It became a norm for this generation of youth to look up topics they are interested on the Internet, more specifically on Google and YouTube. Why you ask? Well because everybody is on the Internet. I say “on” instead of “in” because all the social websites provided to us as Internet users, help people voice their opinions online, a big number of who do it through posting videos on YouTube.
Indeed, there has been a growing phenomenon of people posting their own creative videos on YouTube, Vimeo and many others, which range from music they’ve composed to comments on other videos/movies/songs/campaigns etc …
What’s interesting about those videos is that a big majority of the YouTube users are young. As a fellow Arab social media user, I notice that a lot more young Arabs from all around the world are posting videos and voicing their opinions about various topics.
The YouTube videos that came to my mind when thinking about Youth Cultures in the Middle East are the videos of Young Arab youtubers that live in America, who make silly songs about Middle Eastern food, wealth and cars. GoRemy is a YouTube channel that belongs to Remy Munasifi, he is an Arab-American stand-up comedian that makes music parodies and videos, which made his channel very famous for incorporating Arabic traditions and culture into his videos, which have over 77 millions hits now.
One of his most popular songs is “Saudis in Audis”, where he covers the fact that Saudis are very rich and well ... drive Audis.
I notice a lot of reference to material and non-material culture in this video, such as the car, the traditional white clothing, the dancing hand gestures, and many more…
He also brushes on Arab stereotypes, such as “ Saudis just put hose in the ground,” which refers to the abundance of oil and gas Saudi Arabia has. There are so much more stereotypical points he covers in this specific video about the highbrow Saudi culture, which you’ll all have to see for yourself.
He also has songs that talk about famous traditional Arabic dishes, such as, Tabouleh, Falafel and Hummus. His versions of these famous comedy parodies appeal to a lot of youth, especially Arab youth. He gets video responses from Arabs all around the world, but mainly from the U.S and Canada, which showcases the spread of the Arab community all around the world.
What’s also interesting about YouTube and GoRemy, is that it increased channels led and owned by Arab Youth also making funny videos about other Arab cultures, it has increased to a point where I see hegemony of Arab transmitting their cultures through comedic videos.
Watch them all they are hilarious!
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