Is this Real Life?

Vlogging, or videoblogging, is a relatively new sensation, made famous by Youtube.  Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vonderau say "The form has antecedents in webcam culture, personal blogging and the more widespread 'confessional culture' that characterizes television talk shows and reality television focused on the observation of everyday life" (94).  The subject matter of vlogs varies, but the idea of "confessional culture" exists throughout them.  Vlogs have become such a sensation because they are easy to produce, the viewer feels as if they are being spoken directly to, and vlogs encourage discussion.  The idea of easy to produce videos with the encouraged discussion entices viewers to create their own vlog as a response to a more popular blog, perhaps even becoming viral.

One vlog that I used to watch when I was younger was called "The Internet Killed Television".  The premise of this vlog is that it is an ordinary, young couple using Youtube to document their life.  After 4 years of vlogging every single day of their life, including their wedding proposal (their most viewed video and embedded below) and wedding, they still are able to get around 90,000 views per video.  After watching many of their videos, I would say that vlogs do not only rely on just the idea of confessional culture.  Vlogs have many aspects of voyeuristic films, especially with personal and daily vlogs, because the viewer is able to watch a strangers life from afar.  Confessional culture only goes as far to explain the content of vlogs, but using a voyeur lens allows us to really see that we are almost spying in on people's lives.  While the example that Snickars and Vonderau bring up (lonelygirl15) is a way to explain how content of a video allows a vlog to gain a lot of popularity, it is the fact that the viewer is watching another persons life.  While The Internet Killed Television is a vlog, it does not re-enforce the idea of confessional culture as much as some other vlogs.   The voyeur lens provides a reason to watch the videos.

The content of the vlogs is important to gain viewership, but voyeurism is the reason that people make vlogs.  It is the idea of peeping in on peoples lives that entices the viewer to continue their viewership.