Category Archives: 05. Animals and Kids

Video selections and descriptions for this category by: Calla Johnson and Lena Wilson

Animal and kid videos compose a prominent section of YouTube, based on both quantity of those uploaded and sheer view count. This trend, we argue, is based largely on uploader narcissism and the popularity gamble that makes up YouTube’s structure. Uploaders see seemingly inane videos of crazy cats and sassy kids garner millions of views, and thus believe that their home video of their cute pet or kid will do the same. To represent these trends, we have recommended a series of videos that explore the possible “merits” of popular animal/kid videos. In order to further analyze this, some of our selections have quite low view counts, which can help us analyze why such videos are not as meteoric as their kid/animal-filled counterparts. By also examining videos that implicitly comment upon the conventions of the most popular animal and kid video, we can more closely scrutinize the structures of these videos. How are the pleasures of these videos constructed—what is their purpose and who is their audience? To what extent do these videos interact with each other and with the larger community of YouTube? Are these videos inherently frivolous, the most shallow of all possible YouTube diversions, or can deeper meanings be found?

Keyboard Cat 10 hours

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Uploaded: Dec 3, 2011

View count (Apr 2013): 442,376

This ten-hour looping version of the wildly popular “Keyboard Cat” video showcases two fundamental qualities of YouTube—mindless, seemingly random repetition and a particular attachment to vaguely anthropomorphized adorable cats. While a ten-minute looped version of the “Keyboard Cat” also exists, the ten-hour version is both more popular with almost four times as many views and takes the exercise to a more ludicrous Warhol-esque level. The existence of this video suggests that there are specific temporal pleasures in experiencing Internet ephemera, but there remains the question: has anyone watched the entire ten hours, and if so, why?

[youtube]http://youtu.be/O2ulyJuvU3Q[/youtube]

 

The truth behind grumpy cat

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Uploaded: Dec 7, 2012

View count (Apr 2013): 757,462

In “The truth behind grumpy cat,” a video produced by the popular social blogging website Tumblr for its site-specific news blog, the back-story for the titular meme featuring the Arizonian cat Tardar Sauce is explained using the narration of a small child. The narrator speaks from the perspective of Tardar Sauce, a device that is made more endearing by the child’s voice, speaking about its discontent regarding her fame and the misconceptions it has bred about her life. This video speaks to the issue of context for internet memes in a humorous and entertaining fashion—rarely are the vast majority of the consumers of memes aware of its exact origins.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/l8E4roEG8vA[/youtube]

Kids React to Eagle Snatches Kid

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Uploaded: Feb 10, 2013

View count (Apr 2013): 1,306,329

“Kids React” is a series of YouTube videos that are essentially “what it says on the tin”—the filmed reactions of kids (and sometimes teenagers) to viral videos. The formats of these videos are standardized into a slick educational format, not unlike what the younger participants might watch on PBS. While providing facts about the viral videos in question, they also provide a sort of dual pleasure in this particular instance of watching kids watching a kid, though the kid in question is in peril. Viral video subjects speak about their peers in what is now a viral video, and somewhere Pandora’s box quivers ominously.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/u5ghNw8n5PY[/youtube]

In memory of murdered children (part 10)

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Uploaded: Mar 17, 2013

View count (Apr 2013): 524

This is part ten of an ongoing series done by user “angels1911,” whose channel contains only amateur memorial videos in honor of deceased children. “In memory” opens up an important discussion regarding the superficial definition of animal/kid videos. Why is this compilation of children intrinsically less interesting than, say, “51 Best Kid Fails: Barely Compilation #2“?  The aforementioned, which is a rapid montage of children injuring themselves, has garnered 8,000,000+ views while “In memory” has less than 500. Perhaps “In memory” is not dramatic enough to appeal to drama-seekers and not disrespectful or sadistic enough to appeal to the “51 Best Kid Fails” crowd. Regardless of semantics, it is important to analyze the hypothetical shortcomings of this video through the eyes of the average user.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/DPUQp91tpcU[/youtube]

slow loris with a tiny umbrella

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Uploaded: Mar 7, 2011

View count (Apr 2013): 5,731,846

“slow loris with a tiny umbrella” is the most popular in a string of viral videos featuring the adorable titular animal. Its popularity, however, is certainly not what sets it apart as an animal/kid video, a category in which popularity is nearly blasé. In an unexpected turn of events, this video’s uploader has decided to use its popularity, based on a superficial love of insurmountable cuteness, as a tool for activism. The video’s description currently reads, “do NOT buy slow lorises and keep them as pets” before linking readers to this article. This intersection between cute-based popularity and activism is an interesting example of how a seemingly superficial animal/kid video can do more than make its viewers coo.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/w89bFK3PvBA[/youtube]

The Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton’s)

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Uploaded: Mar 26, 2009

View count (Apr 2013): 99,059

“Boxing Cats” is (incorrectly) regarded across the internet as the “oldest cat video of all time.”[i] The 1894 film by Thomas Edison was shot using a kinetoscope just one year before the Lumière brothers premiered Exiting the Factory, which is largely considered to be the first film. “Boxing Cats,” uploaded to the public on the Library of Congress’s YouTube channel, questions many aspects of the internet cat trend. Perhaps YouTube’s recent influx of cat videos isn’t a recent influx at all. On the other hand, claims that this is the “oldest cat video of all time” also represent an interpretation of old media through the lens of new media trends. No matter where you stand, “Boxing Cats” is an important piece of this chicken-or-the-egg debate.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/6qre61opE_g[/youtube]

[i] Kasia Cieplak-Mayr, Von Baldegg. “The Oldest Cat Video of All Time?.” The Atlantic, February 15, 2012. http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2012/02/the-oldest-cat-video-of-all-time/253134/ (accessed April 19, 2013).

Kittywood Studios: Cat Videos Incorporated

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Uploaded: Aug 10, 2011

View count (Apr 2013): 744,256

This mockumentary short provides a sardonic view regarding the popularity of cat videos on the internet. It falsifies the entirety of YouTube cat videos, claiming that one overarching corporation has produced them all since 1994. Such a satirical critique is important within the animal/kid canon because it inherently questions the means by which such videos become popular. The oversimplified idea that a studio could produce all of these wildly popular videos leads the viewer to the conclusion that no formula exists for YouTube popularity. Why do viewers care about “Very Angry Cat – FUNNY” (83,000,000+ hits) so much, when it is simply a video of a very angry cat? The existence of Kittywood studios is as plausible as any other explanation (Fig. 1).

[youtube]http://youtu.be/7uBZRE5mXpc[/youtube]