An Uncharacteristically Optimistic Thought About Mediamaking

To be completely honest, I have never actually scavenged Funny Or Die myself -- my contact with the site has been purely limited to wall posts and exposure via friends in the Real World. And I was surprised to find out that the site actually started off as a grassroots YouTube sort of deal. Sure, the site's business and longevity is fueled primarily by the higher profile collaborators and actors. But when the Farah brothers informed us that a large percentage of the people working at Funny Or Die got their jobs because of videos they posted as Average Joes, it seemed to me a genuine instance of media reciprocity -- a concept that many of the theorists we have read have more or less debunked. It's amazing to me that someone's career can take off due to an offhand viral post -- that networking can be accomplished outside of a snazzy cafe, coffee house, office or studio backlot. In a culture where our ostensibly airtight celebrity-sphere is virtually worshipped by the "little people" Funny or Die seems to be a step forward towards closing the gap between small-scale and large-scale success. Maybe viral media is becoming less niche-y and more mainstream -- or maybe, like the Farahs alluded, this is simply a flash-in-the-pan period of broadband Wild West-ism. Maybe this consumerist blogosphere that seems so wide open is going to be swallowed up by "the system" and cauterized, as seems to be the fate for so many budding media outlets. Regardless, hearing the brothers talk about their business was actually inspiring for me. And that's always nice.