David Dobrik is objectively one of the most recognized YouTubers of all time. He is known to dress in his signature monochromatic black outfit – consisting of a simple t-shirt, baseball cap, and pants. His viewers range mostly from teenagers to young adults who enjoy watching fun, energetic, and informal videos. Viewers often identify him with his distinctive segmented vlogging style – which includes pranks, elaborate parties, expensive gifts, celebrity appearances, various types of animals, montages, sponsored messages, and skits – that are always 4 minutes and 20 seconds long (with the exception of his older videos, his break up video, and his 420th video). His vlogs consist of 3 parts – an intro, outro, and the main segment – that revolves around the vibrant lives of him and his friends.
YouTube thrives on popular culture, which can be defined as content that is “widely favoured or well liked by many people” (Storey, 2009, p. 6). Many YouTubers strive to be more popular by creating content that appeals to masses of people; they do so in hopes of having a loyal fan base so they are able to commercialize the content they release (whether it be merchandise or videos). This leads to YouTubers creating the same type of attention grabbing videos that bring in more views (leading to standardization of content).
David Dobrik redefined the YouTube culture by bringing in his own innovative “signifying practices” (Storey, 2009, p. 2) that attracted many viewers to his channel. Typically, vlogs were slow and intimate videos where viewers were able to see YouTubers performing quotidian tasks or talking about a single topic in their lives. However, his signature vlogging style – segmented clips that focused on the crazy reactions of his friends – became a new way of producing highly viewed content. Dobrik’s videos broke the normative vlogging behavior by creating hyper-energetic vlogs that were segmented into multiple stories; furthermore, it is notable to mention that the vlogs do not center around Dobrik’s reactions, but rather his friends.
In this blog, I will be focusing on David Dobrik’s 420th video because it is the longest (a 14 minutes and 20 seconds long video to celebrate the 420th vlog released on April 20th) and it is also the only video that has most of the regularly occurring themes in David Dobrik’s vlogs.
To begin, this video features many of the themes that were aforementioned: a celebrity (Snoop Dogg in the intro), a montage (his friends and him dancing to the Friends theme song), an elaborate party (his friends on the party bus getting intoxicated and dancing), a sponsored message (from SeatGeek), expensive gifts (giving three Mercedes-Benzes to his friends), a skit (of his friend Alex fighting the Ikea tables in his “dream” and Jason breaking his new piano and car), a prank (surprise painting his friends’ house), and a featured animal (a pony before the outro) (Dobrik, 2018). As Adorno and Horkheimer (1944) argued, “constant sameness governs the relationship to the past” and there is an “exclusion of the new” due to the standardization in the Culture Industry (p. 6). This reigns true in some cases – such as Dobrik continuing to use the same tactics to get more views on his vlogs; however, this sameness in his video styles attracts the viewers more because it allows for easy consumption of information. In some cases, other YouTubers adopt Dobrik’s style of vlogging and editing (short and energetic rather than slow and laid back) in hopes of reaching a bigger audience.
It is notable to mention that Dobrik’s videos also facilitate a strong bond between the viewers and the Vlog Squad (the name of his friend group); each Vlog Squad member has their own unique personality and connection with the viewers. This occurs because his friends are able to develop a strong cult of personalities surrounding them. This fosters a stronger connection between the viewers and the content Dobrik produces. Cult of personality is defined by Benjamin (1936) as the “aura with an artificial build-up of the ‘personality’ outside” that is merely the “spell of the personality” and not the actual “unique aura of the person” (p. 57). Although Benjamin (1936) argues that this is a “phony spell of commodity” (p. 57), I strongly believe that Dobrik’s vlogs also exposes a very sincere side of his friends. In some videos, this sincerity and aura can be felt through the screen; for example, in the specific vlog we are referencing, viewers can see the genuine friendship dynamic between the friend group when they are being gifted a car (Dobrik, 2018).
Typically, David Dobrik’s videos do not have much meaning to them – it is simply a fun video to provide the audience with distractions. This fits well with one of Storey’s (2009) definition of popular culture, which defines it as a “hopelessly commercial culture” where the “audience is a mass of non-discriminating consumers” (p. 8). However, I do not believe in such a pessimistic view of the audience. There are audiences who choose to not watch Dobrik’s videos because they do not like the content he makes – thus, they choose to watch other content creators. This shows that the audience is not a passive mass and can make the choice to not watch the video that is available to them.
Personally, I love watching David Dobrik’s videos. Although most of his videos do not convey a deeper meaning, it still allows me to see the fun and hectic lifestyle he and his friends live. Not to mention, only in 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
References:
Adorno, T., & Horkheimer, M. (1944). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. Dialectics of Enlightenment (pp. 1-12). Translated by John Cumming.
