(November 15, 2012) — Lights, camera, action. While such a phrase is far too simple to represent a professional production, it in actuality represents a vlogger’s bare necessities which can work just fine for a run-of-the-mill Youtube video. With any sort of recording device—whether a thousand-dollar Nikon or an iPhone—and Internet connection, anyone can obtain millions of views on a single video, and even be considered an entertainer, because of this Youtube. It’s amusing how back in 2005 this website started as just a site mainly used for posting silly, miscellaneous videos of dogs shredding on skateboards and people excitedly placing Mentos candy inside two-liter bottles of Diet Coke. But apparently viewers somehow eventually got sick of these common, empty-headed video concepts, so we now have thousands of users such as 26-year-old Jenna Mourey, more commonly known as her username JennaMarbles, proactively using it with set weekly video-posting schedules of their content. To a certain extent, the thought of a person who consistently uploads a mere video a week is not the common, conventional job. Though for some users, being a “Youtuber” is an actual paid occupation; you can get paid for making extravagant, multi-shot, heartfelt, thought-provoking, tear-jerking short films, or just by sticking a camera in your face, making goofy expressions and cracking a few one-liners. Mourey sits on her bed and records herself with her laptop, cracking jokes about society with a swear word in every other sentence. “I film, edit, and upload all in the same day,” she’s said in several of her videos about what she produces. I don’t mean to undermine JennaMarbles—don’t get me wrong, though, as I’m an avid watcher of her videos and think that she can be pretty darn funny, as well as other vloggers such as Charlieissocoollike. Still, I’m not sure if I find it impressive that she has become the most subscribed female on Youtube through this minimal amount of effort or a bit disappointing. Sure, she addresses topics and makes certain comments that many people are too afraid to say themselves, but does that really make her an entertainer? Simple humor is entertaining (especially when it voices the opinions that people are too afraid to express). An f-bomb here, a joke about misogyny there, and a form of recognition of a stereotype over on that side, and boom—you are able to amuse millions of people and have them coming back for more. Simple and silly entertainment runs a large chunk of Youtube. I have a lot of respect for channels like WongFuProductions, which actually creates professional short films with unique plot lines. Maybe it’s because the users of this channel studied film in college, and from their get-go of posting videos on Youtube they did so to share projects that they take the time to construct, nurture and develop. While I can see WongFuProductions creating their films in the future, continuing to expand on their fan-base, connections and talent, I’m not so sure if the same could be said for JennaMarbles. Both users/channels have colossal fan-bases and have been on Youtube for years, but they are polar opposites—and there is a benefit to such diversity, because the website provides variety as to what a person may want to view. Not everyone is interested or willing to spend the time on watching a 5 to 15-minute satire about racial stereotypes, similarly to how some don’t enjoy a 1-minute clip of an obsessed video game player whose mom canceled his World of Warcraft account.