I know I'm new around here, at least as far as YouChew is concerned; I've been watching poops for years now. Stu's latest news update has me thinking though - what really makes a pooper popular? Is it just using popular sources? Well... yes and no. But I'll explain.
I could not give a single flying fuck about "King of the Hill" as a series. It always seemed pretty boring to me. I liked Mike Judge's previous works much better, i.e. "Beavis and Butt-Head," but I digress. There are, however, a lot of people out there who do genuinely enjoy it. Does it make it better for people to have a frame of reference to a source? Yes, of course it does. If you are able to identify sources, or even jokes made with other sources that reference something you know about - you're going to like it that much better.
I know that what I'm about to say is going to draw some ire from some folks, but really... YTP is just as much about memes as it is artistic expression. Considering what a "meme" really is, it's the repetition of shit people get the reference to. Go look up what that shit means. People throw the term around not knowing it, but you know, there's a lot of that. I do the same thing. Fuck, I'm fallible too. Anyways, to get back to the point, "meme" is precisely what I've just been talking about - something you understand because of the culture you're in. Is YTP a culture? God damn right it is.
Utilizing popular sources - I'll agree with Stu here - is one factor that gets you more views/subs. And I will admit, the quality of work goes down the more popular the source is - finagling even a little in a spongebob poop will get you some views. I could throw out a Spongebob poop right now that just used a shitload of reversing and cock jokes, and it'd get more views than what I'm doing now. So, again, I defend Stu's position.
However, I will say that it's this "frame of reference" idea that everyone latches on to that makes poops popular. If you are subbed to someone who makes YTP and you see them suddenly put things in that you don't understand - you're going to research them. If you don't know what Slenderman is, or didn't know about ponies, or fucking Pac-Man, and someone suddenly includes it - you look that shit up.
YTP is built upon the idea not only of artistic impressionism, as I first said, but also of being able to take something your viewers know and warping it, or giving them something they don't know of yet - and pique their curiosity.
In a large way, that means that YTP is a meme unto itself.
Take, for example, (sorry, Stu) the news update Stu had identifying Rap Rat as a source. All of a sudden, Rap Rat came up everywhere. You could take the most optimistic outlook on this and say - "well, shit, that's a great source. Look at that furry bastard." Yeah, that's fine - but it only makes sense to the people who know what the fuck that idiotic shit is. It only serves to isolate poopers further, which, I would argue, is not exactly the point. After all - we're all looking for more subs/views, right? Only makes sense to get in line with the popular shit.
But... I argue against that. Don't get me wrong, I do want more subs/views, as do we all, but I don't want to have to start worshipping Ke$ha to do so. So... what's the drawing point? Where do we say, as poopers, that we hate whatever X is or we love whatever Y is, and still get people to say, "Hey, that's great!"
The fact of the matter is - I don't know. What I do know is that popular culture doesn't sit well with me, so I'm going to include obscure references whenever the fuck I feel like it. Not obscure to the point where no one will be able to figure that shit out, obviously. That just isolates you from your audience.
But to go back, again, to the original point - people like poops because they can not only recognize what they're seeing, but because if they don't, they can research it and find out. Immediately, it's a lot better if you don't have to research, because you recognize all those things, but even if you do have to, you'll recognize it upon a later viewing and cackle.
So - let's get to the overall point: do poops need popular sources? No. They don't. They can - and they'll get quite popular if you do the right things with them.. but you can use unpopular sources too. Realistically, you shouldn't care about your views/subs if what you are doing is art. If you're an attention whore and need other people to validate your existence, then, by all means, continue to churn out whatever drivel gets you the most views/subs.
Okay, sorry, I'm being an asshole. Look - YTP is art. If you view it as anything other than that, I think you're looking at it wrong. We don't do this shit because we want someone else to look upon what we've done and validate our existence by saying it's good - we do it because it's what we -want- to do. So... I guess the ultimate point of this diatribe is... do what you want to do.
