
by Ariana Burrell

Monday's episode of Becoming Youtube caused quite a stir online.  Becoming Youtube is a 12 part documentary series about this new phenomena of online vloggers.  This weeks episode discussed women on youtube and whether or not gender affected your success.  Watch here.  My response video here.

       
          I really appreciate the episode trying to approach such an important but hot button topic.  I felt Benjamin Cook, the mastermind behind this series tried to approach this as tactfully as possible. And I appreciated him explaining how he chose who to interview because I've been wondering for several episodes why there isn't a balance of men and women highlighted in the series.  As we move forward with the discussion, let's remember to be civil because many of the comments on Youtube and twitter were a bit aggressive and accusatory.     

 
              I thought Hazel's example hit the nail in the head.  A female killing a male patient has a different connotation than a male dentist killing a female patient.  Like it or not it is just different because people are perceived differently based on their gender.

 
             I'm just as guilty of this as anyone because 75% of the channels I subscribed to were created by men.  Until the Lady's Youtube Panel at Vidcon panel brought it to my attention, I hadn't noticed.  Since then I have found countless female youtubers that create amazing content.  The take away from this isn't a lack of female content creators but a lack of recognition from other media sources about some of these amazing channels.

 
I don't have an answer for this, but I also find it interesting that the most successful youtubers are white males. I don't hear nearly as much from an Asian or an African American youtuber male or female.  This brings up the question, Does race affect your popularity on youtube? This is such a complex question, that I would love a second series of Becoming Youtube to address race.  We live in such rich and diverse societies, I want to see that reflected in the content I watch and create.  

   
         I think we need to define what it means to be a successful youtuber.  Is it making your living solely from youtube videos? Is it the number of subscribers and view count? Becoming Youtube has used the definition of most views and high number of subscribers.  But one thing that is left out of the conversation is how engaged is your audience.  I've had many amazing discussions in the MissxRojas or Owlsayshoot videos.  Those discussions are just as important as half a million people passively watching a video because these conversations can create change.  

 
I was afraid to start vlogging for a long time because of potential backlash.  I've read some of the nasty comments geared towards female you tubers that usually involve her looks and racial slurs towards.  All of these comments are about things that cannot be changed.  Thoughtful criticism suggests improvement on content as opposed to vicious hate.  Like if someone hates a video that I've made, well it might not be their type of content.  If they start harassing me about my appearance, well that's something that is permanent.  This is a very heavy quote but comedian Chelsea Perretti said "Men's biggest fear is that women will laugh at them. And women's biggest fear is that men will rape them." Even if that quote is half true, the perceived level of risk and danger is much different between men and women.  Historically it is also more dangerous for someone who isn't white.

 
For all content creators but especially new you tubers, more people need to speak out and say it okay to try something new and have it not work out.  Looking at the landscape today, things are very polished with nice equipment and higher production values by people who have been creating things for years.  To be honest, all of that scared me away from making videos for months and months and months.  The point that changed things for me was Charlie McDonnell's I'm Scared Video and it's rippling effects across the internet of creators saying they were scared and second guessing themselves.  If the "successful" you tubers I watched were still scared and nervous to post their creations, than it was okay for me to be as well.  Then crabstickz encouraged everyone to make videos and that no one starts out amazing.  Male or female, we need to be more willing to take risks and try things and supporting everyone as they try new things.

 
Thank you to Benjamin Cook starting this great discussion. There is a great list of female content creators floating around the internet and a new website to highlight amazing female channels Wonderly.com. 

Film Review: Liz & Dick

by Ariana Burrell

"I'm bored, so bored"

          Liz and Dick is a 2012 Lifetime film that spans 30 years of Elizabeth Taylor's life from divorcing her fourth husband Eddie Fisher to meeting, marrying, divorcing, and remarrying Richard Burton.  Lindsay Lohan plays Elizabeth Taylor and Grant Bowler portrays Richard Burton.  

As someone who didn't know much about Elizabeth Taylor, I found the film very hard to follow.  I knew she had several marriages and was an important actress in film history but the film did not give enough background information.  

The film begins in the middle of shooting Cleopatra.  There were no title cards or introductions, you were just dropped into the middle of the action.  I thought I had accidentally skipped the first 20 minutes of the film, but I had not.  

No one is introduced.  Because of the media surrounding the film, I knew that Lindsay Lohan is portraying Elizabeth Taylor and Grant Bowler is portraying Richard Burton but the film never explains who Richard is.  He is an actor on a film set but the audience does not know what happened right before that to cause Richard to have an affair with Elizabeth.  There is no chemistry between these two actors, making the stakes of Elizabeth leaving her husband and Richard leaving his wife feel unimportant.    

I did not feel anything towards the characters or their situation.  For instance, their accountant keeps telling the couple that they are having financial issues but we as the audience never see the ramifications of the financial issues.  They keep spending money and taking fancy vacations with no repercussions.   

Lindsay as Elizabeth never ages.  Her wigs change but her face stays the same.  I didn't believe her playing Elizabeth at 29 nor did I believe her in her 60s.  Because she never ages, I had trouble following the timeline of events as the film spans 30 years.

In between each major event is Elizabeth and Richard sitting in director's chairs in a black box commenting on what has transpired on screen.  You'd think that these comments would help fill in plot holes and give background information but it is more of a rehashing of what we just saw.  For instance, Elizabeth tries to kill herself to get Richard's attention.  Cut to the black box and she says that she was upset that Richard wouldn't leave his wife for her.  As the audience, we already understood that.  Happy people don't try to commit suicide.   

Film Review: 17 Filles

by Ariana Burrell

"Nobody can stop a girl who dreams"

17 Filles (17 Girls) is a French film based off of the pregnancy scandal in Gloucester, Massachusettes. In 2008, 18 students became pregnant at one school in the same school year creating a media frenzy.  17 FIlles is the French interpretation of the American scandal.  

17 Filles was released in 2011 at the Cannes Film Festival.  It is the first feature film by sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin.  The film opens with Camille, the group leader, accidentally getting pregnant at 16.  She decides to keep the baby as a way of taking control of her life and suggests her friends do the same.  Just like Camille, her friends want to have more control over their lives and they think this is the way to achieve that.  This idea permeates the school, sending the town into chaos. 

The film is very quiet and ethereal with the story moving forward without much dialogue.  There was something mysterious and dream like about it.  Tonally it reminded me of The Virgin Suicides directed by Sophia Coppola because the audience was always watching from afar trying to understand this situation.  Like The Virgin Suicides, the audience never receives any answers but is left wondering and questioning everything.  Parental reactions are not shown until the very end of the film, creating this feeling of intimacy in this very insular world. The adults feel helpless and cannot offer any answers or solutions to stopping the pregnancies.   

I did find the constantly shifting point of view hard to follow because many of the girls physically looked similar and had the same hair color.  I kept confusing many of them.  But I always recognized Camille, the pact leader.  Additionally, I would have liked more answers.  This felt like an expose of a situation without offering any new insight or solutions to the problems.  Because of the mystery surrounding this real life situation, I would love to known the aftermath of all of this.  Were the girls happy with their decision once the babies arrived? Did it live up to their expectations? Do they regret their decision? Were they able to stay in school?