After talking to
Mr. Jelly about PewDiePie, it got me thinking. And I thought a lot. I want to share my thoughts with you guys.
Now let's start by addressing his fans and his "Bro army". Who are they, why do they like his videos and why are they so hostile about the hate PewDiePie gets? His fans are mostly made up of kids from the ages 9 - 14, sometimes 15+ (I'll talk about that later). A lot of the time, young children are exposed to PewDiePie's videos or similar ones through featured youtube video suggestions. The reason it's PewDiePie or various other channels that gain this sort of recognition these days is because of the sheer popularity bumps his videos up to the top of every search result list.
These kids do not have any video quality measurement to compare channels and videos to. Half the time they're just looking to occupy their own time by searching the title of a game they're interested in / have heard of. Games such as "Slender: The Eight Pages", or "Cry Of Fear". Guess who's made a series for both games? That's almost exactly how some kids I know have figured out PewDiePie. It's not exactly rocket science, though.
But why do they like his videos? It's not as simple, but I think I know why. PewDiePie is infamous for screaming, making off-color jokes and 'being annoying' during his playthroughs. When a ten-year-old child finds PewDiePie, his response isn't "Wow, this guy is annoying and not funny!", it's "This game sure is freaking him out and that's funny!" Like I said before, they don't have anything to compare PewDiePie's humor quality to, so most of the time they assume that's how humor is done in this genre. Now I'm not saying his humor is bad, it's amateur at best; to his fans, his humor is good. That's what they've learned to accept as good humor.
Sometimes as the fans grow older, they find channels that are better and or more humorous than PewDiePie's, and they often look back to wonder why they liked his videos in the first place. Sometimes they stay loyal to his channel. That's usually how it goes. His fans aren't all children, though. I know a couple people who are older than me that aren't exactly "Internet-savvy". Like the kids, they find PewDiePie's videos through featured video suggestions or at the top of every search list. It's pretty much the same, since PewDiePie and others in his likeness are the only channels they're exposed to, that's what they assume is good quality.
But why are they so hostile when it comes to defending PewDiePie? From what a fan has told me, he feels like he needs to stick up for his "Bro". He's explained that PewDiePie treats his fans like his friends, so they return the favor by defending him. I think I can understand that pretty clearly. They don't view PewDiePie as a famous youtuber, but a good friend or something of the like. I'm not condoning some of the things people say on youtube, but that's how one person viewed it... But at the opposite end of the spectrum, there's still people who blindly defend PewDiePie or antagonize other channels for playing a game that PewDiePie did. This is because a lot of young people aren't the brightest, nor are they the nicest. When it's not a troll trying to provoke a reaction, it's usually a kid who thinks he's looking tough by calling out a channel for playing a game that his favorite youtuber did at one point. Pretty simple, isn't it?
Now finally, I'd like to ask what's with the extreme rage this one channel brings everyone here. I can understand he's made a lot of dumb decisions in his career and he isn't funny, but more annoying than anything. I understand that his videos in general just aren't good. What I don't understand is that even his name can turn even the calmest people into mad sacks of rage.
So after reading this, I'd like you to post exactly why you either like or dislike PewDiePie. I think maybe some forumer's opinions will help bring some closure to this whole charade.
