Emma Chamberlain: The Rise to Stardom
Born and raised in San Bruno, California, Emma Chamberlain has grown to become one of today’s most influential YouTube personalities. As an only child with divorced parents, six-year old Chamberlain turned to YouTube videos in order to fill the boredom and loneliness in her life. YouTube was an easy escape where she could “connect with other people and see what they were up to” (Bromwich, 2019). Using this escape as inspiration, Chamberlain began making and editing videos for her friends and family in a creative, new light that had not been previously done before. However, it was not until the end of her sophomore year in high school that Chamberlain realized she stopped enjoying school. This in turn led to her “dropp[ing] out of school and changing the world of online video” (Bromwich, 2019). Now, only four years later, Chamberlain has 10.9 million subscribers, deals with companies such as Louis Vuitton, and her own coffee company.
Emma Chamberlain has continuously proven to her subscribers that she is someone that they could easily relate to: a normal kid from a small town that went on to make a name for herself. Because of this, Chamberlain’s subscribers have been a constant, committed fan base. Her videos are targeted towards the youth generation, as her channel’s theme presents the raw reality of what it means to grow up and experience everyday life as your true, authentic self. Her videos range from morning routines, to day-in-the-life vlogs, and to “LIVING IN MY CLOSET FOR 24 HOURS.” As she posted more relatable videos, her fan base grew rapidly. This led Chamberlain to capitalize on her name and create not only her own merchandise, which is promoted throughout most of her videos, but also develop her very own coffee company, Chamberlain Coffee. Fitting Storey’s definition of “popular culture equal[ing] mass culture which equals hopelessly commercial culture” (Storey, 2009, p. 8), it is clear that Chamberlain monetizes off of her fame and image, as she is able to do so with her vast fan base. As her more recent videos have frequently included promotions for her own brands, Chamberlain’s subscribers have become “an audience of non-discriminating consumers” (Storey, 2009, p. 7). Furthermore, Chamberlain’s platform in today’s day and age has allowed her to transcend the world of YouTube and become a fashion icon, modeling and sponsoring the esteemed Louis Vuitton. It is because of her committed fan base that she has been able to travel around the world, such as to Paris, to promote such a brand.
As previously mentioned, Emma Chamberlain is notorious for her unique, simultaneously comedic editing skills. This editing style derived from enternating her friends, as she felt like this instinctual editing “made [her] friends… laugh a lot more when [she] was emphasizing” video effects (Bromwich, 2019). This editing can be seen across the entirety of her channel. In a specific video, titled “MY BIRTHDAY IS RUINED,” Chamberlain is shown standing in her kitchen talking directly to her audience with no formal introduction. This is directly followed by a zoom in on her slapping a recipe taped to the cabinet while she says, “can you believe I literally printed out the recipe like we’re in literally the Middle Ages using a printer?!” It is clear from these words alone that Chamberlain speaks freely, allowing her sense of humor to shine through. After this, Chamberlain claps too hard to the point of hurting herself. When this happens, the video zooms in and pauses with the caption “clapped too hard :/.” In just the beginning nine seconds, the audience is able to see the underlying comedy Chamberlain operates into her videos and the raw content that is typically not displayed on YouTube. Later in the video, Chamberlain is seen making strange noises while whisking a bowl of batter from an earlier video she made. As this occurs, random, unrelated clips such as race cars driving and a little boy whisking heavily appear. She then puts on an apron and mocks herself, not only by her self-deprecating comments, but by editing her head to blow up with background noise of stadium cheering. Once again, Chamberlain utilizes her unique editing to incorporate ridiculous humor. This shows her audience that despite her fame, Chamberlain is a normal kid who does not take life too seriously. The rest of the video is more of the same funny editing while she bakes cupcakes that turn out to be terrible. This video demonstrates what Stuart Hall discusses about linguistics, “the use of language as a model of how culture works” (Hall, 1997, p. 234). More specifically, the idea that “difference matters because it is essential to meaning; without it, meaning could not exist (Hall, 1997, p. 234). If it was not for the originality Chamberlain’s videos bring to YouTube and her own linguistics, she would not have been able to differentiate herself from the traditional. Furthermore, as proven throughout the content of her videos, Emma Chamberlain has become a perfect representation of author Susan Sontag’s idea of Camp, which is to dethrone seriousness and is always resistant to the mainstream (Sontag, 1964). Chamberlain’s videos resist the mainstream by never really having a set message, yet her fans watch for pure enjoyment.
