Gotta Get Down on Friday

This week’s reading about celebrities and the culture they represent reminded me of Rebecca Black. I’m sure everyone remembers that annoying song that was played for months on the week day Friday.  On March 2011 Rebecca Black gained a lot of media attention through her YouTube video “Friday”. Her video was featured all over the internet and talk shows. A Wikipedia page was even created describing her background and her popular song. Rebecca Black wasn't born into fame, but rather gained her status through an event that was created by the media. Therefore, she would fall under the attributed celebrity status because the media took her video and made it a sensation. The reason why she became famous was because people on YouTube can share the video to other modes of media.  People can easily share her video because of the many outlets that technology has provided the public. This allows people to circulate and share content that we find interesting or of importance to other people so they can view the same content and gain knowledge. This is called participatory culture. Memes were even created about Rebecca Black and her song. Many fans of the song and of Rebecca Black made spin offs of her song; some purely for ridicule and others because they actually enjoyed the song. Rebecca Black would be considered a celetoid because she quickly gained a lot of stardom through her one song, but was quickly forgotten when the media and the public became uninterested. Since her debut song she has created other songs and even music videos, but none that have hit the media and make her more famous. She was more of a one hit wonder kind of star. The Harlem Shake song and video is another media frenzy that became popular about two to three weeks ago. Everyone began making their own video trying to compete against others to have the funniest one. Even news anchors and celebrities took part in making a video. The reason why this song and video became so popular was due to the participatory culture that we all take part in.