Benjamin, W. (1936). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Visual Culture: Experiences in Visual Culture (pp. 48-70).
Dobrik, D. [David Dobrik]. (2018, April 20). SURPRISING BEST FRIENDS WITH 3 NEW CARS!! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy80-T0JJtA.
Storey, J. (2009). What is popular culture? Cultural Theory and Popular Culture (pp. 1-16). Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.
Jamie, I think your blog post was capturing, interesting, and overall very enjoyable to read. Personally, I love watching David Dobrik’s vlogs and I believe you did a great job explaining the breakdown and style of his famous Youtube videos. As you stated, I believe Storey’s definition of pop culture as the culture “widely favoured or well liked by many people” is a prime example of Youtube. I would like to add that Youtube can also be seen as a platform of mass culture, according to John Storey. The primary vlog in which you analyzed, his 420th video, happens to be my favorite video of Dobrik’s as well. I find it crazy how he is known for giving expensive and luxurious gifts to his fans. I thought it was great that you mentioned how Dobrik’s vlogs shifted the normative vlogging behavior as he is known for creating hyper-energetic videos as opposed to the usual slow, intimate videos. As you mentioned, David Dobrik has a cult of personality, in which his fans are obsessed with his uniqueness and individuality. I would like to add that David Dobrik is a classic example of what Graeme Turner believes is the ordinary turning into a celebrity, now recognized by millions. Turner once explained this phenomenon as a “programmatic shift in… celebrity… this is a shift from the elite to the ordinary.” (p. 12) Overall, I think you clearly connected David Dobrik’s role as a YouTuber and the platform in which he posts his vlogs on to the readings we discussed in class.
ReplyDelete- Madison Leal
DeleteGreat job Jamie Lee! I too love to watch David Dobrik’s vlogs as well as find his 4 minute and 20 second YouTube videos wildly entertaining. As one of the most popular and influential YouTubers today, David Dobrik’s content can be seen as the prime example of a piece of popular culture that appeals to the masses. I completely agree with your argument that “David Dobrik redefined the YouTube culture by bringing in his own innovative “signifying practices” (Storey, 2009, p. 2) that attracted many viewers to his channel”. The way that David Dobrik carries out his lifestyle vlogs is extremely unique and different than many other Vloggers. I also believe that your point surrounding David Dobrik and his friends or “the vlog squad” and how they create a cult of personality with their audiences is extremely true. David Dobrik is notoriously known for making his other friends, or people that appear in his vlogs, famous as well, just by associating themselves with him. However, when you quoted another one of Storey’s definitions of popular culture that it is “hopelessly commercial culture”, you could have also mentioned how David creates merchandise, much like other YouTubers, and sells his merchandise for profit. This goes along with the topic in class that all forms of popular culture are commodified and used for profit. Overall, I thought that you perfectly analyzed David Dobrik as a YouTube influencer and the content of his vlogs. Your connections made with the course material and this form of popular culture were excellent and well-thought!
ReplyDelete- Drew Schwartz
ReplyDeleteJamie, I love how you highlighted the importance that David Dobrik has in the Youtube sphere. It is very true that, as soon as he joined the platform, there was a shift in video styles and his channel gained traction very very quickly. This act of signifying practices in a media as big as Youtube is extremely significant and comes to show exactly how much he was able to revolutionize the content produced. As you put it, the style of his editing and filming is very distinct and the consistency of said videos allowed him to create a solid brand through which he is recognized and even saluted. His predictability truly allows fans to develop a relationship not only to him and his friends but to the videos and style themselves. This relationship, described by Marwick as “strategic intimacy” and by Abidin as “parasocial relationships”, keeps fans coming back and allows him and Youtube itself to keep making money. This also reminded me of Marwick’s other quote saying that “as media changes, so does celebrity”. That is exactly what happened not only thorough Youtube but through David’s videos as well. Like mentioned previously, David’s video styles became so successful that other Youtubers started using them as models for their own content. This, in my opinion, is how Youtube celebrities changed as a result of his channel; his videos came onto Youtube and changed the norm of what constitutes a good or popular vlog, making Youtube vlogging celebrities those who followed his model. And although many different channels succeed on Youtube, his has become one that creators look to as a model.
