What Do You Do When the News Tells You To "Hide Ya Kids Hide Ya Wife"

Now I’m not sure if you’ve “met” Antoine Dodson, the brother of an attempted rape victim who spoke on WAFF48, a news channel in Alabama, about the crisis and his thoughts on the matter. Or, if you’ve met Antoine Dodson, lead singer of Bed Intruder ranking at the top of the Billboard charts. If not, watch this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=civOdWxd4Kc

This Youtube phenomena, is not a home video, or webcam shot. It was a very serious emergency that happened to Antoine on July 28th of 2010. Since then, Antoine has become an internet sensation, splits the profit of being a musical star, has Facebook fan pages, his own Youtube page, and now hosts events—all because of a news broadcast.

There now begins the argument of whether, the sensationalism of Antoine Dodson’s sister’s rape, is appropriate, demeaning or down-right hilarious. Despite all values and the importance of news, I have to represent the latter. Baron and Davis highlight the difficulty television has as a medium to educate its audience, especially in the case of television news. They say:

Information is frequently presented in ways that inhibit rather than facilitate learning. Part of the problem rests with audience members. Most of us view television as primarily an entertainment medium. We have developed many information-processing skills and strategies for watching television that serve us well in making sense of entertainment content but that interfere with effective interpretation and recall of news. (Baron and Davis 254)

Therefore, we’re not necessarily watching the news to continue learning as we did all day in school. We’re watching the news and television for entertainment, and so despite the seriousness of Antoine’s situation, our entertainment shifts from the depth of the issue to how unbelievable hilarious Antoine’s voice and verbatim is. A podcast shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=civOdWxd4Kc further elaborates the argument of whether we are laughing at or with Antoine, and are we supposed to be laughing in the first place? I’m interested to know your first impressions of the video and Bed Intruder song, and if you feel it’s appropriate or a result of the television medium.

None the less, this was a small newscast at a small news station in Alabama. How did this moment get auto-tuned all the way to Billboard charts? I’d like to suggest the theory of fandom. Regardless of what Antoine Dodson fan’s interests and intentions may be, there are a lot of them. We discuss fandom in terms of The Beatles and Bieber, but a spot on the 6 o’clock news? Denis McQuail states:

The absence of stable identity and connection is seen as leaving the individual open to irrational appeals. With the refinement of advertising and public relations campaigns in the early twentieth century, along with the success of wartime propaganda and the dramatic rise in popularity of film and radio, fears of the immense and inescapable powers of propaganda techniques grew.(McQuail 346)

Is it a certain type of person that’s open to the “irrational appeal” of Antoine Dodson’s outburst? Or is Youtube enabling a new sort of fandom, that counts and displays every fan that’s watched the video? I personally feel that this is a new and unique situation, that defies the expectations and dependence public relations and advertising were given credit, in terms of fandom. Are there any other examples of fandom that started from an ordinary person on a newscast, or has Antoine developed into a musical star, like Justin Bieber, where this fandom is normal. I think it’s an interesting situation to discuss especially in terms of news and fandom (do those words belong in the same sentence?).