Last week I had 7 people (including both my parents) tell me to stop what I was doing & watch the new Netflix documentary, The American Meme.
I had just started Vanderpump Rules again (left off at season 4) & I was in such a deep binge that I didn’t get around to watching until last night. Within the first 30 minutes of the documentary I was SHOOK.
The documentary features a handful of celebrities, Paris Hilton (the “star” of the show), Hailey Baldwin, Emily Ratajkowski, Josh Ostrovsky (the Fat Jew), DJ Khaled, Brittany Furlan, Kirill Bichutsky (aka the slut whisperer), & more. It delves deep into their thoughts on the future of social media, the dangers of social media fame, who they are beyond the screen, & what it is like to constantly live in the social media spotlight.
Some people, I am sure, are rolling their eyes at this documentary & I am not saying I was 100% on board with all of it… but I did find it EXTREMELY interesting & relevant to the times. Enough so to write a post about it.
I am nowhere on the level of “fame” as these social media celebs, but I did relate hard on a lot of what was discussed. It also felt good to watch because it gives non-social media people a real look on the magnitude of this industry. Maybe, just maybe, people will start to take you more seriously when you say “I am an influencer for a living”.
It’s not all free shit, tons of money, & positive attention. This documentary, although only scratching the surface of how far the social media addiction & quest for “internet fame” goes, sheds a real light on what it is really like. The good, the bad, & the ugly.
I talk a lot about social media & our health, so I wanted to share with you guys some of my top takeaways from The American Meme. Not all of it is good & I am not bashing social media at all, these are just some of the things that stuck with me. REMEMBER, at the end of the day, it’s all about balance!
8 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE AMERICAN MEME
Paris Hilton, the Queen of Social Media:
The Fat Jewish described Paris’ role in social media best… “the modern-day ideas of celebrity, of brands, of marketing, the way that we think about influence—this was all invented by Paris Hilton… Paris is a straight-up fucking icon.”
Agreed, she definitely is an icon & it always appeared to me she really LOVED the spotlight. After watching this, that is not the vibe I am getting from her at all.
This girl has been through the social media ringer. She was the IT GIRL of the 2000’s & then the world turned on her after the infamous sex tape scandal. She talks about this incident A LOT in the documentary & it was very sad. Everyone who loved her, turned on her fast.
She says in the documentary she trusted no one & didn’t leave her house for months. She has a piece of art in her house of tons of paparazzi & when she flips a switch it is flashing lights & flashing bulbs coming at her. She turned it on & said that sometimes she hears those sounds of the paparazzi when she is completely alone. As much as you want to think “nahhhh- she loves the attention”… maybe, to an extent, but she does seem to have a bit of trauma from it all.
She really does seem to authentically love her audience (the “little Hiltons”) & claims even some have her phone number, which I def. feel. I honestly talk to some of my readers more than some of my friends & there are a handful that I communicate with often & truly consider friends.
For Paris, I do think her story ended on a positive note. She was definitely the success story of the group of influencers interviews. She has a good perspective on the world of social media & you can see how she turned her fame into a full blown brand. She evolved her image as a famous party girl to a legit business women who is WAY fucking smarter than anyone would assume.
Are People Really Who they Are on Social Media?
Is what you see on the Instagram actually how it is? Is The Fat Jew “on” all the time? Does ‘The Slut Whisperer‘ have a soul? The line between real life & social media life can often be blurred & this documentary explores this BIG time.
Kirill (the ‘Slut Whisperer’ ew) was the main subject for this theory- he goes to parties, gets wasted, takes degrading photos of women while spraying champagne on them, gets massive hate, keeps going, & seems like a total douche.
When they interview him though, you somehow feel bad for him. I think what he does is disgusting- but he seems really fucking lonely. He says the constant drinking is hard on his body (coughs up blood every morning!!), that he can’t build meaningful relationships cause everyone just wants to party, & he gets teary eyed talking to his Mom about wanting a family.
SAD, right? Well after watching the documentary I went to his Instagram & people are sending him sorta nice emails about how he seems like a nice guy but what he does is not attractive… & he is posting them talking shit. Just when you wanted to think he was something else behind the screen, you then start to second guess.
The Fat Jew, on the other hand, seemed pretty consistent with his online/real life persona & I appreciated that. He did mention he was someone else offline & feels like a zoo animal who has to drink to fall asleep… which was depressing, but if the documentary was supposed to show this other person, it didn’t.
