How are Youtube reaction videos and the Indian elections linked?
Back in 2020, when there were Covid related curfews and restrictions, the creator economy was on a tear and one particular genre was booming - reaction videos.
I came across a certain “Uncle Roger” on YouTube, which is actually Malaysian-British comedian called Nigel NG who pretended to have an alter-ego of a typical middle-aged grumpy Asian uncle and rose to fame. He now has nearly 9 million subscribers mainly garnered by his reaction to videos of badly made egg fried rice.
Nigel NG got international recognition just by making wacky videos reacting to egg fried rice videos.
Similarly, there are reaction videos to almost everything under the sun now - cities, landscapes, songs, scenes and there are even reaction videos of reaction videos
Even Tanmay Bhat has understood the need of the feeling of belongingness that people want and churns out reaction videos with his “OG Gang” that make you feel that you are a part of their group.
One key trend I have noticed is that a chunk of these reaction videos are focused on reacting to anything Indian - cities, songs, movie scenes, “facts” on the Indian army or how ancient Indians were so advanced. A lot of these reaction videos are actually made by Pakistanis, Malaysians and a whole lot of white Caucasian folks.
What is the reason why reaction videos are so popular?
I think it’s primarily because people need a sense of belonging and validation - especially in times when we are so obsessed with digital media and are living in isolation more than ever before. People want to have a shared experience about things - suppose that you loved watching something but don’t really have anyone to share it with, you will tap into a reaction video, especially by a firang, who will give their own “authentic reaction” - almost always a positive one - that will then bring you a sense of belonging, validation and even happiness “Oh they too like it”. I think the Covid lockdowns, where people were so isolated for a while, only accelerated this genre.
Why are so many reaction videos based on India doing so well?
As shown in the screenshots above, there are so many reaction videos based on India - I think the reason behind this is two-fold-
India brings numbers - just like how large global corporations like Netflix know that Indian may not give you the $ but gives you the #. In the same way, you will get a lot of more views and likes from an Indian audience
More importantly, I think Indians in general are under-confident lot after centuries of foreign rule and have a sense of “lost glory” that is propagated by the latest government
Indians are obsessed with skin fairness and as an extention - white skinned validation. You also see this in travel vlogs made by white people or even see it in so many Bollywood movies where “white chicks” are used are glamourous background dancers. Indian’s want to feel that the are not the dirty, poverty driven country that the evil BBC portrays and that UB City or DLF Cybercity is the real India.
We are so obsessed with white skin validation that even silly mad-ads type videos made by 2 Swedish firangs became a rage a few years ago.
Kevin Pieterson praised the Lucknow airport and the BJP IT cell and their friends went berserk on social media - “Congress sucks, Adani rocks - look even Kevin Pieterson loves new India”. Please click on the play button.
We are even milked by smart Pakistanis because we are also a nation with people who wants to be better than their neighbours (remember the grades scored by “Sharmaji ka beta”?) and Pakistanis take full advantage of the same with their ooos and wows on how India is a strong and mighty country now.
How are reaction vidoes and Indian elections related?
Our country is filled with people who are in a daily grind and need things to feel good about themselves - the BJP has understood this exceptionally well and the BJP IT cell has mastered the art of milking this element of pride in 4 simple steps:
We were once a great civilisation with forefront science, culture and art
But we got plundered by foreign forces like the Mughals and British - they came destroyed our culture and our temples
We need to regain our pride
Don’t worry, our saviour Modiji is going to propel us to the global age (I’m absolutely NOT okay with the messiah worship). The choice of MP, MLAs etc be damned, just vote for Modi
From the little bit that I had read about history, point 2 is partially true and point 1 has some element of reality in it, maybe not to the extent that is propagated on WhatsApp. Co-incidentally, I’m reading a great book called City of Djinns right now that says as much.
But we are swayed by extreme sentiments and are currently an angry nation in general and there is an army of enablers who know that and spread lakhs of messages on social media via WhatsApp (popularly called “WhatsApp University), Twitter, FB etc - all that are broadly based on the 4 steps above.
It’s simple really - Indians, in general, need validation and shared sense of belonging and the BJP IT cell is all too happy to provide them material for the same.
Just like how reaction videos make you feel good and give you a sense of shared emotions, the WhatsApp Forwards and belongingness to “Modiji ka Parivar” make you feel important and a part of something grander.
Anyway, gotta go now, I have my own parivar that I need to tend to.