The concept that this is a whole new form of entertainment seems totally spot on. People treat YouTube differently than they do television. It kind of seems like an evolved reality show phenomenon.
it's interesting how the same viewers who degraded Emily embraced Lonelygirl15. I wonder if it has to do with her created persona. As they discuss later, it did appeal to a certain demographic on the web.
I have trouble deciding whether I would feel betrayed or not had I caught onto the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon earlier. I think the craziest part is the elaborate set up of her e-mail responses and so on.
The idea of intellectual property and copyrighting is something that we discussed in our other two modules, so I found it intriguing that it continues to be such a sticky area. Also, the concept behind lawsuits being driven by the amount of money the company running the site has shows how it may all just be about wealth.
When I watched this, I couldn't help but think of the scene in "Napoleon Dynamite." Still, I thought it was pretty interesting how he really did show a kind of chronological "evolution of dance."
The whole idea of "being somebody" on YouTube brought to mind those six girls and two boys in Florida who attacked another girl on video. When I first read that news story, I was appalled by their behavior and curious as to whether the concept of Internet fame had desensitized them to their deplorable actions.