What
were the first viral videos and why were they popular?
The first videos on the internet that went viral appeared
before YouTube, Facebook or every
other video sharing site started. That is a very shocking fact because
YouTube is like the heart of internet videos and a lot of videos are going
viral nowadays cause everyone uses this platform and sees them. Those videos
were uploaded to YouTube when it was created before but its a very interesting
fact that after YouTube being created and all this ‘internet craze’ came, there
were videos that had already been seen by millions of people.
Those videos are;
The ‘Star wars kid’ (from 2003 - 32 milions
of views on YouTube now) that is basically a teenager reenacting an imaginary
awkward fight scene from Star Wars with a long stick and it became popular
because people found it extremely funny and they started to make parodies of
the video with different songs or lightsaber effects.
The ‘Dancing Baby’ (from
1996 - 3 milion views) that is like a GIF of a baby with a black background
that dances all the video and it became popular because when everybody saw it,
they uploaded a lot of diferent versions of the video with different songs on
it and the video was everywhere.
The ‘Numa Numa’ (from 2004 – 24 milion views)
that is a guy doing an exagerated playback while he’s dancing on a ridiculous
way to the famous song Dragostea Din Tei from 0-Zone and it became so popular
because people loved and found so funny the energetic and enthusiastic way that
he sings.
The ‘Badger, Badger, Badger’ (from 2003 – 23 milion views) that is a
VERY annoying video of a song that says repeatedly the word ‘Badger’ as it
appears a video of a bunch of badgers dancing and it became popular because it
seems that it was an inspiration of a lot of parodies, spin-offs and remixes.
And finally, the ‘Peanut Butter Jelly Time’ (from 2002 – 26 milion views) that
is a very famous GIF of a dancing banana with a very strange background song
that became popular because everyone shared it on different websites and the
video remained like EVERYWHERE during a few years and started to spawn a lot of
remakes on the early 2000s.
Star Wars
Kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU
Numa
Numa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmtzQCSh6xk
Badger
Badger Badger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIyixC9NsLI
Which are
popular now?
Nowadays there are an infinite amount of them on the internet
and all of them have been seen by a lot of people, but I think that the most
famous or the most liked ones are:
the ‘Keyboard Cat’ that is a very realistic
video of a cute cat playing a little keyboard.
‘Charlie bit my finger again!’
that is an extremely famous video of two brothers where one of them puts his
finger on the mouth of the other and this one bites it and laughs.
‘Hitler
reacts to …’ that is a clip of the movie ‘Der Untergang’ where Adolf Hitler is
making a statement to his men in a very angry German (or at least, in the
original version) and people started to write actual things on English
subtitles that represented that he was angry about this things happening (like
Donald Trump running for President or Top Gear being cancelled or the death of
an important character on a movie) and it was funny.
‘Evolution of Dance’ that
is a video of a guy dancing to 32 different famous songs in history in a very
expressive and representative way.
‘Harlem Shake’ that is a worldwide trend of
videos where there’s a bunch of people being quiet with background music and
when the song changes, they dance and move around in a ridiculous way and with
different clothes and funny things everywhere.
And finally, the most viewed
video on YouTube that everyone knows, ‘Gangnam Style’ that was a simple korean
videoclip where the singer appeared on random places dancing or doing dumb and
funny things but generated an enormous trend of parodies and remakes around the
world. The singer became that popular that he’s doing more songs like that and
they’re being extremely popular thanks to the fame that he reached with his 2.500.066.413
views on his first video.
Viral videos are one of the
most famous things in the world nowadays but they’re only funny videos of
people making dumb things or just being themselves so its not a very elaborated
thing compared to the fame that they reach, it’s a very liked thing from
everyone that everyone too can realize with a bit of creativity and imagination
(Who knows… maybe you find me on a viral video in a few years or maybe I found you on some of them in a few years too right? J hahaha I’m just joking)
PS: I really recommend to
everyone the ‘Fine Brothers Entertaintment’ YouTube channel because they expose
people from all ages to viral videos and famous actual trends and the reactions
of them are pretty interesting.
Evolution
of Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg
1st Batxillerat Ricard Rodas
