Rise of the Superstar Vloggers

On Monday 1st of February, BBC 3 aired a greatly anticipated documentary, "Rise of the Superstar Vloggers", presented by vlogging king, Jim Chapman. The idea of the documentary was to explore the concept of vlogging, where it started, what goes on behind the scenes and what lies ahead for vlogging in the future. As a teeny tiny YouTuber looking to restart my channel and a full on blogger, this documentary appealed to me greatly. So. What came out of this documentary?

The good.

It was great that the world of vlogging was getting some "serious" coverage, rather than being featured in a gossip magazine or being slagged off on some corner of the internet. Finally there was experts involved, analysing this world's love for YouTube, what can come from something as simple as vlogging. There was some insight into the side effects of vlogging, both the good and the bad that comes out of vlogging and so on which was interesting to see too. 

It also showed that vlogging is something that should be taken seriously. For all the people that slate vlogging (and blogging!), saying it isn't a serious profession and so on, this documentary proved otherwise. It showed how a simple YouTube video can lead to writing novels, bringing out merchandise, selling out arenas and being immortalised in wax (cough Zalfie cough). It demonstrated the world of vlogging as more of a creative, media based career rather than just a fun hobby that people do in their free time for no reason, which was really positive to see. 

Furthermore, the documentary captured just how influential vloggers are, in a more serious sense. Yes they influence our fashion choices, make up purchases and so on, but there are bigger, more serious influences thrust upon us by vlogging superstars. With the rise of personal, confessional videos becoming greater by the day, we are frequently exposed to videos on sexuality, domestic violence, mental health issues, people going through break downs and the like. Whilst videos such as these always split the viewers in two, they have been found to either help people who feel they're going through the same situation or bring a large audience out in support for their favourite YouTube stars. Again, this demonstrated just how serious of a platform YouTube can be, just how serious vlogging can be, rather than a platform for Lush hauls and beauty product reviews, which is incredibly positive. 

It also raised awareness of the negative video's on YouTube, such as the videos created by infamous vlogger Sam Pepper, who regularly assaults females in his videos in order to rack up as many views as possible. It showed how vloggers like Pepper can be called out via the same platform, with Laci Green being one of many to step up to the challenge and raise the issue that is very present in video's like those made by Pepper. 

The bad.

The naivety of the superstar vloggers was quite sickening... whilst it's true that they were seemingly plucked from no where, there's no denying Joe Sugg's fame rose more quickly than most due to his relation to Zoella- ditto Alfie Deyes. There was no mention (that I recall) of the fact that many of these "ordinary people" are a part of the Gleam team or have agents and managers, people turning all of the wheels for them whilst essentially "all they have to do" is put a video up. And whilst yes, us bloggers and vloggers know that its about more than just posting, you have to engage and so on, but the seemingly put on naivety of the vloggers was quite unnerving for me to watch.

It made it seem like starting now- or any time since Zoella and her team came into existence- is pointless. Vlogging has already taken the world by storm, people have already done the books, the film, the TV appearances, hosting meet ups- what is left to do, what's new? Anything done now will be perceived as jumping on the bandwagon and will never compare to the standards set by YouTube royalty. What's the point in even trying? 

It chose to focus on the very negative side of vlogging. It spent a lot of time talking about the negative parts of the internet regarding mental health problems, suicide, self harm, coming out and domestic violence. Whilst it briefly touched on how vlogging "literally saved lives" and helped people out of the lowest situations, I think this was such a large and important factor it should have been a documentary in itself. The program started out strongly, focusing on the past of vlogging and the uncertain future and then went off into a "deep" and emotional program focusing on things that weren't entirely about vlogging. 

For me, a series would have been better than one short episode. That way there could have been an entire episode dedicated to the mental health attributes and how YouTube has helped people to get through problems, share with others and find friends whilst also addressing the downsides. There could then have been separate episodes about the behind the scenes work, focusing on things such as Gleam, an episode on how much time and effort an individual puts into vlogging, an episode on the future of vlogging and so on. 

The documentary did cover some good points but for me, it was uncomfortable and the whole thing felt very disjointed, starting with YouTube success and ending on suicide- but only touching on the subject lightly. It went round in a strange loop, and I am not sure the directors really knew what they wanted to get out of airing this documentary, choosing to cover just as much as they could at once for the sake of it with no real thought. It's sad because there was so much potential- but it felt rushed and I didn't take anything new away from the hour I spent sat watching it. 

What did you think though? Let me know in the comments below!

Love from, 

Florence Grace

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