Group Response 1

The first of the two videos, “Is the Internet Cats?” explores the relations between the popularity of cats and the internet. Because the internet is largely dominated by cat content, it can be argued – as stated in this video – that cats are the internet. Not only does the video explore the history of cats in culture, but it also analyzes how the internet has aided in the popularizing this animal even more. The second video, “Kevin Allocca: Why videos go viral” also explores the connections between the internet and popular culture, and also how certain videos possess the ability to shape our culture.

Both of these videos seem to analyze culture with a culturalist approach. Though both are significantly different in many ways, they do possess a shared trait: both videos are geared at deciphering the meaning of cultural phenomenon and what these  trending internet topics might reveal about our culture’s shared values. The first video provides historical background of cat worship, which the culturalist approach would recommend. The second video, however, is a little different, and seems to possess certain Marxist ideas. For example, Allocca says that the “tastemakers” are the ones who decide what videos become viral and which go about unnoticed – because they possess fame and celebrity status. This seems to run parallel to the idea of the “bourgeois” deciding what becomes mass culture.

I found both of these videos to be entertaining and fascinating, and it is interesting that the first video explored the same cultural phenomenon that I chose to focus on in my first analysis. Watching this video gave me a new perspective on cat culture because it explored the topic in relation to the internet, while I explored it in relation to “memes.” Though many of my ideas lined up with the ideas expressed in the video, some were slightly different.