As we have discussed in our ASTU 100 class, autobiographies take shape in various forms including selfies, documentaries, memoirs, and testimonios. Each piece narrates someone’s story whether it be a short snippet of their day or a life-long account. In a similar fashion, Draw My Life videos fall into the same category of autobiographies. Through YouTube, an online video-sharing domain, Draw My Life videos have gained immense popularity since 2011, reaching its peak in 2013. The name itself is self-explanatory, in that YouTubers draw out their lives on a whiteboard, highlighting the key events that they believe have significantly shaped them. The vast majority of popular YouTubers (e.g., Shane Dawson, Lilly Singh, Michelle Phan, etc.) partook in this trend and have made their own Draw My Life videos. In this post, I will analyze the common patterns within Draw My Life videos, how they shape the representation of YouTubers, and its influence on other autobiographical videos.
Most Draw My Life videos follow a distinct pattern that sparks inspiration within its viewers – prior to becoming a YouTuber, most of them faced great challenges, which they overcame by resorting YouTube as a means of consolation or seeking recuperation in other ways. Lilly Singh, a Canadian YouTuber who has amassed over 12 million subscribers, recounts in her video her severe struggle with mental illness. Likewise, both Ryan Higa and Shane Dawson struggled with racism, abuse, or poverty. I discovered that each of these YouTubers’ videos accumulated around 10+ million views and that the most popular Draw My Life videos were stories of overcoming certain hardships. The exceptionally high number of viewers suggests that it is only these success stories in which YouTubers defeat seemingly insurmountable barriers that best capture the audience’s attention. I noted that the excessive emphasis on these success stories sets a certain standard that measures the validity of one’s hardships. For instance, on Bethany Mota’s video, many viewers discredited her past as a victim of bullying, by insisting her story was “the brightest of all YouTubers’ pasts” and that they were “waiting for the bad stuff.” In Couser’s “Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir”, he discusses the rhetorics of disability life narratives to which I recognized that the rhetoric of triumph correlates with the pattern of successful Draw My Life videos. In rhetoric of triumph, the positive reception of the memoir lies within the author’s inspirational and successful story of overcoming their disability (Couser, 33-34). Analyzed in this context, YouTubers are idolized as resilient fighters against life obstacles and this status makes them worthy of watching.
Although Draw My Life videos serve as autobiographies in a visual form, the fixed framework for the videos (that garner most attention) generalize successful YouTubers as individuals who have experienced and overcome some form of severe hardship. The pattern of YouTubers telling their struggles can be observed in videos that share similar autobiographical attributes to “Draw My Life” videos. “Storytime” YouTubers, who recount a personal story or life event, purposely misrepresent themselves through clickbait titles – these titles overdramatize their story but automatically attract viewers to the video.
YouTube user, Simplynessa15, is infamous for her storytime videos which are uploaded under clickbait titles.
Another user, Luis Abad, claimed he was kidnapped in the title, though it was revealed in the video that he was never actually kidnapped.
Coupled with YouTube’s monetization system, it can be contended that YouTubers are constantly striving to obtain more viewers by employing whatever method to meet or exceed the aforementioned “standard of hardship”. I highlight the patterns in these videos and the competitive nature of YouTube to mark the potential inauthentic self-representation in autobiographical YouTube videos.
Works Cited
Black, EB. “The 10 Best Draw My Life Videos on YouTube.” TurboFuture, 5 Sept. 2016, https://turbofuture.com/internet/10-Best-Draw-My-Life-Videos-On-Youtube. Accessed 12 Nov. 2017.
Couser, G. Thomas. “Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir.” Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing, University of Michigan Press, 2009, E-book. https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/162047, pp. 33-34
“Draw My Life | Bethany Mota.” YouTube, uploaded by Bethany Mota, 8 May 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RywVBJKKlbg&t=583s.
“Draw My Life – Ryan Higa.” YouTube, uploaded by Ryan Higa, 10 Apr 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPmoDYayoLE&t=191s.
“DRAW MY LIFE – Shane Dawson.” YouTube, uploaded by Shane Dawson TV, 2 Mar 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-F72tFju90&t=200s.
“Draw My Life | Superwoman.” YouTube, uploaded by Lilly Singh, 27 Jun 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfTV3UV_WlY&t=382s.