It is no big secret what we put online is the most CURATED version of ourselves, so this wasn’t a huge shocker to me atleast. It was still refreshing to hear these influential individuals open up about about real life vs. social life & the differences. Majority of influencers are much more than their social presences.
Social Media Influencers are More Self-Aware Than you Think
A lot of people discredit social media influencers for not being intelligent & just wanting attention. While I am sure that is the case for some, this documentary really explores the business side of it & shows the audience that these influencers are really using social media to their advantage & are FULLY aware of what they are doing.
Emily Ratajkowski and DJ Khaled were less seen in the documentary but both seemed very self aware of the business of social media. DJ Khaled discussed in detail what his audience likes to see & how he caters to that with his content creation. Emily Ratajkowski talks in detail about how she learned to accept the fact that privacy was now dead & use this to her benefit.
A bit unrelated, but Emily also stated “what’s wrong with wanting a little attention”… & I was down with her honesty since for some reason we have to all be ashamed for enjoying attention. It’s human nature.
The Social Media Hierarchy
Brittany Furlan, another influencer featured in the documentary, is kind of a “retired vine celeb”. She was HUGE on Vine & discusses in detail how things somewhat spiraled for her. She watched herself be surpassed by new comers like Lele Pons on Vine & then all of the sudden Vine closed their doors. She had found her self having to start ALL over, climb back of the social media ranks, & compete with all of the influencers who are now “bigger than her”.
There is a scene of recreating the Beyonce photo when she was pregnant with the twins (the one everyone copied) & she was doing her own rendition… while eating a burrito. Watching the shoot was almost painful for me… especially when she saw that The Fat Jewish did it & said “I will never be that popular”.
The most interesting to me though was Hailey Baldwin (Bieber) who told us that she has been turned down for modeling jobs because someone else had more followers than her. The social media hierarchy clearly effects everyone in this industry.
How Much They Are Getting Paid
Another interesting snippet from Hailey was that the most she has gotten paid for a post is $150,000…. I mean deep down I knew this, but it wasn’t till she said that it really drove it home for me. She also said her manager gets mad if she posts something organically cause she could get paid for that. That was a bummer to hear. I get it, we all need to make money, but there has to be some level of non sponsored content to gain trust IMO.
The Power of Influence
In one scene of this documentary you see Paris Hilton & The Fat Jew go live on Instagram to announce a FAKE line of clothing for baby DJ’s called “bottle service”. They got over 2 million views & people were honestly stoked to start buying.
The clothing was ridiculous & they knew it was a dumb idea, but they tested the power of influence. Media outlets were writing about the new launch of this clothing line as well. It not only showed the power of influence as a whole, but how influential they were as individuals.
The Real Downside of Social Media
They do discuss the REAL negative effects of everyone looking for fame on social media. Kids eating Tide Pods for fame, the loneliness that comes with it, the harmful effects when someone get’s their “15 minute of fame” & then falls off the radar, etc.
They focus a lot of Brittany Furlan during this topic of discussion. She has been bullied for her videos, taken the wrong way, turned down for serious auditions because of her social media audience, & then kind of thrown away by her audience when newer video stars came along.
They could’ve gone into this more… but they didn’t. I really think the downside goes a lot deeper than this documentary showed.
The Future of Social Media
NOW HERE IS YOUR TAKEAWAY. You ready?
Josh Ostrovsky (The Fat Jewish), in this documentary, said it loud & clear- “THE AGE OF THE DIGITAL INFLUENCER, I’M TELLING YOU, IT’S GOING TO FUCKING CRASH”.
This, he explains, is the exact reason he created White Girl Rosé (the most instagrammed bottle on the internet FYI!). He wanted to create something lasting, something he could walk away with when it’s all said & done. As much as this is scary for all of us, I do agree with him.
Influencers need to think of themselves as a brand, more than just a bunch of pretty pictures. You can NOT put all your eggs in one basket. Just like Vine, Instagram could end. What do you have if you don’t have that audience? Make sure to be active on all social networks, consider creating a product, & think bigger than just Instagram.
Paris, on the other hand, end the documentary shows how she is handling social media burnout while creating a total VR experience of her DJing because, as she states,
“a lot of people don’t understand that you need to be sustainable forever.”
MIC FUCKING DROP.
*note to self: create a VR vision of myself to replace actual socialization- sounds like a good idea*
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