fancybum wrote:Ok so I just finished DAPGO and this is going to be... a lot. These are just some gross thoughts I've been having for a while now that basically exploded after getting through the book.
Dan and Phil. They're. So. Happy. And they love tabinof so much, they loved tatinof so much, proud af, time of their lives, yada yada. And
IMO (nonbelievers run away now, shoo),
one gigantic part of why they loved it all so much is that it gave them an 'excuse' if you will to be glued to each other at all times and not feel any need to hide it. No need to explain it.
I hear your logic but just want to point out that this really is pure speculation. There are many other reasons you can offer that could explain their happiness and love for TATINOF. The 'being glued together' in buses, hotels and the perception of their audience could be an unintended consequence of it all - or even something they disliked while they enjoyed doing what they did and appreciating their general friendship
Joining together to work on something that involves them both and that for two years would basically take over their lives is self-explanatory for joint travel, constant collaboration, etc. Living in each other's pockets to an extent we had never before seen, only because, leading up to that point, they felt the need to downplay it even though it has always been the case. Or attempt to downplay it.
All that time spent insisting they're not a double act, they're not joined at the hip.
> Yup looking at their old live shows and stuff they do come across a bit silly insisting that they not a double act. While I think it's true they could make their own careers, they've chosen to write books together and tour the world with a show about their shared history. So you can say what you want you've sorta made your choices along the way guys 
But IMO that unease with being lumped together came not only from the (perfectly understandable at that time/any time) desire to establish their own individual identities on their separate channels (for Dan especially to feel like he earned his stripes on his own, not just because Phil gave him a headstart on YT),
but ALSO from the desire to keep genuine scrutiny away from their irl relationship (however defined).
> If that was their intention, they were pretty horrible at it. They could have also just decided to make content that wasn't so ambiguous. Skip the pinofs, amazingdans, baking vids. Edit out the love stairs, innuendo and other things that can be interpreted as more than friendship. If that is your aim...
So in the past we have all the stilted, awkward interactions, anvilicious comments intended to shut down perceptions they didn't want people to have... just clumsiness and plain old defensiveness.
But then came the gaming channel, leading to... the book! The tour! Reasons, airtight professional reasons to be together all the time, no need to qualify anything with 'this is my flatmate and he's here because X or Y'. Instead, 'this is my co-host on this channel, this is my co-author of this thing I love, we're doing a stage show to build on our existing joint work together'. Nice and clear reasons to explain, without really having to explain, why they're together 24/7. And there had to have been relief in that, it was an excuse to talk more openly about doing E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. together, bc work.
> K so i interpret this as the core of the idea you're presenting. That would make sense, but imo it's circular because it already assumes the conclusion to arrive at it. Yes, if they were a couple looking for excuses to do everything together, putting everything under the 'work' umbrella would be an effective way to hide from some scrutiny.
But it's just as valid to presume that one work project just led to another resulting in an ever increasing professional engagement. The basis of friendship, whether they are lovers or not is there anyways, so I deem it plausible that things just grew organically. You don't have to add the motive of trying to hide something to explain the current state of affairs of their channels/brands/relationship.
We didn't even have that much of an idea before this year just how involved they are in each other's videos (meaning non-joint-spon, non-gaming, just their individual videos. They're all up in there at all times), the surprises of 'oh he helped film? oh he suggested that? etc' because they started opening up more about those details. Because whatever, it's work. And they could finally talk about it and finally give less fucks because they wrote a damn book together, they're doing a stage show together, who cares if they're editing the other's YT videos on top of everything else? They went next level and the book/tour allowed them to do that. They're disgustingly happy together and the book/tour allowed them to show it in all its hideous beauty. They're having fun with
work!
They could feel free to post cute pics under the cover of book/tour hype/promo. Things they maybe could have been doing all along if they weren't so protective of their private lives and so worried about people taking little fun moments and linking them to 'phan', getting too real, crossing lines, all of that.
