That's a fantastic take on VTubers and may well be the piece of it I didn't understand.
People want escapism -- but celebrities revealed themselves to be vapid and out of touch to the normies. Something we have all known was suddenly laid bare for all to see. So, fake celebrities were the next best thing. A pure fantasy to get that same escapism.
I still think the whole thing is/was weird and cringey -- especially the kind of stuff you saw on /r/all for a long time in 21 and 22. But at least this helps me understand some theory as to why it came about.
I hope you have gotten off of reddit. When you help reduce their real human traffic you get em where it hurts, because the expense associated with fake traffic and narrative curation hinge on the substance of real traffic that you provide by being tolerant of them and interested in x sub
Western celebrities aren't a form of escapism any more because they're constantly on social media breaking the illusion. They're no longer just their characters. They're real people with bad opinions and horrible takes just like the rest of us, so the illusion has been permanently dispelled.
You don't have to worry too much about an anime or video game character getting drunk and calling all their fans Nazis on Twitter because anime characters aren't real. This keeps the fantasy real. Even when writers decide that your beloved childhood character is suddenly a pedophile, you can simply dismiss it as bad writing and refuse to accept it as canon. You can't do that with an actor who embodies a role in every way.
I think another issue is that so many celebrities are increasingly so fake in everything they do. Limited life experience, limited ambition and drive, and still being paid the big bucks in spite of being soulless husks compared to some of their predecessors.
And top of that they've become the most outspoken and whiny bitches, despite being well off financially and career-wise. It's of little surprise that "influencers" and vtubers seem to command just about as much attention and respect now, comparatively.
That's a fantastic take on VTubers and may well be the piece of it I didn't understand.
People want escapism -- but celebrities revealed themselves to be vapid and out of touch to the normies. Something we have all known was suddenly laid bare for all to see. So, fake celebrities were the next best thing. A pure fantasy to get that same escapism.
I still think the whole thing is/was weird and cringey -- especially the kind of stuff you saw on /r/all for a long time in 21 and 22. But at least this helps me understand some theory as to why it came about.
Thanks!
I hope you have gotten off of reddit. When you help reduce their real human traffic you get em where it hurts, because the expense associated with fake traffic and narrative curation hinge on the substance of real traffic that you provide by being tolerant of them and interested in x sub
Oh yeah. Barely check it for baseball news these days, but never even go on /r/all anymore.
When they killed their API they lost me as a user. I would never use their cancerous app or give them a dollop of revenue.
Western celebrities aren't a form of escapism any more because they're constantly on social media breaking the illusion. They're no longer just their characters. They're real people with bad opinions and horrible takes just like the rest of us, so the illusion has been permanently dispelled.
You don't have to worry too much about an anime or video game character getting drunk and calling all their fans Nazis on Twitter because anime characters aren't real. This keeps the fantasy real. Even when writers decide that your beloved childhood character is suddenly a pedophile, you can simply dismiss it as bad writing and refuse to accept it as canon. You can't do that with an actor who embodies a role in every way.
I think another issue is that so many celebrities are increasingly so fake in everything they do. Limited life experience, limited ambition and drive, and still being paid the big bucks in spite of being soulless husks compared to some of their predecessors.
And top of that they've become the most outspoken and whiny bitches, despite being well off financially and career-wise. It's of little surprise that "influencers" and vtubers seem to command just about as much attention and respect now, comparatively.