- Pow. - Oh.
- I can't believe I'm laughing when someone's getting
shot in the head.
- I don't know what to feel about this.
- ♪ (dramatic intro) ♪
- (FBE) So recently, there have been memes made
about something that has sparked an interesting debate
if for certain topics, it is okay to make memes about them.
- Okay. I don't think I've seen this.
- (FBE) So, these are actually memes that are all related
to Childish Gambino's This is America.
- Okay.
- Oh, oh, oh.
- Great music, great song and everything.
Good message, but yeah, some people probably
just shouldn't meme it.
- (FBE) Let's get into this and we'll talk about
the controversy in more detail after.
- Okay, okay. First meme.
- ♪ I threw a wish in the well Don't ask me I'll never tell ♪
♪ I looked to you as it fell ♪
- This was so good. I favorited this on Twitter.
- Oh, I do love this song.
- ♪ Dimes for a kiss I wasn't looking for this ♪
♪ But now you're in my way ♪ - It changes the feeling
of the video, for sure.
- ♪ Where you think you're going, baby? ♪
♪ Hey, I just met you ♪
♪ Going, baby? ♪ - Oh no, okay, yeah, well.
- Ooh, I don't like that part.
- I can't believe I'm laughing when someone's getting shot
in the head.
- It feels inappropriate, but then it just works
so well together.
- It's alarmingly synced.
- This is lining up almost too well.
- ♪ Hey, I just met you ♪
- Just as long as we don't lose the message,
then it's cool. It's fine.
- God, I loved that.
- I don't know what to feel about this.
- It doesn't seem right to put a fun bopping song
to Childish Gambino shooting someone.
- I kind of could appreciate the music connection,
but the first part makes me really sad.
- ♪ Party just for me Girl, you got me dancing ♪
- Uh oh.
- ♪ Dance and shake the frame This is America ♪
- Pow. - Oh.
- ♪ Don't catch you slipping up ♪ - I wasn't expecting that.
- I don't really think it takes away the message.
I feel like if anything, it makes it--
some people watch this, makes it even more viral
and people will go watch the video and obviously
will pay attention to the message or what they're
trying to say.
- One thing that I kind of miss about the world
is being able to play with ideas and thoughts
without being so riled up about it and--
so yeah, I think I'm at this point where
I'm really disconnected with the content,
but I do understand the weight of the video
and how important that is.
- Ay, Pulp Fiction.
- Oh, tight. - Pulp Fiction.
- Oh no.
- Oh.
- ♪ This is America Don't catch you slipping up ♪
- I don't like that. I hate guns in general,
so the fact that they're kinda making a joke
or making light or memeing something that's supposed
to bring more attention to the seriousness
of all the gun use going on. I just don't like that.
- At this point, I don't think they need to do that.
There's certain people out there, they don't care though.
They can kinda hide behind a username and they don't
really have to suffer the repercussions.
- ♪ Party just for me Girl, you got me dancing ♪
♪ Dance and shake the frame ♪
- Oh, Fortnite.
- Of course you've gotta take Fortnite and mix it
in there somewhere at some time.
- ♪ Get your money, black man ♪
- Oh man.
- Oh my God.
- I thought that was amazing.
- Fortnite's everywhere. So why wouldn't it
also be in this meme?
- I don't wanna restrain anyone's artistic expression,
but at the same time, it's kind of an issue
that needs to be addressed and taken seriously,
but if you make fun of it like this too early,
then it takes away the seriousness from that.
- Oh no.
- ♪ This is America ♪ - (Patrick) No, this is Patrick.
- This one's okay. This is fine.
- ♪ This is America ♪ - (Patrick) No, this is Patrick!
- That one's pretty good.
- SpongeBob, you know. There's always SpongeBob.
- Patrick always gets me and it's more just the
"This is America" part. That was funny.
- It's interesting that people are doing a commentary
on his commentary which is about people
missing reality and the dark things that are happening
because they're like, la, la, la, this is America
and then people are taking... - The serious thing.
- The serious thing... - And trying to make it
the thing that he's warning against.
- Yeah.
- The message of This is America. This is America.
Twitter making memes about This is America.
- They're trying to act like everything's okay
rather than focusing on the problem at hand.
- Message of This is America, which is police issues
with people and all that stuff. When you make memes
about the situation. This picture is saying,
"You're making light of it and we're not actually
talking about the real issues." - Yeah.
- That's what Twitter does, you know?
That's what Twitter's for and that's also what gets
the conversation going. How many people
watched the video because they saw the memes?
- What the internet does is we--
I feel like we spent a whole two days
talking about the issue and what it means
and how dope the message was and then it was like,
"All right, now let's make a joke about it."
