This log is, more or less, a response to the feedback I got in my presentation. While I am in a slightly different position, as I am not writing a paper and the footage had already been taken (and thus, what I had at the time is all I had to work with), I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the comments and questions raised by my classmates. One point in particular stood out to me that I had not considered and, I believe, is the perfect example of what I am exploring.
Logan Paul is a vlogger and YouTube celebrity. He has amassed a hugefollowing over the past few years and his skyrocketing personal net worth has been a topic of interest to many. However, he also serves as a model of everything that can go wrong when authenticity takes a shot. In one of his videos, he goes into Japan’s “suicide forest,” and records (and later posts) footage that shows an individual who had hanged himself. The video is disturbing and he stands next to the body, almost laughing at one point. The backlash was tremendous – people were fighting to have him banned from YouTube, stripped of his channel, etc. In short, his credibility and authenticity were bombed. He lost fans, support, and quickly issued an apology video desperately trying to save face. In many ways, this supports the exact questions I was seeking.
Logan Paul is a performer. He acquired a massive audience by acting a very particular (in my opinion, really annoying) way and relied on these performances to gain his following. He was, through these performances, manufacturing authenticity and fostering the feeling of community amongst his followers, frequently calling out the fans in the vlogs as “Logan Paulers.” However, as with the incidents with lonelygirl15 and Sadie Benning, this authenticity lies in a delicate balance. Fans want Paul to perform the way he always has on his vlogs, which, of course, is not entirely authentic and sincere, but they do not want him to act too much or do act too obscenely. When he posted the video showing the corpse, he broke away from these “authentic” performances he had relied on and authenticity was lost. It reminds me of how Sadie Benning was discredited when it found out she was not as amateur as people had originally thought.
Though I cannot use this information moving forward due to the nature of my project, it serves as a perfect example of the questions I was exploring. Authenticity is manufactured by vloggers as a way to gain subscribers. These performances are strange mashups of the front and back stages and cannot seem neither too professional nor too amateur. So, is authenticity reliant on sincere performances? Or, do people know these “authentic” vloggers are performing and are okay with that, but only up until a certain point? I was thrilled when this point was brought up. In many ways, I see that as a microcosm of my entire project.