So, to all poopers out there that might be looking at this - keep doing what you gotta do. Someone, somewhere, will appreciate it.
I could not give a single flying fuck about "King of the Hill" as a series. It always seemed pretty boring to me. I liked Mike Judge's previous works much better, i.e. "Beavis and Butt-Head," but I digress. There are, however, a lot of people out there who do genuinely enjoy it. Does it make it better for people to have a frame of reference to a source? Yes, of course it does. If you are able to identify sources, or even jokes made with other sources that reference something you know about - you're going to like it that much better.
I know that what I'm about to say is going to draw some ire from some folks, but really... YTP is just as much about memes as it is artistic expression. Considering what a "meme" really is, it's the repetition of shit people get the reference to. Go look up what that shit means. People throw the term around not knowing it, but you know, there's a lot of that. I do the same thing. Fuck, I'm fallible too. Anyways, to get back to the point, "meme" is precisely what I've just been talking about - something you understand because of the culture you're in. Is YTP a culture? God damn right it is.
Utilizing popular sources - I'll agree with Stu here - is one factor that gets you more views/subs. And I will admit, the quality of work goes down the more popular the source is - finagling even a little in a spongebob poop will get you some views. I could throw out a Spongebob poop right now that just used a shitload of reversing and cock jokes, and it'd get more views than what I'm doing now. So, again, I defend Stu's position.
However, I will say that it's this "frame of reference" idea that everyone latches on to that makes poops popular. If you are subbed to someone who makes YTP and you see them suddenly put things in that you don't understand - you're going to research them. If you don't know what Slenderman is, or didn't know about ponies, or fucking Pac-Man, and someone suddenly includes it - you look that shit up.
YTP is built upon the idea not only of artistic impressionism, as I first said, but also of being able to take something your viewers know and warping it, or giving them something they don't know of yet - and pique their curiosity.
In a large way, that means that YTP is a meme unto itself.
Take, for example, (sorry, Stu) the news update Stu had identifying Rap Rat as a source. All of a sudden, Rap Rat came up everywhere. You could take the most optimistic outlook on this and say - "well, shit, that's a great source. Look at that furry bastard." Yeah, that's fine - but it only makes sense to the people who know what the fuck that idiotic shit is. It only serves to isolate poopers further, which, I would argue, is not exactly the point. After all - we're all looking for more subs/views, right? Only makes sense to get in line with the popular shit.
But... I argue against that. Don't get me wrong, I do want more subs/views, as do we all, but I don't want to have to start worshipping Ke$ha to do so. So... what's the drawing point? Where do we say, as poopers, that we hate whatever X is or we love whatever Y is, and still get people to say, "Hey, that's great!"
The fact of the matter is - I don't know. What I do know is that popular culture doesn't sit well with me, so I'm going to include obscure references whenever the fuck I feel like it. Not obscure to the point where no one will be able to figure that shit out, obviously. That just isolates you from your audience.
But to go back, again, to the original point - people like poops because they can not only recognize what they're seeing, but because if they don't, they can research it and find out. Immediately, it's a lot better if you don't have to research, because you recognize all those things, but even if you do have to, you'll recognize it upon a later viewing and cackle.
So - let's get to the overall point: do poops need popular sources? No. They don't. They can - and they'll get quite popular if you do the right things with them.. but you can use unpopular sources too. Realistically, you shouldn't care about your views/subs if what you are doing is art. If you're an attention whore and need other people to validate your existence, then, by all means, continue to churn out whatever drivel gets you the most views/subs.
Okay, sorry, I'm being an asshole. Look - YTP is art. If you view it as anything other than that, I think you're looking at it wrong. We don't do this shit because we want someone else to look upon what we've done and validate our existence by saying it's good - we do it because it's what we -want- to do. So... I guess the ultimate point of this diatribe is... do what you want to do.
So, to all poopers out there that might be looking at this - keep doing what you gotta do. Someone, somewhere, will appreciate it.