Jenna Marbles is perhaps one of, if not the most successful, content creators from Gen 1 YouTube. Admittedly, her subscriber count is fairly close to some other creators of the era (Jenna at 20 million, Shane Dawson at 23 million, and Nigahiga at 21 million) and her income pales in comparison to Shane's. But I want to put away the statistics for a minute, and instead analyze content and authenticity. I think that Jenna gives us unique insights into growth and remembrancing.
Basically anyone who's ever been on YouTube (certainly in the 16-21 age bracket) knows about Jenna in some capacity. Some of us very literally grew up with her, watching her since her debut in 2010 with "Charles Franklin Marbles is a Sad Sad Man" or shortly thereafter. Perhaps her earliest viral video is where Jenna became familiar to us though.
Here's a side-by-side comparison between Jenna before and after applying make up in her breakout video "How to trick people into thinking your good looking." Sitting with over 69 million views as of writing, this was the video that practically created her channel. It's practically the perfect video for 2010 YouTube; Never Gonna Give You Up playing in the background, silly expressions, poor quality video, random physical gags, and a simple editing style. This may be the single most important video in her career.
Usually with stars that have one-note videos, they die off faster than they gained popularity, but Jenna has managed to stay relevant for nearly a decade. How does one do this, and what does it say about memory and identity on the internet? I propose it is her authenticity and documentation of growth as a person that's helped to solidify her into the YouTube landscape.
As Jenna has noted herself, "I think I just do my best to grow with my audience, and not try to pretend I’m something that I’m not...People who started watching me when I was 23 — they just grew up with me. It feels real. It is real. And I think that some of it has to do with growing up and not pretending to not grow up. It’s just authenticity." People literally grow up with Jenna, see her learning from and apologizing for mistakes, and become connected with her content and her as an authentic person.
Every video she has made has acted as a sincere form of remembrance. Watching videos from the past, one is provided with a clear and definitive timeline of her growth as an individual. They act as pieces for memory work, not only documenting herself but sharing it to the world. Her channel behaves as a time capsule of sorts, a chance to see the development of a person throughout the years and to remind her and ourselves of things that she has experienced, grown from, and learned.
She learned alongside a large chunk of a generation, showing key transitions of a life. There's a sharing of the personal, a means to make herself present in technology and to be both the leader of and part of a community. Jenna constantly takes suggestions from her subscribers, learns from her mistakes, shares her struggles, and puts it online for us to see.
Her life is documented for us to see in the most intimate, authentic way possible. We can access those memories at any time and observe her character grow. She is simultaneously shaped by her audience, and she shapes them, and is done in perhaps the best way possible. The development of herself as a person is shaped by her audience, through suggestions and criticisms of her content, and she shapes her audience by responding to it and demonstrating healthy growth from past mistakes.
And to keep inline with the reality and memory of her videos, she strays away from many of the pitfalls of other creators. She refuses to use midroll ads, only uses sponsors on her podcast, and stays away from flashy editing. Her style is one of the real; to document herself and to let nothing else get in the way. In this sense, her memory online is pure, her development and memories on display with nothing to obscure them.
The act of remembrance for Jenna Marbles is what makes her the most successful in my opinion. Every video is an authentic remembrance; a marker in time. Her video history details perfectly the development of an individual, a willingness to engage with an audience, and a truly authentic person. Her success is not in the realm of capital, but in authenticity.
Oh and here's a picture of her with Kermit. Couldn't talk about Jenna without showing him.
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