With over ten million loyal subscribers, Emma Chamberlain has an impressive fan base who look forward to her characteristically unscheduled YouTube posts. As more viewers gain access to Chamberlain’s videos, it is clear that people look up to the twenty year old as an inspiration. Her editing style has even started becoming incorporated across other YouTube channels, such as YouTuber Joanna Ceddia. This alone demonstrates that subscribers are influenced by Chamberlain and even aspire to become her. As she catapults further into the world of celebrity, her brand and name will only prove to future generations that success can be achieved by being yourself. Emma Chamberlain, the once avid YouTube watcher herself, has cast a spotlight on herself and transformed the world of YouTube.
Works Cited
Bromwich, J. E. (2019, July 9). The Evolution of Emma Chamberlain. The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/style/emma-chamberlain-youtube.html.
Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Newbery Park, CA: Sage, pp. 225-249
Sontag, S. (1964). Notes on “Camp.” Sontag-Notes_on_camp.pdf
Storey, J. (2009). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.
Hello Charlotte,
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog post about Emma Chamberlain and your thoughts on her Youtube channel and videos. You made some very interesting points about her linguistics, how she commercializes off of her Youtube channel, and her joyful and unique personality. I believe it is also important to note that Emma Chamberlain is a micro-celebrity, according to Alice Marwick’s definition, in “You may know me from Youtube: (micro)-celebrity in social media.” Alice Marwick expresses that being a micro-celebrity is “something one does” rather than “something one is” due to “branding rhetoric” and “carefully constructed personas”. Although I do not know much about Emma Chamberlain, as I was reading your blog post, it seems as though her audience loves her and her content because of her distinct and special videos and editing style. Even though she might not be purposely be trying to follow this “branding rhetoric” and “carefully constructed persona” that micro-celebrities are known for pursuing, she still fits the criteria by being known as “authentic”, “relatable”, and “funny” by her audience and continuing to release content similar to what is expected from her. Additionally, Alice Marwick also mentions another key concept that makes a micro-celebrity, which is that the content of their videos mainly revolves around them. In your blog post you discussed two of her videos “LIVING IN MY CLOSET FOR 24 HOURS” and “MY BIRTHDAY IS RUINED.” Both of these videos circulate Emma Chamberlain’s life since she is the one who will be living in the closet for 24 hours and whose birthday was ruined. Once again, thank you for your insight in regards to Emma Chamberlain’s Youtube Channel. I believe you did well in explaining how her channel and videos connect with our COMM 123 course.
- Laura Arellano :)
Charlotte,
ReplyDeleteI think your choice to analyze Emma Chamberlain as a YouTube personality and ever-growing influencer was really smart given the uniqueness of her rise to fame. In my opinion, she pioneered this entire subset of relatable teen internet content and has functioned as a model for so many influencers since. What I would like to add to your already well-rounded exposition is the way in which Chamberlain so skillfully navigates the line of accessibility and a calculated presentation of her personality. In reading your post, I was reminded of the article we discussed by Crystal Abidin surrounding communicative intimacies. The notion she presents of “perceived interconnectedness” feels particularly relevant, especially because so much of Chamberlain’s brand surrounds the deeply personal connection she has cultivated with her fan base. It must be noted that despite her relatable content, honest podcast episodes, and tell-all videos, the persona she has formed for herself online will never be fully representative of Chamberlain as a person. She still has the capacity to pick and choose what she shows within the mediated communications she has with her audience, which is completely valid but nonetheless a factor in her online presence that is often overlooked by her fans. Additionally, like Jessica Bobman noted in her blog post about Hannah Meloche (a well-known past affiliate of Chamberlain), these individuals, despite the apparent “friendship” they share with their viewers, are navigating a capitalist system. Because of this truth, the capitalist “advertorials” that Abidin mentions in her piece certainly exist within Chamberlain’s content, as seen in her Chamberlain Coffee ads or the promotions she used to have surrounded her merchandise line. Still, the very nature of “influencing” at this point in time is rooted in the encouragement and reinforcement of such practices, so Chamberlain and Meloche are not alone in their nuanced presence on the internet.
