I really dislike “random” as a genre. Of anything. Over the last decade, random has somehow become its own art form. And it depresses me.
Stringing together unrelated phrases and words is not art, it’s how a two year old learns to speak.
Yet without fail, these viral videos and songs and images that don’t say anything about anything get propped up with comments like “OMG, that was so random, I don’t know why but I love it”.
Ugh.
If you want to impress me, tie your “randomness” into your content with some context. Create a running joke, be unexpected, use your humor to challenge me. But if what you’re creating isn’t Greatest Hits material, and you know that even before it’s released, start over.
Love, your neighborhood curmudgeon,
Alan
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Completely agree. WheezyWaiter is a good example of random done right – I can dig it because it ties together and it’s witty and smart. But so much on YouTube nowadays is… dismal. Le sigh.
Completely agree with you about WheezyWaiter being a shining example of doing it right. It’s not random IMO, it all ties into a universe he’s created.
ah. yes, i agree with this to some extent. i cringe at TV shows that purposefully try to be random … which by definition just doesn’t make sense. thankfully, i rarely ever watch television!
Was this by any chance in response to Tessa, Luke, and Jason’s latest video?
Aww Alan, don’t be sad. Let’s go outside.
+ 1 Thumbs Up
Gah I agree compleeetely. I saw this commercial that was trying so hard to be an Old Spice commercial but it was just a guy saying his “guitar sounds like dolphins” … you need to be doing something clever to be funny. Spewing random just isn’t funny by itself.
Random is just so…I like fish!
What’s even worse is when a person comes to describe themselves as random. It’s come to mean something like the word “cool” for people whom the rest of the world considers not to be.
i was just thinking the other day about how i’m not amused by that stuff any more and how proud of myself i was for growing up. hah. sombrero cheese monkey???
Yeah, I hate this whole being ‘random’ is trendy thing and the word itself. I just hate people. Not really. But no, everyone.
I agree. It’s one thing to be clever about it like Craig, but another entirely to just string a bunch of words together and make them rhyme and expect people to slobber all over it just because you’re “famous” on YouTube.
If it’s not something you’re going to be proud to show your friends, or that you have to preface with “you probably won’t like this”…chances are you should probably be scrapping the project.
People may enjoy a “random” video because it consists of simplicity. A viewer is not expected to understand, because there is nothing to comprehend. I think a lot of people watch things that may be silly or random to take away from the complex world. Think about it, everything we do is thought out and not impulsive. Sometimes we need a break or an outlet from the complications.
With that said, I am not saying that random is a so-called “art form.” To no degree do I think random lines or random clips is “so beautiful” and “well edited!” The definition of art form: “An activity or a piece of artistic work that can be regarded as a medium of artistic expression.” I don’t think randomness is meant to be called art. I think it is meant to ease the simple minded.
Sorry for my rambles, Alan. I do agree with you… but I also think that we have high standards when it comes to videos. (Which is not a bad thing.)
As an occasional advocate of randomness (I like a good game of apples to apples, or its online equivalent Nutsy Bolts) I agree that the important thing is context, especially when you combine it with originality. YouTubers like Craig and TV shows like The Mighty Boosh stay popular because, as you say, it all relates to the universe they’ve created. When people start to emulate what they’ve done, this new content starts to feel watered down and unoriginal.
As far as songwriting goes, one element of randomness can only be brought in check by structure elsewhere. For my YouTube channel I generate topics for my songs randomly from Wikipedia, but I’ve applied a bunch of guidelines to make sure it doesn’t go completely off the rails, and I’ve always tried to make the lyrics more than just a musical re-telling of what’s in the article. Within the context of the channel, people know what to expect – it’s not just a bunch of ideas thrown together for the sake of it.
I also feel like “random” shouldn’t be used to describe things that aren’t random at all. It gets used as a ‘filler’ word when people don’t want to take the time to articulate an idea properly (or can’t think fast enough to say what they want on the spot). People often mistake something very specific for being random. In the movie “21″, Laurence Fishburne’s character says “I will break your cheekbone with a small hammer. And then I will kill you.” People would probably say “that’s random”, but in fact it’s just unexpectedly specific, and that’s what makes it funny.
Gonna stop talking now.
Mwah. I think there’s good random and bad random. I disliked Tessa, Jason, and Luke’s new music video because it was just weird randomness.
A perfect example of random videos I like is Charlie’s early videos and his ‘Charlie Randomness’ video he made in response to people asking for more randomness.
I dunno, randomness can be cool but it’s really hit and miss I guess. It’s hard to do it right.
Someone here mentioned the old spice commercial. I like it and it’s so random, but it’s planned out and very well executed.
Instead of the video “Charlie Randomness” I mean “Never from concentrate (with bits)”.
the alex and charlie format videos are another example of random done right. ;-D
It’s this new generation craze. I really don’t get it. I’ve got a thirteen year old sister who just screams out “CUPCAKES!” and expects everyone to laugh because it’s SO FUNNY. And it stems from the tv they watch too. It’s just so much random, unfunny, really stupid things. Ugh.
I don’t know if anyone has said this either, but it’s also sad that people misuse the word random. The definition is completely lost on the facebook generation, with their inappropriately titled photo albums as “random photos!1!” Not. Random.
steve [fizzylimon on youtube] made an excellent video about the use of the term random, which you should probably watch because he’s quite hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0-yY2z4gr0
and his conclusions are pretty accurate.
i agree with the sentiment that there is a good and bad way of going about ‘being random’ and i like the way you put it, tying it into something else. that seems to be lacking in a lot of popular videos. however, it may be because a large majority of people enjoy that sort of thing and aren’t looking for ‘art’ on youtube. it’s unfortunate, but probably true.