Eff you, Rebecca Black

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c5LPQld7OM

When videos go viral, it becomes a catalyst for viewers to respond, share, and inevitably make-fun of the original content. After watching “Friday” by Rebecca Black, the first thought that came to mind (after pondering its utter ridiculousness) was just how many people out there in the world were making fun of it. Some videos beg parodies, and this was a perfect example. I watched one parody made by two teenage boys, and thoroughly enjoyed its content much more than the original piece of crap. They picked out visuals to reenact, lyrics to make fun of, and similar scenarios to portray. They particularly played on the fact that Black sang about completely worthless and childish events that are based around one’s daily activities on any given Friday. In a comedic response to Black’s major dilemma of whether to sit in the front seat or the back seat of her friend’s car, they sing: “which one is my right hand//which one is my left hand?//Gotta make my mind up//which one is my hand?” During the bridge of “Friday,” Black addresses the assumption that most of us have not already learned the order of the days in the week, and reminds us that “tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards.” The parody video plays on this with revised lyrics like “Friday happens on Friday,” and “I learned that in kindergarten//or wait, was it first grade?//Let me get back to you on that.” The way that the two boys continued to outline utterly insignificant parts of their day like “gotta eat a bagel on my couch with a backpack,” and “look at me I’m talking//gotta jump jump//gotta pet a cat,” stuck me as particularly ingenious. They effectively managed to rewrite all of Black’s lyrics to highlight how lacking her video was in insightful or even mildy interesting content. This I believe is the main reason their parody was so successful and has now reached over three million hits. Aside from their playful and clever twist, their editing skills, while by no means professional, were not sloppy. They visually coincided directly with the music and the rhythm, and even utilized special effects, interesting camera angles, and use of animated text overlays. Absolutely compelling and absolutely well done.