alittledizzy wrote:
First: ahhhhh your timestamps. That's the good shit right there, ty. I know exactly what happened in the liveshow already yet I'm somehow still hanging on every word when I read them.
To quote Phil:
Stop it! Don't be so kind.
Second: I've thought so much about Phil and collabs since that video with Shawna came out. Opinions on her as a person aside, it was a good video. He was good with her, and comfortable in a way I don't think he was with Hazel, or even going back further Caspar or Jim Chapman. Even his collab with Tyler was not quite so smooth, even though Tyler definitely brings a sense of comfort to almost every collaboration that he's in.
Is it that Phil is more comfortable with people he's friends with? Is it that he's more comfortable with men that women? Or is this collab with Shawna more of an example of Phil acting on camera more the way he would off-camera, as we've seen in his behavior shifts with Dan in the past 6-9 months. I suppose the real test will be how "AmazingPhil" he is in the one that actually goes up on his channel.
I think it's a mix of him being more comfortable with people he's friends with, but also just the vibe (?sorry, only word that's coming to me) of the specific people he collabs with. Like Tyler and Caspar-type people (big successful YTers themselves) are in persona mode too, they're all "on" for the camera. Nanalew, as a smaller YTer without a strong personality-brand to project, is just more low-key (more 'authentic' if I can say that without gagging), not acting as much for the camera even though she's "on" in her own way. When you've got bigger personalities all trying to be entertaining over each other (because there's no pre-established interpersonal rhythm to get into) it comes off a little strained (like the Caspar collab for example) and.. a little try-hard? Shawna's just an arty little Canadian chick that he's known for years who likes anime, there's just a different energy and intent behind the video and interaction. (But also yeah, let's wait for the vibe on AP..)
Third, and not really related to anything in your post, but I keep seeing people say that this is Phil's charity collab/it's nice of him to collab with smaller youtubers/etc. It's a funny how perspective can shift with who is a smaller youtuber just based on who they've actually heard of.
Hazel is by far the smallest youtuber that Phil has recently collaborated with - she's got less than 250k subscribers but I don't remember hearing a lot of talk of that being a charity one, because I think most people in phandom are familiar with Hazel and she doesn't seem like a non-entity to them. Strawburry17 has over a million subscribers, Shawna and Cat both have just over 700k subscribers - though in terms of view count Shawna's got her 260 million view video that blows the curve for the small youtuber status ranking by views. (Obviously one very popular viral video does not make a famous youtubers, but it's still - something.) If you only watch Gleamers and Tyler Oakley then all but the 1% of youtubers must seem small. If you tend to subscribe to a lot of up and coming channels then 700k is pretty far past the metric of success on youtube, that's into 'I can support myself with this as my career' territory with some savvy sponsor work.
I guess my point is that small youtuber seems relative, none of the people Phil has collaborated with are actually small channels - they're just small compared to Phil himself, who happens to have accelerated far above his at one point chosen peer group. Phil is the outlier there, not everyone else. Not to get too mushy about Phil, but I'm glad that he still sees those people as his peers and doesn't seem to have the same elevated opinion of himself that fans have. It'd be a damn shame if Phil were one of those people only willing to collaborate in what essentially amount to cross-promotional management company arranged playdates.
The simple answer to that is: it's an easy insult. Look, I fully understand people not wanting to support or reward Nanalew because she has gross thoughts. I already knew who she was, and already knew her leanings, so the novelty of of 'oh she seems nice. wait....
oh" already happened for me awhile ago, I stopped watching her (but not in a boycott way, just in a 'I would prefer to spend my fun internet time on people who don't think I will end up (so: deserve to be?) in hell
when that's possible. If she ends up overlapping into my fun internet Phil time (I don't know why I'm calling it that, leave me alone), then I can deal with that, but I respect that other people can't or don't want to have to deal with it themselves. Fair. But yeah, deciding 'oh actually fuck her, it's just a charity collab because I know things about her I didn't before' is the easiest insulting route to take when the facts of her actual personality/thoughts have already been run into the ground. It wouldn't be a charity collab if it was with a tiny YTer who was universally loved with no icky skeletons waiting to be dug up (um, or just casually tweeted out by themselves like nbd). But I understand the impulse. It's all a big from me. Ignoring the personalities involved though, I also like that Phil collabs with whoever (on the rare occasions that he does) without it being clearly about subscriber numbers. It's kind of funny that D&P are thought of as being snobby for being so insulated with each other when it seems more and more apparent as time goes on that basically everybody else that isn't them just sucks in one way or another anyway. Can 'bros before homophobes' be a thing?
tbh like I know that they want the videos to be interesting but idk, I like things being spontaneous.
