Youtube in Class: "Bus Uncle" and "Leave Whitney Alone"

I prefer "Leave Whitney Alone"!

I will rate it 9/10

1. How many viewers are estimated to have watched the youtube video?

"Bus Uncle" received 1.7 million hits in the first 3 weeks after it was released. (according to wikipedia)

"Leave Whitney Alone" had over four million views in two days. (according to wikipedia)

2. How would you rate the video?

a) Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on?

Those high rated videos are not in quality in terms of image and aesthetics.  I don't think they did pay attention to the lighting, camera angles and the resolution of the video.

"Bus Uncle" is not good in image quality, it doesn't have high resolution, it seems like shot by a mobile phone.

"Leave Whitney Alone" is not delicated to the camera angle, it seems that it shot by Chris Crocker, the only character in the video, the camera is held by him.  Therefore, close-up of him is the only camera angle in this video, we can even see inside his nose when he cried sadly.  Also, we can see that he is not delicated to the background setting as well, the whole video is shot under the bed, so the sheet became his backdrop.

"Guitar", obviously, is not delicated to the use of light.  The background is too bright while inside the room is too dark.  Also, the image quality is not good as well, everything in the video seems blurred. 

b) Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues? 

Yes, I think they raise interesting socio-cultural issues.  Those videos are, somehow, like documentry video.

"Bus Uncle" reveals what happen in the HK daily life, what is about in our living environment, especially it is like a reality show, it did happen in live action.  After this video is released, it did arouse people to think about the PRESSURE problem in HK.  Bus Uncle kept shouting at the young man and even used bad language, is living in HK very stressful which makes Bus Uncle that angry?  Does Bus Uncle have Bipolar Disorder?  And it developed to another question--do HK people suffer a lot from hidden pressure?  Also, what the uncle said in the video have become popular culture in HK since then, it even become a gimmick of commercial products. Apart from commercial products, some TVC imitated and are inspired by this video.

That is a screen from the video 

Famous slogan of Bus Uncle printed on a T-shirt

(photos from http://www.cafepress.com/+bus-uncle+womens-maternity)

A TVcommercial got the idea from Bus Uncle to promote World Cup

"Leave Whitney Alone" is kind of like expressing own idea and opinion on a particular matter.  Especially, Britney Spear is such an international idol and under the circumstance that everyone was criticizng her, it is interesting to see that an American, Chris Crocker, tried to defend Britney and it is interesting to see how an American sees this idol who is in the same country with him.  Chris Crocker presented it in such a dramtic way, it must be very easier to get the attention and attracts people to do some "follow-up searching", for example, the background of Chris Crocker, why he is so emotional about that thing, why he dared to post this video on youtube which is a really popular video sharing channel in the world, and what Britney did on him/American which made him so emotional.  Be honest, I could not recognise whether he is man or lady, so it makes me more curious about who he is actually.  Then I found out that he is actually gay, so it brings up another interesting cultural question - what is the position or status of a gay man in America? Because of his interesting character and gender, he brings out a moral issue about gender and self-identification.

Photo of Chris Crocker

(photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Crocker_(Internet_celebrity))

Comments of "Leave Britney Alone" on youtube

3. Do you think it deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?


Yes, I think they deserved to gain attention.  I will take it as a cultural exchange in fact.  Those videos raised up some cultural issues of their own countries (HK for the "Bus Uncle" and America for "Leave Britney Alone").  And internet community is such an international space, everyone in the world can watch it and give comments on it.  So it can be seen that there are loads of comments discussing the video in different aspects, it is like different people from different countries having conversation although some of them are quite rude and not in a good manner.  It serves as an opportunity for cultural exchange, it deserves the attention.