There's An Elephant In The Room

Ahh YouTube. YouTube is a phenomenon that I was introduced to a few years ago. I had a coworker that unfortunately (although she was very nice) revolved her life around YouTube. Have you seen this on YouTube? You should YouTube that. I found this on YouTube. I had no idea that “YouTube” could be used as a verb. Interesting. Anyhow, it’s truly amazing the sorts of things one can find on YouTube: TV clips, homemade movies, homework assignments, etc. It has become a huge multimedia and social network.

Television and movie clips found on YouTube are always very interesting to me simply because it’s a cheap version of editing. One can grab what they want from a whole segment or show and make it into something it was never intended to be, look or sound like. One of my friends and colleagues found an excellently crafted montage of the lovely Sarah Palin speaking eloquently (hahaha) in response to an “interview” by Marge, a main character from the Minnesota parody movie Fargo. Hilarious. This is my point exactly.

Using YouTube in this light also allows one to highlight important aspects of a, let’s say, talk show. Talk shows have the best way of supposedly showing the interviewee as a “real” person, just having a conversation. Okay, not really so much but it’s closer than it being a nationally televised debate. Talk shows generally show the viewer a medium to full body shot of the host and interviewee talking. This makes things a tad more personal and intimate. You get to see the relationship between the host and the interviewee up close and personal. There they both are, sipping coffee, tea or whathaveyou, talking very candidly like they’re old friends, and rather nonchalantly about things that can be, but don’t have to be, extremely important. Did I mention the set? A lot of talk show sets look like a living room picture pulled out of a Martha Stewart magazine. Nice leather couch. I bet that’s a damn caramel macchiato with soymilk, and organic espresso too.

My point is, the set/atmosphere/shots of this television show (yes people, no matter how you look at it, it is still a television show. Daytime television nonetheless. All of the other channels are playing soaps right now.) is supposed to make everything going on seem casual and like you’re getting the more “human” side of people. I can’t believe I actually basically said that talk shows humanize people. Ha.

A few blogs ago I talked about the “hollywoodization” (that’s not a word) of gay and lesbian people. For this post I think I will combine that with politics! Yay! Clearly a topic everyone is comfortable with. Not taboo at all, perfect. I looked at the ever popular and openly gay Ellen and her daytime talk show, and her several interviews with important political figures such as McCain, and Hilary Clinton. You would never believe what Ellen has the balls to do (okay maybe not the best euphemism), “let’s talk about gay marriage,” shall we? Oh no she didn’t…

It’s a totally interesting take on politics if you ask me, the daytime talk show version of campaigning. Ellen asks all the questions that everyone really wants to know the answers too, but in a less “professional” way. It’s not like such politicians have never had to answer these questions before, it’s just that I think people expect to hear much less bullshit this way. Whether or not they get it is debatable. I think one has to have a different identity, if you will, to adapt to talk shows, their hosts, and their audiences. One needs to be extra careful how they present and represent themselves on such a show. YouTube clips of such a representation can either really help or really hurt a politician.

In the first clip I found, Ellen drops the gay marriage bomb on McCain. She tells McCain straight up: I was gonna do it anyhow, and now it’s legal and I can legally celebrate my love like everyone should, it’s only fair and natural. Well, clearly the way Ellen feels about gay marriage is ambiguous (I kid), but then she opens it up to McCain for rebuttal. McCain is brilliant at skirting around the question at first and then says he does believe in the “unique status of marriage between a man and a woman.” This might be one of the most straightforward things he says as a politician. Ellen equates this lack of rights to that of women’s and African American’s rights (or lack thereof) and tells him we are all the same, there is no different between her and McCain. McCain, probably wisely, doesn’t get into it with her, wishes her happiness, but says they simply disagree. He keeps it short and sweet, doesn’t defer much from the topic, but clearly doesn’t want to get into it at all, and therefore does not. Thank you John we agree to disagree McCain. You can see the clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7addd1-SY8

The next clip I watched was of Hillary Clinton on Ellen. Ellen prefaces the all-important question with “I don’t know if you know this, but I’m gay.” Hillary plays along and looks shocked. “WHAT??” It’s actually quite funny. Hillary then makes a terrible pun about being gay and happy..and how they mean the same thing sometimes…It was terrible. Ellen then poses her platform; she wants the same rights as people whom are not gay and married. Sounds simple enough. Ellen then spells out Clinton’s platform: she supports civil unions but not gay marriage. “Uh huh,” is Clinton’s brilliant response. Ellen’s response to that was better, “Uhhh….why?” Clinton says she’s down with civil unions with full benefits, but then she moves on to talk about the military??? What? I missed the part where that has anything to do with gay marriage. Ellen then asks the big money question “do you think it’s possible for someone to run and openly say I support gay marriage and win?” At least Hillary is honest and says she doesn’t know, but she has maintained her position for years. Well, good for you lady, but she does say that marriage should be left up to the states. Well, that is a little different than what you first said about civil unions Ms. Clinton. She says that we need to “open the door for people to define their relationships in a way that we can recognize and acknowledge.” I don’t get it…are you for gay marriage, against it or what lady? Congrats Hillary, you’re a true politician; I have no idea what the hell you are saying! This seems to prove my point though; Hillary seems to be playing up her specific host and audience, while not really defining who she is or what she stands for! But look at me in my excellent pant suit, chatting and chumming it up with my girlfriend Ellen-for the record she’s a girl that is my friend…not my girlfriend girlfriend…you know what I mean right?? Vote for me! Well played, although you seem to have a little brown on your nose Hillary. You can see the clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3huRVrckY8&feature=related

It’s interesting, recently it has become “cool” or “okay” to be gay (it wasn’t before, you know) or know someone whom is. Television and film have been the first to eat this up, take advantage of, utilize, manipulate, exploit and probably anything else one can think of-gay people and their lifestyle for the sake of television and film…whatever that means. It’s no longer taboo, with the exception of in politics. This is still an issue in which we cannot “go there.” Put a politician on television, a talk show, a talk show with a gay host, and it’s like the best 27 minutes of television ever! Dance monkey dance. It’s incredible to see them skirt around this issue. I love watching people talk about issues but never actually truly talk about them. A sociologists dream!

It appears the politicians understand the “talk show” atmosphere and philosophy and they play to that. It can truly make or break them I think. They play up their humanistic, sympathetic, “I’m for the people” kind of characteristics, although they never really delve into the issues the people really want to know and talk about. The talk show truly has a way of representing people in a unique fashion. It’s just a television show, unless your talking to Katie Couric, no one will remember what happened. Right? This is where the wonderful world of YouTube comes in. People can cut, crop, edit anything on YouTube and potentially show the world “how you really are,” or make you into something you are not at all. Vicious. Depending on which category a clip falls into, there are catalogs and numerous archives of alike clips for viewers to get their hands on, not simply one or two. YouTube clips can stereotype or prototype, or they can do just the opposite, it just depends on whom is doing what with them. Didn’t your mother ever tell you, be careful what you say? It might come back to haunt you, or rather, live in infamy on YouTube. Put that on your resume.