Sep 29, 2012 16:26
Children, back in my youth there was a show on the air called "America's Funniest Home Videos." Folks would film their friends and family using a device called a camcorder. Sometimes something unexpected would happen while the camcorder was rolling, and someone would say, "Hey, Uncle Bob! Everyone should see that funny video you took!"
So every week on this show, you'd watch videos of people riding unicycles or eating bugs or getting married or whatever. You'd see the people who made the videos in the front row of the studio audience (with subtitles like, "Bob: Man Standing On Head While Drinking Beer.") These ordinary people were squirmy and excited about everyone watching the video they made. Is this what being a celebrity is like? People are watching me on a screen! I'm famous! They're clapping!
It was widely understood that this show was lame. Walking around with a camera all the time hoping something interesting would happen was lame, because when you're filming things, you're not participating in them. Submitting your footage for the approval of the public was lame, because hoping that everyone will applaud and love you when they see how clever you are is a goal for children and adolescents with desperately low self-esteem. Watching the show was lame because the only thing lamer than being those people was waiting for death while watching those people.
Now we have the internet. It's "America's Funniest Home Videos," all day, every day.
And it's hella lame.
video,
television