alittledizzy wrote:Amazing post, winterbury, and I agree with most of it but I think that since youtube is a different medium than tv or film, the definition of fanservice can't quite be directly applied. Imo, youtubers offer a third kind; the kind that other people have pointed out, where the fan service is not in altering or emphasizing behaviors that wouldn't exist otherwise but in choosing not to hide something that they otherwise would hide. This would be the type that is simply choosing to not edit something out, because fans want to see more of the real dynamic between them. Tv/film creators offer fanservice by adding something that wasn't there or wasn't going to be there to please fans. Youtubers put much of their life on display while generally holding some private things back for themselves, and what fans want to be, er, serviced with, is even more insight into what they aren't normally shown. If someone gets popular making sketch videos and it turns out they develop an audience interested in them as a person and they decide to daily vlog, that is fanservice but pleasantly so for the people who wanted more personal content.
And like many people have also already said, I'm okay with fanservice of that variety. I agree that the Easter baking video was over the top but if Dan had fluff in his hair, I think Phil would really pick it out for him and if they're baking something Dan is probably just as likely to hold out a bite than hand the whole thing over to Phil. Choosing to leave those behaviors in doesn't really fit typical fanservice models A or B, but it fits the youtube variant. It is both genuine and still fanservice.
lol, look at you, overthrowing my brand new system. No but seriously, you're absolutely right. It's a lot harder to fit YouTubers and their content into neat little boxes because they're, well, real people.
[offtopic]Writers and producers are real people, too, but they aren't really affected by what they make their characters do. Actors and their relationship to fanservice, especially ship-baiting, is an entierely different can of worms that would result in another gigantic post
(I mean, look for example at Misha Collins/Jensen Ackles or Dylan O'Brien/Tyler Hoechling a few years ago. I coul write entire essays about that stuff.) and ship-baiting, too, is a topic for another day. ...where was I going with this again?[/offtopic]
Maybe I just don't watch enough different YouTubers but the Type of fanservice you're describing is pretty much Deppy exclusive. As far as I know, there aren't really any other YTers who play off their ambiguity the way Phan does. This is probably why they're so successful - they deliver a certain kind of "fanservice" that's very natural and subtle and that only they can pull off because of their history and the rumours surrounding them and their relationship.
What troubles me a bit is that we don't know if they're secretly two
evil geniuses who use this ambiguity to their advantage or if they're still simply two guys from England who somehow became internet famous and don't mind that many people don't just watch them for their content but for what supposedly happens behind the scenes. I guess it's a bit of both.
I hope it's more of the latter.
teamug wrote:It was reading the comments on this thread that convinced me to give the new games vid a chance. Just based on the title I was going to skip it. Mess of an opinion to follow. I've been unimpressed with the type and trend of their recent videos. By this I mean the choice of games, like the face swap and now impossible quiz (that I just saw on Fine Bros), it seems as if they are rigidly mainstreaming, and I enjoy the lesser known game videos more. That said, what keeps me around and a fan is their delivery. Their chemistry, their banter, they work well together. It's not perfect and not fluid, their mannerisms and personalities show up in these videos, there is some dan and dinof, and phil and ap mixed in there.
Not all vids are great, some not even good, but there are enough hidden gems to keep me hooked. damn them.
So, my review would be: meh, with a dash of honking laugh and a spoonful of sigh-with-a-smile.
*presses imaginary like button*
You perfectly summed up what I thought of the video, ty.
Speaking of games - I know I've been complaining about this for ages but I still can't believe that Dan, who's supposedly a huge video game nerd, refuses to play games with an actual story on his gaming channel. Yeah, the Impossible Quiz and the Sims and whatnot can be fun, too, but come on. No Halo campaign? No "let's take a look at Guild Wars"? I know we had stuff like Pokémon and Donkey Kong in the past and yes, we now have Undertale (which I really enjoy) but as someone who's recently discovered their love for Bioware, I fail to grasp how Dan has everything - enough money, a popular channel, a willing audience - and yet doesn't talk about video games he's actually passionate about. I'm honestly annoying the crap out of my real life friends with my endless nerd rants and I kind of hate Dan for being actively encouraged!! to talk about and show us the stuff he's interested in AND HE JUST KEEPS PLAYING THE SIMS AND FLASH GAMES, AGAIN AND AGAIN.
so much wasted potential. so. much.
awkwardly wrote:Regarding fanservice being good/bad thing - as a queer person I had my fair share of horrible experiences with queerbaiting from the tons of TV/movie/other fictional fandoms I've been in over the past years and years where the fanservice is only queerbaiting - so I guess for a person like me the word fanservice will always have a bad aftertaste. But with real people on youtube it's different. One can not apply the same rules to the extension of them basically reacting to each other (which then transfers into acting up some parts of it, but it is still based on something that was already there whether they are together or not is not the point). Unless they would say one day that they are both completely 100% straight (and so all of it from the very start was just an act for profit - which I honestly can't imagine, that all of it is just an act, cause one can't script these kind of things -yt/ls/... - 100% of time like one scripts TV/fictional characters. I mean surely they are aware of what they are editing and uploading a lot, but still I refuse to believe that they would be just faking it all the time (hahah another show that broke my heart)) But yeah, can't word it better than this (limitations of my english) but I hope it makes sense
I was actually about to submit my post but you brought up some really good points, so here we are.
Dan & Phil possibly queerbaiting has been heavily discussed in the past. I'm gonna wait for a few more people to voice their opinion on this before I do because I'd probably base my arguments on similar things I'm basing my fanservice arguments on right now.
You're right, Deppy don't script everything they say and a lot of their videos are based on reacting to things (games, pictures, food, each other). Still, they've both talked about writing scripts before. If they only write scripts for their more sketch-like videos and if e.g. gaming videos are completely unscripted is up for discussion. But I don't think they just innocently sit down in front of their PC and wait for things to happen. There have been cases were it seemed like they already knew what was going to happen in the game so they could react accordingly. Also, you're not watching two guys play videos in real time. Their videos are heavily edited (more than the ones of most other "gamers", not counting PewDiePie) so anything that they might not want their audience to see can be cut out.
This could also include failed attempts at fanservice, where they e.g. started laughing or it was too obvious the moment had been scripted. But I'm entering conspiracy theorist territory again, lol.
[pre-submitting edit]: i can't stop writing endlessly long posts send help
