This essay will reveal why new media is so adept at cultivating celebrities with non-traditional narrative formats, encompassing the age of the social media celebrity. A case study of YouTube personality and ‘prankster,’ Sam Pepper, will be introduced to highlight the uniqueness of YouTube as an instrument. Media convergence will explain the influence of platforms manipulating through celebrity. Technology is integral to the system of celebrity creation and YouTube is a key figure in this field. Sam Pepper is a prime example to convey the ways in which modern media influences society and celebrity. Focusing on the social media celebrity, the role of prank videos will exemplify how YouTube creates particular types of fame through the transition of power.
The convergence of media influence from new and traditional formats plays an intrinsic role in the evolution of celebrity as a phenomenon (Jenkins, 2006, p. 243). The media industry has been built on those with marketable traits who can be moulded to appeal to the masses (Cashmore, 2006, p. 19-51). Celebrity is an industrial process, selecting average people to play characters that are drip-fed to the masses with public appearances and carefully crafted images (Cashmore, 2006, p. 19-51). Enduring celebrities are transformational and as Cashmore theorises (2006, p. 142), whether the “social response is one of condemnation or compassion… the … subjects typically loom large in the public imagination.” Therefore celebrity exists at the whim of the media, public approval isn’t consequential if they remain within the zeitgeist. The institutionalisation of celebrity is a means by which media organisations extend their influence into society by way of creating cultural norms through the actions of their icons (Cashmore, 2006, p. 10). With the development of the internet individuals were able to publish works free from this top-down hierarchy (Mueller, 2014, p. 5). New media is an open platform providing a more social experience to consuming content, Henry Jenkins categorises this as participatory culture (Mueller, 2014, p. 5). This results in a convergence of new and old media, a platform where private and public interests can produce content by means of blending media in everyday life (Burgess and Green, 2009, p. 38-57). This convergence and evolution to new media notes that the value in content is no longer placed on the author or producer but to the consumer-creator relationship (Burgess and Green, 2009, p. 38-57). Viewing, commenting, liking and sharing are the hallmarks of participatory culture. The evolution of traditional media and the rise of new media reveal the ways in which the cultivation of celebrity has progressed concerning social advancement.
Technology plays a vital role in the structuring of celebrity and on the forefront of new media is the video sharing platform YouTube, a unique fledgling of the social media age and a banner for the modern celebrity. With the emergence of new media, modern platforms are free from the constraints of the traditional hegemony and the commercialism of that content (Mueller, 2014, p. 5). It gives people with cameras and internet the ability to, as YouTube’s slogan promotes, ‘broadcast yourself,’ (Tufnell, 2013). This form of media is replacing traditional models with current generations of youth who feel an investment in the content and the emergent culture due to the deeper stake they have in the production, a feature of YouTube’s participatory culture (Jenkins, 2009, p. 12). YouTube influences a particular brand of celebrity, the social media celebrity, completely accessible. It’s a platform that allows avant-garde forms of expression, disruptive to classic production and distribution (Mueller, 2014, p. 5). The democratising of the media industry through a free-to-use platform like YouTube is successful at creating celebrities through its ability to lower the barrier of entry for the average person (Mueller, 2014, p. 5). Still, economic restrictions on serious productions require revenue systems like advertisement schemes which align to the traditional model of content production and ultimately celebrity. YouTube is an all-encompassing video platform that promotes democratically sourced content whilst simultaneously giving rise to the social media celebrity through its participatory framework.
