Humor and the medium shaping the message in the internet era - Blog post #4- Neil Misra
For this blog post, I wanted to look at popular culture, specifically humor and how the medium may shape a cultures ideas of humor. In this post I will examine the rise of prank culture in the internet era. In the video How the medium shapes the message it is clear that there may be some truth in Marshall Mcluhan's hypothesis that the medium is the message. Or at least it shapes the message. What about humor and entertainment? Well lets look at the rise web 2.0 and Manuel Castells idea of Mass self-communication. Castells (2008) explains the web 2.0 and the prosumer allowed for individuals to communicate themselves to a mass (para. 3). Therefore we see that a shift in medium (the internet), leads to or correlates with self-expression to the masses.
Now lets look at pranks. "According to YouTube: “Prank videos have been part of the online video culture from the very beginning." (Linkr, 2019, para. 4). This sort of culture has almost driven the success of youtube as a form of entertainment. Furthermore, the affordances that youtube provided, allowed for individuals to express and share their humor through video sharing. Lets look at popular YouTubers Nelk, who started as a Canadian prank group, and are now a successful brand (Lorenz, 2021). Arguably, amateur pranksters shifted many peoples understanding of humor as a message, and through the internet medium. It is now quite common to see prank videos on many social media platforms, and to me, they are quite enjoyable.
Overall, what I am trying to say here is that the internet as a medium has shifted cultural understandings of humor by affording both the audience and creator, a less scripted, more authentic form of entertainment.
References
Castells, M. (2008, May 26). Mass self communication. Mass Self Communication - P2P Foundation. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Mass_Self_Communication
Lorenz, T. (2021, June 29). What won't the nelk boys do? The New York Times. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/style/nelk-youtube.html
The limitations and lawlessness of YouTube's prank culture. linkr. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.linkreducation.com/en/content/the-limitations-and-lawlessness-of-youtubes-prank-culture/15540
YouTube. (2019). How the Medium Shapes the Message. YouTube. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsZQMaN5pYc.
Great post,
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at Marshall McLuhan's theory that the medium is, the message speaks about how whatever medium you use impacts the delivery of how the person sees and read the message. Communication and how we speak with one another have changed. Throughout the years, through the evolution of technology and the growth of social media. An example of this would be when you look at someone like Kingbatch, who used to make quick 15 seconds clip videos on Vine, and now you start to see him in comedy movies, and he's able to book some acting gigs. For this reason, look at the example of the Nelk boys and how they started as a Canadian Prank group. They have been able to utilize their popularity and brand themselves in America and create a successful brand with a very successful podcast. The Internet as a medium has shifted the cultural understanding of humor.