There is a movie called “Army of Thieves” produced by Netflix. I have no intention of giving spoilers or reviewing the movie, but there is a scene that made me realize once again that “having more numbers doesn’t necessarily mean better”.
The main character is an ordinary man who works as a company employee and feels dissatisfied with his job. However, he is also a “locksmith” and has been obsessed with opening safes since he was a child. He uploads videos on YouTube about the backstory of a locksmith he admires and his passion for it. He even asks for likes and channel subscriptions at the end of his videos, giving the impression of a “company employee doing YouTube as a hobby”.
One day, the video’s view count went up to “1” and he was overjoyed. If this were not a movie, one could imagine a future where the view count increases to 5, 10, 50, 100, and so on. A roadmap like “100 subscribers! Finally 1,000 subscribers! An unexpected 10,000 subscribers! A miracle 100,000 subscribers! A whopping 1 million subscribers! An incredible 10 million subscribers! A world-changing 100 million subscribers!”.
However, this is not the case in the movie. The protagonist, who is recognized for his skills as a locksmith, is invited by a group of robbers. Despite the content of the movie, it’s safe to say that just one view count led to an unexpected encounter.
Putting the movie aside, I watched it twice because I liked it. And I realized that there are some impressive scenes. Years ago, when my YouTube subscribers were barely over 100, I used to motivate myself by thinking, “Now two households are watching me,” “It’s almost a whole class at school,” or “Hey, soon we won’t fit in the gym.” The human behind the numbers is taken for granted, and it becomes difficult to understand that when looking through the screen of a smartphone or a computer. Quantity is taught, but quality is not.
This is something that you have to explore yourself, and the platform doesn’t teach you much about it. For example, when you receive comments or meet someone in person, you can feel their passion, which can lead to a better understanding of the “intensity” of the numbers. But maybe there are people who think, “This is so interesting!” but are too busy to do anything other than press the “like” button.
There is also support through Super Chat, but this also ultimately converts to a monetary value, which may not necessarily convey the person’s true enthusiasm.
What I’m trying to say is that it is quite difficult for content creators to imagine the viewer’s “enthusiasm”. Perhaps there are people who say, “I love this YouTuber so much that I’ll watch their ads without skipping them.”
On the other hand, communication that lacks enthusiasm, in other words, communication without a soul, can be seen through by the recipient. If you create something with the intention of “this is what’s trending right now, so maybe I’ll get more views,” even if you get lots of views, what is the “intensity” of those numbers?
It’s quite difficult to imagine this aspect. However, I think there are various mechanisms to perceive this. For example, in live streams, you can feel more passion, and the same is true for closed communities.
But even then, your brain may focus on the easy-to-understand “numbers” sign, and behave as if that is the answer. Pursuing numbers is not a bad thing, but is your soul in that content? Is it something that you can say with pride, “This is a part of me”?
If your soul is in it, it gives you a reason to continue, even if things don’t go well. And if your soul is in it, someone who can appreciate it will surely appear someday.
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This turned out to be quite a heavy topic. Sometimes I think about things like this, and sometimes I don’t. Anyway, I’ll start preparing dinner now.
※The thumbnail was created using Blender. The title is “Kinoville”.
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