The Top 10 Viral Videos Of 2007 by Time Magazine
#1 Leave Britney Alone!
A histrionic gay, Southern teen calling himself Chris Crocker sobbed and shrieked in a raw, impassioned defense of a fallen pop princess. With more than 18 million downloads, the popularity of this video confirms either A) that audiences share Crocker’s rage against the media machine that documents Britney Spears’ every gaffe or B) that anonymous drama queens are just as entertaining as pop-star train wrecks. Since Crocker just nabbed a reality show off the buzz from the video, we’re voting for B.
#2 The Landlord
In a revolutionary 2 minutes and 25 seconds, The Landlord made the web safe for A-listers. This comic update of the classic feudal struggle between lord and vassal includes such Web-friendly touches as profanity, a cute kid and a guy with funny-looking hair. That the guy with funny-looking hair is movie star Will Ferrell and that the clip is funnier than 99% of all the Youtube videos in the “comedy” category explains this short’s nearly 50 million downloads.
#3 Miss South Carolina Teen USA
During the Miss Teen USA pageant’s Q & A segment, the contestant from South Carolina, Lauren Caitlin Upton, was asked why Americans are unable to locate the U.S. on a map. In a cringe-inducing ramble, she provided a kind of performance art response to the question: because Americans, like Upton, are stupid. She began, “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps,” and went on to reference “the Iraq” and “Asian countries,” The only redemption for U.S. Americans was the sweetly empathetic look on the face of pageant host Mario Lopez as he held the teen’s microphone. Stupid, yes, but nice.
#4 Hillary 1984
Posted on YouTube by someone calling himself Park Ridge-47, this attack ad changed the rules of political engagement in Election 2008. The video mashes together a classic 1984 Apple ad with recent footage of Hillary Clinton giving a speech. Clinton is portrayed as a Big Brother character and Democratic voters as zombie-like followers. The tag line touts Barack Obama as an alternative to Clinton. Park Ridge-47 turned out to be an employee of an online communications firm that had worked with the Obama campaign. In the Youtube era, who needs PACs and Swift Boaters? The lone wolf political attack ad is born.
#5 Prison inmates Thriller video
Orange-jumpsuited accused murderers, rapists and drug dealers paid homage to Michael Jackson’s Thriller in a dance performance filmed at the Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines. Questions arose about whether the 1,500 Filipino jailhouse rockers were enjoying some well-choreographed creative expression or suffering abuse at the hands of prison officials with MTV aspirations. The only thing certain is that Vincent Price was right when he said, “No mere mortal can resist the evil of the Thriller:” The video has been downloaded more than 9 million times.
#6 I Ran So Far
NBC Doesn’t Let You Embed Videos — LAME
Saturday Night Live’s web hitmaker Andy Samberg delivers another musical tribute, this one to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As Samberg croons at the piano, castmate Fred Armisen dons the Iranian president’s trademark beard and gray suit and the two men dance and romance, debunking Ahmadinejad’s claim that there are no homosexuals in Iran. This digital ditty is as inspired as Samberg’s last hit, Dick in a Box, and (a bit) more culturally relevant.
#7 Can’t Tase This
After video of University of Florida student Andrew Meyer being Tasered at a forum for John Kerry prompted an outcry to ban the electroshock weapon’s use, YouTubers picked up the cause. One light-hearted Taser tribute video mixes audio of Meyer’s cries of pain and “Don’t Tase me, bro” with the video for MC Hammer’s 1990 pop anthem U Can’t Touch This. The result is electric.
#8 Dan Rather Collar Up
In the 18 months since Dan Rather left CBS, the newsman has sued his old network for $70 million and described successor Katie Couric’s broadcast as “dumbing it down and tarting it up.” So we hardly had time to miss him when this old video of Rather obsessing over how to dress for a rooftop broadcast — Coat on or off? Collar up or down? — surfaced and made him look both dumb and tarty.
#9 Clark and Michael
Of the various web series clamoring for attention, this one got ours by delivering something we can’t get on TV since Arrested Development was canceled: a healthy dose of deadpan comedy wunderkind Michael Cera. In weekly webisodes, the co-star of Superbad and his friend and collaborator, Clark Duke, play two inept roommates trying to get their first television series produced. Think of it as The Office for the dubiously self-employed 20-something.
#10 Daft Hands
An impressive hand jive is performed to the tune “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by French duo Daft Punk. There are seemingly endless pop culture entry-points to this vid: the song title references a line from the intro to the 70s TV show The Six Million Dollar Man and it is sampled in Kanye West’s new album. But the video’s real virtue is its do-it-yourselfer simplicity. Daft Hands succeeds on the dexterity of one man’s dukes.
(via Time Mag)
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