This I find contradictory. If they want to be protective of their private lives, work or not, you don't don't make the photo book full of pictures. Why if you want to avoid scrutiny of your relationship do you have a fanart and fanfic segment in the show you yourself create? Either you're trying to let people 'subtly' know you're a couple (though it's not subtle and it'd be quite a bizarre way to go about it) or you're at the very least engaging with the phan idea and inviting your audience to it, while you're denying/ have denied to be in a relationship. Ambiguity everywhere
Now OBV people still make those links, they literally cannot be stopped, but at least from an outside and more objective view, they're just 2 dudes promoting their joint content, nothing to see here, keep walking. And that there's the thing, that's why people just tossing around 'fanservice' (and in most cases not even as criticism, I know) gets to me so often; because from my perspective (
and only mine yeah I need to chill out sometimes when other people differ I KNOW) it's a service to
themselves (
lol).
So TO ME it feels shitty to see two people being more comfortable with themselves and with each other, being more open, less guarded, less careful at all times, less
afraid even, and just reduce it to 'playing up to what the viewers want'. Especially looking back at everything leading up to this point in 2016- their early defensiveness (mostly Dan's) and pushing back at just giving into viewer demands and all the resentment there and then.
Being happy and playful and sure, domestic, with each other now as fanservice, and not because that's what comes naturally to them and they don't care to hide it anymore, doesn't really work for me.
You seem to approach this from an either/or mindset. I think both are true. I don't like the word 'fanservice' because it's pretty vague as a concept. However I do think that what we see in their edited video's are an interaction of what comes natural to them, of what is their genuine fondness and friendship for each other and the desire of them to 'make a good video' which entails that they take into account what they think the public expects of them. there's many considerations that go into making their video's i bet but just like the persona- vs authentic personality debate ... i think what we see is a mix of all. They are probably less energetic, lovey-dove with each other when the camera is switched off, but it starts from a real basis (imo: their friendship). They have an insane bantz per minute number, it's almost impossible that they throw around so many puns 24/24. It's like any sort of acting where you strive to be realistic: you magnify certain traits and certain behavior in the interest of making the sketch as 'good' as you can.
Fanservice is Dan "giving in" to viewer demand and playing Undertale on the gaming channel. And he's complained about it, and made guilt-mongering remarks about it: he wanted to play it on his own to properly appreciate the story, but you damn viewers wouldn't shut up, so fine, he's playing it and selling his integrity blah blah blah. 'Fanservice Dan' is a whiny brat (still love him but. come. on.). How he acts with Phil is not a surrender to demanding viewers; they didn't get worn down over the years to the point of giving in. They've just eased into being more public with what they already were and are in private: a unit.
The fact that fans like it isn't why they're doing it (which is not to say they're not aware that fans like it, they're not idiots), they're doing it because they like it. They show each other off and talk each other up, sometimes so much it's like they're making up for lost time.
> I agree. i believe that ultimately, what they show is meant to reflect how they broadly feel about things and that they are comfortable doing it. ( but ofc I think it is all contained within the context of friendship)
K I'm go read some more DAPGO. I do wish they'll feel more comfortable with physical intimacy
There's still that one area that seems mostly off-limits though: physical intimacy. Man, was I looking for a hug in DAPGO like it was a drop of water in the desert. Anything. We got Phil's fingers in Dan's mouth, sure. Them sitting on top of each other all over the world because they don't understand the concept of personal space. But no hugs, not even a lazy arm resting over a shoulder. If irl they give each other those sad and limp M&G hugs, it would be the ultimate cosmic joke. We just really don't know.
Public Touching (
yes, there's an L in there pervs): that's still a bridge too far for them 97% of the time. So the rare instances stand out, like the joyful attack in Impossible Quiz 2. Noted, adored by all. Then it pops up in the preview screen for their next gaming video and from the darkness comes the unholy shrieking of "
Fanservice!11". I imagine Dan and Phil shrugging at each other, "I just thought it was cute," in response. What kind of shit like that have they just gotten used to cutting out of videos, how practiced have they become over the years in physically restraining themselves and backing off what their instincts are itching for them to do? Always overly aware of the eyes on the other side of the camera and never fully at ease with them:
Now they let the odd one slip by, happily. They're each other's biggest fans and it's never been more apparent than this last year. Ummm which I guess brings me to the end of this
rant review.
tldr: I loved DAPGO. Did you read this whole thing? Sort your life out.