A posterchild for the YouTube platform and the essence of social media celebrity, Sam Pepper illustrates how the unique features of YouTube content are a vehicle for his certain type of celebrity. Pepper’s origins began on Big Brother UK where his reality TV pranks bought him 21 days of screen time before audiences voted him off (Fletcher, 2010). A post TV Sam Pepper thrived on the attention of TV audiences, who were quickly adapting to his brand of shock culture and the character he plays, eventually migrating to YouTube (Grainge, 2011) where there’s little content restrictions. These platforms utilised the brash nature of Pepper to capitalise on their audiences expanding tastes for content. Building off of the success he had gained marketing videogame content to young audiences, Pepper started to take his pranks to the mainstream confronting audiences with sexually charged ‘social experiments’ (McCamley, 2014) and collaborating with other successful social media personalities, a path traditional media forms wouldn’t permit. The flexibility the internet provides in terms of hosting media allows creators like Sam Pepper to flourish by delivering culturally subversive content to a thriving audience (Burgess and Green, 2009, p. 38-57). Pepper’s content elucidates his interest in video experimentation, something that has come to be associated with the inception of new media (Burgess and Green, 2009, p. 38-57). Sam’s pranks descended deeper into salacious territory resulting in ‘social experiments’ that were intensely derogatory but gained him millions of followers. Pepper’s exploration of a genre that is inflammatory to traditional media content or the conventional style of amateur productions is a reflection on the values new media, especially YouTube can create. The values of decency that seem to be ignored when people divide themselves between social media life and real life (Reeves and Nass, 2003, p. 19-36). The most significant distinction between the conventions of social media celebrity and traditional media stars is the freedom with which that content carries the personality. From his kidnapping prank to sexual assault allegations (McCamley, 2014), livestreamed parties to groping escapades, Sam Pepper embodies new media’s take on fame as a social media celebrity. Pepper’s rise through the content he produces reveals how efficient the unique features of YouTube act as a vehicle for the social media celebrity.
Recognising the place of the social media celebrity and the role of prank videos, the dichotomy between the institutionalisation of traditional media and new media can be seen through the transition of power in new media narratives. The evolution of modern media has lowered the barrier of entry to become a celebrity and has given counter-cultural producers, like Sam Pepper, the opportunity to succeed off of vulgar stunts where traditional platforms wouldn’t allow this (Loy, 2014, p. 31). It gives people an alternate narrative to follow; external to music, magazines and silver screens. This new media narrative doesn’t completely breakaway from the traditional media arc, Burgess and Green (2009, p. 38-57) theorise that “YouTube has been mythologized as literally a way to ‘broadcast yourself into fame and fortune […] Even when ordinary people become celebrities through their own creative efforts, there is no necessary transfer of media power: they remain within the system of celebrity native to, and controlled by, the mass media.” Sam Pepper and an abundance of other YouTubers still adhere to the story portrayed by all high profile personalities before them, their videos are still part of a wider cultural conversation and are not only contained to the realm of the internet, nor the YouTube platform. In terms of prank content and its transition to web-based platforms, YouTube pranks are essentially the same as pranks aired on television often with people startling others and recording their reactions (Hobbs, 2011, p. 31-35). The greatest discrepancy is that video content is now largely placed on the internet and is increasingly crude. Pepper’s pranks may invert the power relationships in the context of the video but the underlying reality is that YouTube as a unique video hosting service is the herald for this content, its creators and the success of the creator-consumer relationship (Hobbs, 2011, p. 31-35). YouTube and new media is simply a facelift of the traditional hierarchical model of old media albeit with a more open platform with which to accommodate the social media celebrity. Understanding the rise of the social media celebrity and using Sam Pepper and prank content as an example it’s clear that the contrast between new and old media in terms of celebrity narrative is more aesthetic than functional.
Broad views encompass the nature of celebrity manufacturing and the way society responds to this phenomenon. The cultivation of celebrity in converging media platforms depicts much about the nature of media influence in society. Technology is an intrinsic part in the role of celebrity in society especially platforms who have triumphed in this field, like YouTube. Sam Pepper is an accurate reflection of the attitude of YouTube towards content creation and his rise to popularity reveals much about media influence and YouTube as a vehicle for celebrity. An investigation into media narratives and the existence of the social media celebrity shows where the evolution of celebrity has reached. Ultimately, new media is an effective system to create modern generations of celebrities through evolving platforms whilst maintaining traditional forms of media influence.
Harrison Johnstone 