Has YouTube Gone Mad?
- Thread starter sadmanbarty
- Start date
version
Well-known member
@kid charlemagne and I check in on this guy every now and then. I couldn't work out whether he was old or young when I first stumbled across him. It's like he's early 20s but with a grey beard and an old man's fashion sense.
craner
Beast of Burden
I only discovered him this morning when I stumbled upon his very calm, measured and precise dissection of Argento's Sleepless that almost lulled me to sleep.
version
Well-known member
One of his most popular videos was him doing something similar on Salo.
He's got this manner which bleeds into the comments and everyone starts posting really sincere messages of support whenever he uploads something, like on that one you posted.
@etienne9437
1 year ago
Hi Daisuke, let me reassure you that you are not at fault for this "decline". You create a loyal, passionate & respectful community from all over the world on your channel. Your channel is a rare place when I feel a belonging comfort and where I learn a great amount of knowledge on cinema. Thank you for everything you are putting on this channel Daisuke we surely appreciate the time, effort, well thought and fun times share with you. I'm sure it's a youtube algorithm thing that happen. Have a good day mon ami and keep your head up
@thromulate
1 year ago
You are probably the kindest, most informative and most genuine person on YouTube. To know that you have to deal with YouTube and all their insufferable nonsense on a regular basis, and STILL persevere and produce high quality content at an unprecedented rate is overwhelmingly inspiring. Thank you for all that you do.
kid charlemagne
Well-known member
hes mentioned like having a wife and children, and its so funny to imagine all that
craner
Beast of Burden
The anguish is pathetic, self-pitying, myopic and precious, but it is also understandable. It is a psychological byproduct of all expressions of creativity and not new or unique in any way. But the form it has taken on social media has given it a different quality, a kind of neurotic link to data, ratings, responses that comes to rule, and starts to obscure, the reason for doing these things in the first place. Normally, only the bosses would worry about this, but with the social media amateurs, who work alone, the boss and the board have been internalised.
But who hasn't made something and been delighted or dismayed by the response to it? It is relatable.
The problem is that, as he says, he puts a lot of work and preparation into these video talks and even "loses" money doing it, something he quantifies in terms of time and effort rather than the actual hard cash he must be spending on physical products. This is rooted in his love of film but the output has now almost consumed that love, data has obscured the passion or become the passion itself. "I loved films before I started doing YouTube videos," he reassures us, "and no doubt I will continue to do so if I stopped doing YouTube videos." Well, was there any doubt? Who was doubting this? Were you?
The emotional and psychological investment in this (essentially) creative exercise becomes intimately tied up with the response; on the social media platforms, it is measured (fatally) through data (hits, likes, subscriptions). The crisis of February 2023 was a crisis of data: not a decline in the number of people watching his stuff, but in the decline of new subscribers, as if there is an unlimited number of people in the world who are as interested in the Criterion Collection as Daisuke is. But the crisis affected everything: motivation, contentment, the new identity that he created for himself via (not simply on) YouTube, any legitimate excuse he had for the amount of time and money wasted.
So he gets to the point where he blames himself for the fall in (or rate of new) subscribers, questioning the content of his videos (which is reasonable) and coming to the conclusion that he needs to change, to "improve" himself. Not just his work, which is still, lest we forget, a hobby, but his character. All in the name of keeping his rate of new subscribers up. Because it that doesn't happen, then what is the point of it all? What does it all mean? YouTube, film, art, life, the universe?
I don't know, Daisuke. Why did you start doing this in the first place? Didn't you just want to communicate? To comment, to create?
We've all been there, really. We just haven't made abject videos about it.
pattycakes_
Can turn naughty
User pattycakes_ liked this post
craner
Beast of Burden
Now I'm starting to worry that only version 'liked' my long post. Should I have written it? Should I have written it differently? Why did I post it? Why do I post anything on Dissensus? Who am I anyway? Why do I do anything? What a schmuck. What a loser. An embarrassment to the board, to myself, to the country, to the human race.
