Time Lords and Time Warps, need you ask for more?

The Doctor doing the time warp has never been so punny, and being the next YouTube star has never been so difficult. 

  In class we discussed digital creators, and the hierarchy and standards that exist in the industry that has developed on the internet as far as content creation. It was noticed that the system seemingly developing, is mirroring a somewhat “American Dream” ideology. Using this term solely for concept type, as this content is created all over the world and released instantaneously. This is creativity at its finest right at your fingertips, or rather at the end of your DSLR. Everyone can be the next big YouTube thing….Right?

  The video we kicked off the class with was a parody by The Hillywood Show. The creators, a sister duo focusing on parodies, have clearly found their niche in what has become a somewhat over saturated market, making it harder than ever to become the next YouTube “star”.   

In this video they parody The Doctor Who cast circa David Tennant, the 10^th Doctor, doing the time warp. A popular dance from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, it’s quite punny to have the Doctor, the last Time Lord, doing the time warp. It is also quite beneficial to The Hillywood Show as well, they are tapping into two separate fandoms, both with very large followings, combining those two together has large potential for a huge viewer rate. It’s quite clear that with nearly 5 million views on this video, it has certainly worked out well for the sisters.  

  This video is doing so much more than just delivering a pun though, the duo has found a way to build a fanbase, a support system. They “remix” hot items in pop culture at the moment, and it generates views. With views, comes subscribers, with subscribers comes YouTube partnerships, with the partnership comes advertisements, and with all of these together comes money. These viewers, or rather subscribers, support their creations, changing in a essence how entertainment and media is not only delivered, but also how it is viewed.

  The production value of their videos is high, but The Hillywood Show still has a long way to go to reach the top tiers of what has become a caste system of sort. With 1,030,599 subscribers they are quite successful but reaching one million subscribers seems to be becoming a milestone of the past, now sights are set much higher. The top inhabited by the likes of PewDiePie (41,966,965 Subscribers), Smosh (21,809,677 Subscribers), NigaHiga (16,209,235 Subscribers), and JennaMarbles (15,822,422 Subscribers); to name a few. The Hillywood Show is  more successful than most of the content creators that inhabit the site on a whole, however among the upper echelon they still have a long way to climb to reach the highest YouTube standards, to get to the top of a caste system that has seemed to almost spring out of nowhere, but was clearly inevitable once the popularity began to pour in.

  In class it was discussed that this hierarchy system that has fallen into place mirrors our own, an “American Dream” of sorts to put it somewhat in perspective. Now, anyone can be a content creator, anyone can be the next BIG THING, the next PewDiePie, right? Wrong! It is not quite that easy anymore, as more people join the site, more content is put up. The chances of getting that type of following lessens each time. Does that mean that there will not be exceptions to this? No, however they are becoming fewer and far between. A fair amount of people that inhabit the higher ranks within this new YouTube culture, have often times been on the website for a long time, they had the opportunity to grow and evolve with it, giving them a higher chance of success. A YouTuber survival of the fittest to put it simply. Exceptions are possible, and they do happen, sometimes people just get lucky, get the right sponsor at the right time. They might even start in a genre right before it hit its peak in popularity. Over time it seems to be becoming more about the conditions, than the content. (To be blunt, looks seem to help too.) There are plenty of amazing creators out there who do not necessarily get the recognition deserved, but that does not change the fact that this is a community with a system, and that system though still working out it’s kinks is a well-oiled machine. 

 

  Now one can walk into your local chain bookstores and find more than ten books written, or in some cases “written” by YouTubers. However, at the same time you could find some best selling novels by John Green. Ever heard of “The Fault in Our Stars”, or maybe “Papertowns? Both books have both been made into major motion pictures, but the novels that the movies were based upon were written by John Green, of the popular VlogBrothers Channel, leaders of Nerdfighteria, another huge community that has sprung up from YouTube.

  Not to worry though, these are still regular people right? If you really want to meet them, you can go to events like Playlist Live in Florida, or VidCon in California to see your favorite nouveau celebrity. Have fun in the line waiting to get the autograph! Don’t forget the copious amounts of money it takes for a fan to afford such a trip, or even a smaller subbed YouTuber to go to an event such as this….Oh, but don’t you go worrying now, they might come to a venue closer to you. Many of them go on tours now, or hold meet and greets in whatever city they happen to be in. To quote Michelle Phan (8,351,947 Subscribers), one of the original YouTube beauty gurus, “Good Luck”!