- Olivia de Rezende
DeleteJust like other people mentioned above, I also really enjoy watching David Dobrik vlogs. I actually just watched his most recent one right before I stumbled across your blog post! I really enjoyed reading your blog post and seeing his vlogs through a more academic and intellectual context—definitely a stark difference to how I typically consider his vlogs as short bursts of entertainment. I remember watching his 420th vlog and seeing how this one vlog was able to include all of the key features to his videos that are typically dispersed throughout many of his shorter videos. So, I really liked how you chose to focus on this vlog as your point of analysis for the blog post. After you outlined the various elements to Dobrik’s vlogs that have made him and his videos so popular and entertaining, it was definitely a clear connection to Storey’s “signifying practices” that we have talked about in class. I thought it really added to your blog post that you were able to speak on this part of Storey’s argument on popular culture as well as his definition of pop culture as the culture “widely favoured or well-liked by many people”. As you said yourself, I think that this particular vlog as well as his other videos perfectly exemplify both of these ideas by Storey.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was interesting when you touched on how his videos broke the traditional vlogging style by publishing very high-energy vlogs with short clips stitched together. This reminded me of Jonathan Letham with his analysis of plagiarism within modern pop culture. At this point I’ve noticed that a lot of the members of the Vlog Squad—Jason Nash, Heath Hussar, or Zayn, for example—all publish very similar style vlogs, only longer. Even their thumbnails resemble David’s to an alarming degree. It made me think about how for viewers who may have discovered Jason, Heath, or Zayn first and then through them discovered David Dobrik, it would be hard for them to pinpoint exactly who they think this new vlogging style belongs to. Of course, after looking deeper into it is easy to tell that it started with David, however, for a viewer who doesn’t bother to look deeply into it, they definitely may experience this idea of cryptomnesia that Letham touches on. Cryptomnesia is this idea that you think about something but can’t quite remember where it came from. So, although David sparked this shift towards a new vlogging style—as you mentioned in your blog post, because YouTube often feels like this black hole where one video can snowball into thousands of other similar videos, I think it is likely that some people watching David Dobrik’s vlogs might really enjoy watching them but have this feeling of cryptomnesia. Overall, I thought your blog post was really interesting to read especially considering I enjoy watching these vlogs myself and I enjoyed seeing how you clearly explained various topics from class and even sparked me to think about other ideas.
I find it intriguing that a single YouTuber like Dobrik can help influence a body of other YouTubers in the similar field of vlogging to adopt tactics once unique to Dobrik, such as the “hyper-energetic vlogs that were segmented into multiple stories” you mention. People copy this method of video editing and publishing because it is an attention-grabbing method that still retains the “constant sameness” Adorno and Horkheimer explain as the standardization of content that we see here today in popular online videos such as Dobrik’s. If a vlogger were to publish videos with complexities and varying differences from video to video, it would be difficult to garner consistent viewership—unless the vlogger’s viewership had already been firmly established with a large number of followers, avid fans who would watch any and all kinds of the vlogger’s videos. You explain that Dobrik has a large following but also that he has a simple clear-cut method of editing and publishing his vlogs, which leads me to wonder if he has ever tried doing something different in the way he develops his videos. He already has a strong fanbase, which helps him financially sustain himself, so he could afford to work differently in creating his online content should he choose to. I imagine an active vlogger like Dobrik would eventually experience burnout if they don’t try new tactics. YouTuber Mark Fischbach (known as “Markiplier”) has said in one of his podcast streams that having a large fanbase is a safety net for helping one do whatever they want—because at the end of the day, they still have a source of income. Perhaps Dobrik hasn’t experienced this burnout of pushing out similarly developed content, or perhaps he doesn’t want to risk losing any of his fanbase and thus his source of revenue. Maybe it’s both.
ReplyDelete- Anna Do
I really liked how you pointed out that his video editing style is adopted by a variety of other Youtubers; this pattern is not only found in the case of Dobrik but also in other genres of Youtube videos as well. For instance, there is a Youtube channel that publishes comedy skits and prank videos named "Treasure Island" that I enjoy watching, and I recently stumbled across other Youtubers that starred in its videos for collaboration. What surprised me was that a number of other Youtubers have been publishing videos with similar pranks and similar editing styles on their own channels. The videos were similar to each other to the point that the font and background music were identical for some of the videos. That the adoption of a specific video style is prevalent all across Youtube reminded me of the concept of standardization and consumer differentiation, because viewers think they have the agency to view original contents by subscribing to different channels, but these channels are creating products that are almost homogenous to each other.
ReplyDeleteIt was also interesting for me to learn that Dobrik tends to maintain a sort of stage persona in his videos, which in effect strengthens the parasocial relationship with his subscribers. Creating and maintaining a persona that is different from the celebrity’s normal self has been utilized in traditional platforms including TV shows and movies, but in modern days this practice is also observed in social media and Youtube. I thought that these new platforms through which influencers create their specific persona has given rise to the notion of microcelebrity.
-John Park