Great work on this piece again– such a fun topic to consider! :)
-Kendall Allen
Hello Charolette,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your blog post on Emma Chamberlain and your thoughts on the content that she posts in her YouTube videos. I myself am a fan of Emma Chamberlain, not for her YouTube videos, but rather a fan of her other personality as a fashion influencer (it still shocks me that a micro-celebrity like herself has gained such a following and has gained as many collaborations and sponsorships.) That being said, I have never seen either of the videos that you mentioned in your blog post, but you have done a great job at not only explaining what happens in the videos, but also relating the videos to the content we have read about and discussed in class. I think it is interesting how you related her mannerisms to the Stuart Hall reading in saying that she created her own linguistics. I also was interested in your connection of Chamberlain to Camp. I do agree that some of the things that she says and does are Campy, they are failing at being cool, and I believe this is what makes her so unique in the YouTube community. She also is purposefully unconventional at times, such as some of the fashion statements she makes, so this could be said to be an example of intentional Camp done by her. She has definitely created a brand of her own and has made a big impact on the world of YouTube (she has made such and impact that I have been seeing ads for her coffee brand every-time I log-in.) Great job with your blog post!
-Giselle Wagner
Hi Charlotte!
ReplyDeleteI thought your blog post had a really interesting point regarding Emma Chamberlain's ability to market her value in pop culture according to Storey's definition of pop culture as commercial mass culture, and it made me curious about what really makes Emma Chamberlain so appealing to her YouTube audience, and what about her particular brand of humor helped her stay relevant throughout the four years you mentioned that she has been on the platform. In particular, it reminded me of the article about coolhunting by Malcom Gladwell that we read a few weeks ago — the fact that Emma Chamberlain is seen as not only a YouTube icon but also as a fashion icon who has been picked up by luxury companies such as Louis Vuitton makes me think that she must have figured out, consciously or unconsciously, how to stay on top of what's cool. Although her age and integration with pop culture probably helps her keep track of what's cool and even set trends herself without consciously making the effort to do so, she seems to have defeated the paradox we discussed in class regarding how the better coolhunters get at bringing mainstream close to the cutting edge of what's cool, the more elusive the cutting edge becomes. I also think your second point about Emma Chamberlain's editing style has influenced her ability to stay on top of what's cool, since changing trends in humor are a huge part of staying relevant in an online community. In general, I really enjoyed your post and how the parts of your argument connected!
- Sarika Rau
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post, good job! I, myself, absolutely adore Emma Chamberlain, so reading a lot of what you had to say and analyze about her and her videos made a lot of sense to me. I wanted to touch on a point you mentioned, however, about her being a micro-celebrity. Despite her stemming from a role of a social media influencer — as she is evidently an active Youtuber and posts regularly on Instagram — she is now heavily associated with not only actual celebrities such as Hailey Bieber, Karlie Kloss, etc. but also high culture itself. She’s a brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton. It’s interesting to me how a person can embody high culture, popular culture, and even Gladwell’s concept of coolhunting all in one. Her presence at the Met Gala, at Paris fashion shows, New York fashion shows, and many more demonstrate her already heavy immersion in high culture — thus placing her on the same level as a celebrity, rather than merely someone from social media. Afterall, she is a face for Louis Vuitton now. However, her origins in social media and her still constant relatability that you did a wonderful job mentioning in your post makes her still a star of popular culture. Especially with Gladwell’s definition of “cool” — those who go against the crowd, who have a sense of innovation that attracts the masses to follow — Chamberlain is also an embodiment of such as she is known for setting multiple trends these past few years. Her mannerisms and fashion are “cool” yet relatable. She’s a paradox within herself. All in all, I enjoyed reading what you had to say!
- Rachel Ker
Commenter: Shelly Faskha
ReplyDeleteHi Charlotte,
Emma Chamberlain is such a good topic to talk about with this specific prompt, since she is connected to a lot of topics discussed in class. All the connections that you made were clear and with evidence. This said, the video that you decided to talk about really gives us a perspective of how Emma Chamberlain is and acts. This video makes followers like her because she is being funny and authentic. It makes me think if her followers feel a sense of intimacy with her videos, since she is portraying herself as someone relatable and is not talking in a formal way in her YouTube videos. I believe videos like this can create a sense of intimacy between Emma and her followers. Emma being a funny person relates her to Susan Sontag’s idea of Camp. Camp wants to get rid of the serious, therefore Emma represents this in her videos. She is not trying to be serious in her videos, instead she wants to be funny for her fans. Apart from this, I was thinking that Emma is also a representation of Coolhunting as explained by Devon Powers. She is a fashion icon that sets trends in fashion, so many people depend on her to decide what types of clothes to buy. This relates to coolhunting because “coolhunting is the intuitive process of making predictions about what will be popular” (Powers, 2019). Emma does this when she posts what she bought because she knows that people want to see what she thinks will be cool, so that followers buy the same items of clothing.