I share your experience almost exactly, as I started watching them around 2008 and am roughly the same age as you. The problem with D&P now, that fuels that nostalgia is that they are not super relatable people now (for reasons you mentioned), but they build their current image off that genuine relatability they had with their subscribers at one point. They're older, but they are still aiming at the same audience they had when they first started out. So even though I too see past/present them as two separate entities, it's sort of like they're trapped in time.bedhead91 wrote:
I think when and what attracted you to Youtube in general might affect your opinion on this matter. For me, what got me into youtube was the fact that it was amateurish, even the professional filmed stuff, because it was a medium that I hadn't experience before. I didn't many have friends that shared my interests or made videos about funny things that happened or a random story they'd written as a kid, and the fact that they were people from places I personally knew making and sharing videos about those places (which would have been completely ignored by other media) was cool.phamnotof wrote: And I guess for me, this way is preferable even as far as experiencing them as celebrities goes, I would just not be comfortable being a fan of someone who I could think of in terms of 'just like me', but that's personal preference and a desire for boundaries. Like I honestly prefer this, I prefer a good production value and a firmly set wall, I've got poorly edited and badly lit friends who make terrible jokes IRL. I like that they're a business now, because I am fascinated by personas, I think they're an artform, good branding is like porn to me, the gap between persona and private citizens keeps me up at night - this is what I like. I like storytelling and entertainment and I don't find it manipulative, fanservice to me is their job, serve me up, bro, just do it in a way that I can enjoy, sell yourself well or then I'll be unhappy. I need you to be fictional to a degree, or else I won't be able to project my everything onto you. But again, this is preference.
I'll admit that I was 16 in 2009 and I didn't know better than to laugh at rape jokes at the time. So, it's not so much just that everyone was doing it, it was that everyone didn't have exposure to the same discussions online then than they do now. And I'd still argue that dark humour has it's place in appropariate contexts, but I'm more aware of the potential discomfort caused by dark humour now in large part because of the online presence of those kinds of topics.phamnotof wrote: And as far as the problematic stuff goes, I really don't find "everyone did it" to be in any way a good enough excuse, like I was 13 in 2009 and even then, I knew better than to laugh at rape jokes. I don't blame him anymore, and it's been a joy to see how much he grew up, but I really don't think that his frankly horrible behaviours at times can be excused. Slutty was a weird word to use on my part though (#problematictoo ) - I just meant to overly sexed up image he tried to build, the sultry stares, the dancing - not my thing. But there's nothing wrong with it. And I guess I read anger in a lot of his videos, anger and frustration, and not just cause of Voldy, but also the overall pressure put on him from everywhere, becoming famous, moving, dropping out - he just didn't seem happy. And I appreciate that some people related to that & it indeed is valuable.
I appreciate hearing your opinion though, and it too is weird to think that if you are around long enough, you cultivate multiple distinct fanbases (yet we are all here in the end ). It's like taht with other things too. I definitely don't relate to some of the newer fans of some bands I've listen for years, and I've realized that I wouldn't be fans of those bands if I'd just heard their newer stuff, but I've stuck around because I liked their old stuff. The newer fans may never listen to the older stuff cause it's not their style of music, it's like we're listening to two different genres yet we're fans of the same thing. This metaphor has gone of the rails, I'm sorry.