Week 9:A) Burgess and Green argue that: ordinary people who become celebrities through their own creative efforts “remain within the system of celebrity native to, and controlled by, the mass media” (Reader, page 269). Discuss ONE of these arguments giving an example of a YouTube video (embed it into post). Specify chosen argument in your answer.
In recent times technologies have expanded to the extent that it is believed that we are reaching mass democratization; unfortunately this is a myth and we as people are controlled by the media much more than we are aware (Burgess & Green, 2009: 20). The increasing popularity of YouTube has lead people to believe that you can create your own independent success and celebrity through posting videos on the website. Despite developing your own stardom, the media will always be the underlying power behind whether you are a success or not and the extent to which you become a celebrity (Burgess & Green, 2009: 23).
Burgess and Green (2009: 23) have established the term ‘demoticization’ instead of the myth of ‘democratization’ to describe the process of the media representing ordinary people as celebrities. Graeme Turner (2006: 153) coined the term ‘demotic turn’ as a process of the increased visibility of an ordinary person as they turn themselves into media content. The mass media have developed a special interest in their celebrity representations of ordinary people through reality television, YouTube and DIY websites (Turner, 2006: 154).
YouTube has produced numerous celebrities through their own creative efforts, however they remain controlled by the mass media at all times, with or without entry into media outlets. Some researchers claim that an ordinary citizen will only become a celebrity when they gain access to mass media meaning a YouTube star is not a celebrity until they are welcomed into the media world outside YouTube (Couldry, 2003; as cited in Burgess & Green, 2009: 22). Other researchers claim that YouTube has an independent version of celebrity that is different to that of the mass media (Burgess & Green, 2009: 24). Unfortunatley despite being independent, these celebrities belong in a world that is no more democratic than the mass media and are still subsequently part of the mass media’s central ploy for the ordinary person as a popular form of media content. The media use this idea of ordinary as celebrity in order to create extensive diversity in entertainment and information that seems inexhaustible and therefore extremely profitable (Turner, 2006: 158).
With people’s attention drawn towards the ordinary citizen via mass media’s promotion of ‘ordinary’ through reality television and such, Kevin Wu was lucky enough to gain such a wide audience that he became a celebrity through his own content, first through YouTube alone and then through the mass media. Wu, owns the YouTube channel ‘KevJumba’ which has 168,833,464 views and 1,601,175 subscribers (YouTube, 2011). Wu’s videos are comedy based relations on things that he finds interesting, irritating or weird in his life. His popularity has lead him to have another YouTube channel ‘Jumbafund’ where his earnings from videos uploaded are donated to charity (KevJumba, n.d). Wu has now gained such popularity that he has entered mass media through starring in an online series for HBO, being a spokesperson, being sponsored and starring in the television show, ‘The Amazing Race’ (KevJumba, n.d).
Despite YouTube celebrities creating their own popularity, from the beginning they were controlled by and lived in the system of celebrity that was created by the mass media.
References
Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2009). ‘YouTube and The Mainstream Meda’, pp 15-37 in YouTube: Online and Participatory Culture, Cambrdige: Polity Press
KevJumba (n.d). About Kevjumba, viewed 28th May 2011, http://www.kevjumba.com/about/
Turner, G. (2006). ‘The mass production of celebrity: ‘celetoids’, reality TV and the ‘demotic turn,’ International Journal of Cultural Studies, 9 (2): 153-165
YouTube. (2011). KevJumba, viewed 28th May 2011, http://www.youtube.com/user/kevjumba
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