Ryan Higa is a popular YouTuber in today's society. More widely known by his username, NigaHiga, his videos get thousands of views a week; ranging from vlogs, to music videos, to skits he has made up. But one thing that all these different videos have in common is that they are dripping in satire. Ryan uses his videos to poke fun at infomercials, current topics, or other things of today's culture. By creating crazy scenarios and adding a lot of humor, his videos make people laugh at just how silly some of the things in our daily lives are.
Take this video for example. Here, Ryan makes fun of the newly popular saying "First World Problems". People use this saying as a way to express daily complaints that really aren't that big of a deal when you look at the big picture. It's most commonly shown on Twitter as a hashtag along the lines of #firstworldprobs . By using exaggerated acting, fake hotlines, and a "helping kit" Ryan opens our eyes to see just how ridiculous we sound whenever we tweet about our "horribly hard lives".
Another example of satire in Ryan's videos is in the fake infomercial The Snuggo. The Snuggo is a clear spoof of the popular "Snuggies"today. It shows us both how silly we look wearing them and how ridiculous the people in the commercials sound themselves.
The satire found in Ryan's videos is comparable to that found in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain uses satire to make people aware of the irony in the things they know as "human nature". One example he gives is showing them how horribly they go and treat their slaves but then turn around and try to teach their kids about being "good Christian people". To these people, this is just daily life for them because it's what they were taught as a young age. But when Twain exaggerates it a bit in his book, it has the potential to open someone's eyes to how foolish this seems. Another is when Huck stumbles upon the family feud between the Grangerfords and the Sherpardsons. The two families have been fighting for so long that they don't even remember what they are fighting about. While the fight is a bit exaggerated, it shows how ridiculous the families are for fighting but not knowing why. These examples are similar to Ryan's videos because they poke at things we as humans do or see in our daily lives but don't realize how silly they are. Twain and Ryan both send their messages through humor, exaggeration, and relatable things in our lives, making us realize just how we look.
Sources:
- Videos taken from youtube.com
- Hashtag is a live link to tweets on twitter with #firstworldprobs
- Ideas and better understanding of the satire used in Huck Finn found on here
- Huckleberry Finn is a classic by Mark Twain. If you have yet to read it, I highly recommend you do.
First off, you have opened my life to a whole new world of humor. That video had me on YouTube for forever just looking up more stuff that Higa posted. This connection you made about Mark Twain's use of exaggeration in Huck Finn is very true. I think Twain's use of exaggeration was one of the only ways that made me understand when he was using satire in the novel. To add on to your examples, I definitely think that the Duke and the King were two majorly exaggerated characters. In the beginning, when we first met them, (and before I realized that they were simply just unbearably horrible and calloused criminals) their banter and between each other and to Huck was humorous. Especially when they introduced themselves to be pompous fallen royalty. Your video also got me thinking about false appearances and popular opinion. I think one of Twain's messages was about not taking everything as face value and not going along with what the majority says. He wants us to dig deeper into the human soul and have us come up with our own moral conclusions about things. Do you agree with this?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I got another Higa fan! He was one of the first people I've ever watched on youTube and I grew up quoting his videos with my friends. I do agree with your thought on the King and Duke. I too, found them very funny at first and found myself anxiously waiting for the next conversation between the two. But eventually I saw them for what they really are and could not wait for Huck to get rid of them. I really like your idea of Twain trying to get us to form our own opinions. I took a while to think back in the book and really think of other times Twain does this. Other characters you could use as an example would be both Jim and Tom. At first we see them as a horrible runaway slave and an adventurous boy. But then we are taught that there is so much more to their character and we have to choose wether we believe them to be good or not despite what society says we should think.
DeleteSo. I know you have been DYING to hear my opinion on your blog, so i will humor you and do so. Hehe see that was sarcasm. *Cough satire cough cough* But really anyway.. I found this to be quite entertaining. I really liked the video about first world problems. I thought it was absolutly hilarious. I also really liked how you brought Twitter into this whole thing. I personally think that Twitter alone is full of satire. Okay I think that's enough out of me. I'm going to continue drinking my hot chocolate now.. AHH! MY HOT CHOCOLATE IS ALREADY GONE! I'm gonna go cry now.. #firstworldprobs
DeleteThis was a fabulous post, and showed exaggeration at its finest. I really think it's quite absurd that people believe their lives are so hard and nobody has it like they do. It's easily comparable to after-Christmas tweets, when people complain that their parents bought them an iPhone but they wanted a laptop. Either they're extremely spoiled or messed up. Either way, kudos to you for a good post.
ReplyDeleteI've never really been one for watching Youtube videos. I agree with Carly up there ^ that Twitter is full of satire! I love Twitter and I admit that I have tweeted using the hash-tag firstworldprobs. You pointed out a lot of good things about satire. Muy bien.
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ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out the many uses of satire in different social networks today. Twitter, YouTube, and many other sites use satire all the time to express comedy. I noticed your photo of the Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time which is not only a fabulous show, but also a great example of satire.
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