Saturday, June 7, 2014

My name is Boxxy you see.

Looking back on my years of watching too many video on YouTube reminded me of something I’d like to share. If you’re like me, you’ll instantly recognize the name Boxxy. If not, I’ll give you a little run down. Boxxy was a YouTuber who had her 15 minutes of fame in 2009, with her video titled “FOAR EVERYWUN FRUM BOXXY” which received over 18 million views. Embodying the “Scene” movement, Boxxy stole hearts right and left through high energy, quirky charm, and scatterbrained narratives. She went viral very quickly, and is still remembered in top ten lists and nostalgic meanderings. However, she soon disappeared from Facebook posts, tweets, and the internet turned a blind eye to her. Her videos started to be posted less frequently until she had almost stopped posting altogether. This prompted a little digging.

I discovered the reason for Boxxy’s lack of activity and viewership. The internet was angry with Boxxy. Or, to be more specific, the internet was angry at “ANewHopee”, Boxxy’s alter ego. I had already deduced that Boxxy was a fictional character. Unfortunately for Boxxy, the internet hadn’t figured it out yet. So when ANewHopee announced that Boxxy was a character that she played, both personalities fell out of favor with the general YouTube community. I can only assume that the reason for this abandonment of Boxxy is due to the fact that she had been exposed as being a “faker”. She posed as one person in order to get attention.

This goes back to our readings about “Fakebook” where people create an image for the world to see that isn’t accurate to how they are in reality. Here, ANewHopee created Boxxy, and then tried to be herself. In this instance, it didn’t go over so well. ANewHopee still makes
videos which, on rare occasion, include Boxxy as a cameo.

A link to “FOAR EVERYWUN FRUM BOXXY”, Boxxy’s most famous video.

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