Once again I feel compelled to state that YouTube is definitely not television. To further the notion consider this video featuring Irish football fans and a car with a dented roof. It’s short, simple and pointless to a degree, and yet it adequately captures the depths to which YouTube content can be so serendipitous and voyeuristic. These qualities offer a new paradigm in modern culture. Video content is no longer the domain of those who partake in extensive planning and staging. Video can now exist on the basis of unforeseen whims by those who have a mobile device on hand. Of course such amateurism is clearly present in this video by the lack of any narration, backstory, or context. And that’s to say nothing about the shoddy camera work seen in the early portion of the clip, as unidentified persons stick cash notes inside a car door as a gesture of goodwill towards its owner.
But then something strange happens. As the camera slowly pans to get a different perspective, a quasi-rhythmic pounding is heard in the distance. This is later accompanied by a joyous chant of “For the boys in green, fix the car” as several men starting pounding the roof around the dent. One man is even seen pointing at certain spots to hit as if he were a practitioner of some ancient, esoteric ritual. The video of course ends not long after the boisterous celebration that ensues once the dent is completely popped out. The rousing emotional intensity of this moment does plenty to explain why the video was uploaded, while also suggesting a new reality for our world, one in which few engrossing events, even those of a seemingly trivial significance, can go uncaptured.