Every year YouTube produces an epic visual recap of the most viral sensations from the year that’s been. Top YouTubers star in the clever, and frankly stunning, recap.
Whether you have your finger firmly on the pulse of pop culture and recognize all the top producers of video content or missed everything in 2014 but Frozen and Ice Bucket Challenges, you’ll find something in the 2014 #YouTubeRewind for you.
The social scientist side of my brain explodes while viewing something like this.
Think of all the ways celebrity has changed. Consider the predominance of visuals in our image-based culture and how the desire for experiences and personal participation push milennials far beyond the passive consumerism of prior generations.
The first and last shot (before How It Should Have Ended humorously gets hold of this video) beautifully shows how the internet and rapidly improving technology allow us to step from everyday life directly into the fantasy of far away places and alter egos. The idea that we can go anywhere and be anything has never been more culturally prominent. By extension, more people than ever seek to find personal meaning in the flickering eyes and fast-clicking fingers of web viewers by the billions.
