Video Vortex

In her article, Lev Manovich proposes that youtube videos are a new and emerging art form that represent the diversity of the creative community that publishes them to the site.

Contrarily, Thomas Elsaesser is an opponent of the consideration of the youtube video as art, proposing that a lack of originality and thought concerning the structure of videos prevents the clips from reaching the level of "art."

Manovich and Elsaesser have different opinions on youtube videos as art primarily because of the different ways in which each person approaches the idea of art. Elsaesser's emphasis on avante-gardeism informs his opinions about youtube in that the typical youtube user doesn't have the patience or the desire to create something unique and evoking through their filmmaking. On the contrary, the typical user does have the power to build upon an already systematic approach to video making, such as the vlog or other popular genres of youtube videos in order to make something that's less focused on the aesthetic aspect of art, and more culturally and communally involved with the idea of it. This internet-culture based phenomenon aspect of the youtube video, and the successive additions that are made to this culture as new videos are posted everyday, are the main reasons Manovich considers the youtube medium a valid for of art.