YouTube’s Comments Are an Internet Treasure We Must Protect
At first glance, the video ‘BRODYQUEST’ looks like nothing more than standard YouTube fodder from 2010. The jaunty, electronic track—which features an image of actor Adrien Brody journeying through oceans, famous landmarks, and into space—has all the trimmings of the epic bacon internet it was uploaded onto. It was a viral sensation—even the actor himself has seen it. But it’s not the sort of video you’d imagine, 13 years later, would be hosting anything other than a partially animated graveyard of ‘Who’s here in 2023?’ comments populating other memes that only exist now as monuments to nostalgia for a lost era.
But head down to the 63,000 strong comments section, and suddenly this dead meme teems with life. Thousands of bite-sized statements relay the daily lives of their authors, ranging from the benign to the deep and intimate. “Day 37:” one starts. “Someone from my work was arrested while I was on vacation. They were a huge jerk, I wish I coulda been there to see their stupid face get hauled away.” Others comment on school, exams, parents, and struggles with gender and sexuality. “I've been seriously practicing vocal masculinization and I sound pretty awesome! I also came out to one of my closest friends, and he said he’s cool with it and goes by he/they,” a segment from another comment reads.
“Day 767: Today makes one year since my best friend, and brother, Mojo passed away,” one user, Duckable, has posted. “He wasn’t just a dog to me, he was my family. It has been incredibly hard without him, and I feel like my confidence has lowered and my anxiety has increased since his passing.”