- (FBE) So, many different people and publications
noted that this was both inappropriate and ironic
give that the video's original themes were mocking
what people tend to focus on when important things like this
are happening around us. - Yes, absolutely 1000%.
- (FBE) So, with the way that memes have been developed,
they were originally just those funny images you sent around,
but now they're almost a part of discussion
and culture and almost a genre of content on their own.
Do you think that there's anything that's really become
truly off limits to be memed? - I mean, I feel like
you just have to use your discretion when
making memes, just like when making any kind of content.
- It's hard to say that things are off limits in comedy
in general, but I mean, people will still be
offended by offensive comedy.
- There's always gonna be the argument of "Oh come on,
take a joke. Lighten up."
But that's not a light subject nor a subject to be joked about.
- I'm gonna say 96% is fair game and then there's that stuff
where it's like, "You know what, dude?
Maybe don't Photoshop SpongeBob in this."
- You can kind of look at it as there's a silver lining.
The memes, it does at the end of the day,
help show people who didn't see the original video,
they might be like, "Oh, where are these
memes coming from?" And then they actually
go watch the original video.
- I watched the This is America video because I saw
the memes about it. I then got the message
from the video and I said, "Wow,
this is a really powerful art piece."
And then I downloaded the song because of the memes.
The whole point of comedy is to bring light
to situations in a way that makes people laugh
and then puts them in a position to consider things
that they wouldn't have considered before.
- It's freedom of expression and for some people,
I feel like it's hard to communicate or express themselves
and maybe they like to do it through humor.
When you're a little lighter, it makes it a little bit
more open for everyone to hear.
- (FBE) So for you personally, do you think that
This is America falls into a category where
maybe it shouldn't be memed?
- I would-- personally, I wouldn't
make fun of it.
- For the most part, it's people going,
"Oh, this is a viral video that's so popular.
How can I get popular too?" I think it's really sad
that we can look at those images and find
something funny or try to create something funny.
- There's a lot of very real, very serious topics
being addressed in the video that it's just,
why would you make a joke or a mockery out of it?
They don't understand that this is somebody's life
and this is somebody's reality.
- I personally, don't take anything on the internet
too seriously, so for me, it's hard to look at memes
and jokes and get offended.
- For this video specifically, I feel like it's okay
to be memed because it's kind of playing into
the whole idea behind the video in the first place,
which is we're just gonna sit in the foreground and if
we're okay, then everything must be okay.
Let's not look at what's really going on.
- Everything can be made fun of, but there's also the context
and the timing. Comedy is really good,
because it's a coping mechanism.
- (FBE) So, as an online creator yourself,
have you ever made something that you were proud of,
that you took seriously or wanted to portray something
that was a little more important to you,
only to then watch people on the internet joke about it
or turn it into a joke? - I mean, it wasn't until
when I first started my channel and then I did a couple videos
where I talked about some serious subjects and people
just wanted-- they wanted me to just be funny.
- It's been the other way around where we've made things
that are comedic and then people take it really seriously,
especially every three or four years, the entire society
gets that much more sensitive. People would make those
way more serious than what it should be.
- I joined with this foundation that wanted
to bring water to Africa. I used to do comedy,
so when I turn all serious, they were comparing me
with National Geographic jokes and kind of like,
"Oh, German wants to be serious right now."
But then I understand, okay, so this is the internet,
so you can understand. You gotta somehow know
that it doesn't matter what you say, some people's
gonna make fun of that and it's okay.
- If I'm creating a piece of content that's important to me
and I want people to see it and hear it and talk about it,
even if people are joking about it or making memes,
as long as people are talking about it, that's what's important.
You can't expect everyone to process art the same.
- (FBE) Finally, if someone was considering making
a This is America meme, what would you say to them?
- Go ahead, make the meme. Just be smart about it.
- When you're crossing into something like that
that talks about real issues and is a serious subject matter,
then you should just be cautious of what you're talking about,
what you're joking about.
- Go ahead and do what you're gonna do,
but you also can not expect how people will
respond to you, so if you don't want negative attention
and you don't want to risk all of that, then think twice
before you create something.
- Maybe don't do that, you know? Just don't.
There's plenty of other things on the internet
that you can make a meme out of.
Find something else. I'll retweet it, you know?
Just not This is America.
- Thanks for watching this episode of YouTubers React.
- Make sure to Subscribe to all these YouTubers in this episode.
Links are in the description below.
- See you guys.
- Hey guys, Vartuhi here from FBE.
Thanks so much for watching this episode of YouTubers React.
A big thanks to all the YouTubers that came in
to shoot with us. Make sure to check out
their links in the description below.
Bye, guys.