My response essay topic will be on Amira Said's preliminary essay: "Fame through YouTube". Ms. Said's primary argument in her essay is that it is easy for any ordinary person to be come famous, through posting homemade videos on YouTube, and that YouTube devalues fame, by making it accessible to just anyone. I, however, feel that it is difficult to become famous on YouTube. Even though it may be easier to share your videos, you still have to have something in your video that catches the audiences' attention. But before I go further, I would like to add that ordinary people have already become famous even without YouTube. Take William Hung for an example. He was just a contestant on the television program, American Idol. Anyone can have auditioned for American Idol, but it was up to the judges to see who would get to move up. Well Mr. Hung came up and sang, one of the judges was not pleased and did not allow him to move up. His singing was not the best, probably one of the worst. But he managed to catch people's attention, because his bad singing ended up being comical and funny to listen to. William Hung is now successful off of his bad singing, and before all this fame, he was just an ordinary engineer who sings bad. But now he's an engineer that sings bad that entertains people. And that's what fame is mainly about, the ability to entertain or gain people's interest. It is no good to use YouTube if you do not have the power to grasp the people's interest.
You do not necessarily need talent to be famous. What you really need is attention, if you get a lot of attention (say several million views on YouTube) then other corporations might what to market you and so they help you get your name out by selling products about you. So what I'm trying to say is that public attention outsells talent. But then again, who are we to say that people are talentless. Those who entertain people on YouTube may have a talent to entertaining people, by either means of being funny, or someone who can connect well with the public.
Another comment I would like to discuss is that even if you do get a lot of attention, chances are that it could just be a one time thing. Like Ms. Said's example with the little girl, Cody, who cried for her favorite star Justin Bieber. Yes, she may have gotten a bit famous and a chance to meet her favorite celebrity, but what happens if she cries for another celebrity that she is dying to meet. The probability of her succeeding a second time can be very low. Her audiences will just get bored, or even worst, bash on her for trying the same thing. Most YouTube celebrity may even work harder than non-famous YouTube stars. Those who become famous on YouTube usually depend on it for income and so they make videos regularly, and that takes a lot of creativity. So YouTube stars make videos weekly and have to come up with ideas to keep their audiences. What I'm trying to say at the end of all this is that creativity is definitely a talent!
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