Alright, this is a topic that we've discussed in the Star Wars thread a few times now I believe.

Reaction Videos on YouTube to entertainment stuff. Where do you stand on them?

My opinion as stated on the other thread to kick it off:

I cannot get how these are in any way popular and wonder how people even have the time. I don't have near enough free time to watch everything that I think I'd like getting put out in the first place, much less to watch and rewatch multiple times to see what other people react like.

If I did have the time, I still wouldn't care to watch them. I really don't get the point. Much more fun to discuss shows here with y'all than to watch peoples' recordings of themselves on YouTube to gauge how other people view something.

My kids, one teenager and one preteen, watch videos of people playing video games. The preteen watches TV shows of people playing video games. They also watch reaction videos. If you made me watch that stuff I'd consider it to be torture.

But one man's entertainment is another man's torture I guess.

Belton Ag said:

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My kids, one teenager and one preteen, watch videos of people playing video games. The preteen watches TV shows of people playing video games. They also watch reaction videos. If you made me watch that stuff I'd consider it to be torture.

But one man's entertainment is another man's torture I guess.

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I actually see more utility in watching others play video games. If you're a gamer itself it's fun to see the pros do it.

I think they are in a completely separate category than these reaction videos.

Belton Ag said:

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My kids, one teenager and one preteen, watch videos of people playing video games. The preteen watches TV shows of people playing video games. They also watch reaction videos. If you made me watch that stuff I'd consider it to be torture.

But one man's entertainment is another man's torture I guess.

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they think the same thing about adults watching home remodel shows.

some of them were novel in the beginning.

now i just assume 99.9% of them are fake or overly dramatic. I don't watch them.

I kind of liked those Burlington bar GOT reaction videos. It was a bunch of unwashed hipsters, but it was fun to see how they reacted to the best scenes in the series.

Those are the only ones I liked or watched. I hate over-reacting sports reaction videos, which all are staged (except the kick ass live video of Seth Small's family watching him beat Bama).

I think they're mostly fake and just exploitative of the viewers' natural social desire to take something you like and show it to someone else.

Did they originate because of the popularity of the unscripted reactions to big plays in live sporting events?

It depends. If they are informative (i.e. the reaction is doing some analysis based on their expertise or experience) then they can be good. I think this channel is pretty good:



this one too:

I'll watch the ones where someone with legit expertise at something will watch something and give it a critique that raises MY understanding of it.

The Charismatic Voice (Queensryche video above) is an actual operatic singer and I've enjoyed her critique of Brad Delp, SRV (Texas Flood), and several others. (Although her reactions are SOOO emotive. I wonder if she's just really like that or overacting a lot.)

Rick Beato "reacts" to particular songs or "the recent top 10 _____ songs" and his insights are informative/interesting.

There are also some where self defense/small weapons experts react to some video scraped from the news. Good way to understand real-life application of self defense laws, shooting tactics, etc.

I'm not into "Korean reacts to tasting Texas Chili," etc.

The music ones always make me wonder.

Guy: "Today we're gonna listen to a band from the '60s called (looks at notes) ... The Beatles. Never heard of 'em."

Girl: "I think my mom used to like them. I don't know."

Guy: "The song we're gonna listen to is called "Yesterday." I have no idea what we're in for, but it's gonna be interesting."

* Song plays while they display excitement and surprise.

Guy: "Wow ... that was great. I bet the, uh, Beatles, were really popular back in the day, even though I've never heard of them."

Girl: "Yeah, I'll definitely have to check them out and see if they recorded anything else."

Game of Thrones' Red Wedding scene was the start of all this and the montages are hilarious.

Rick Beato's stuff is far from what I am talking about.

Personally I think it's pretty easy to identify which reactions are genuine and which ones are fake. Sure, everyone "plays to the camera" a bit, but that doesn't mean the real feelings aren't being felt.

Look no further than reactions to the latest episode of Last of Us. Here's a few examples, from channels I watch regularly and really enjoy.









That last one is from the channel that did the Burlington Bar GoT reactions, and he has some hilarious edits of the bar reacting to this episode. No doubt in reference to what some of this thread is talking about.