"Imagining others more complexly": celebrity and the ideology of fame among YouTube's "Nerdfighteria"

YouTube’s development in its first 10 years has witnessed the growth of an indigenous celebrity culture. This article seeks to explore the celebrification of online video-bloggers in relation to their own discursive community. Using the case of the VlogBrothers and their community of ‘Nerdfighters’, this article demonstrates how their philosophy set towards ‘Understanding Others More Complexly’ becomes a central part of how ‘celebrity’ is understood and legitimated on YouTube. This vision of celebrity is egalitarian and democratic, rooted in western culture’s ‘expressive turn’, because it views each person as a unique individual and others as equal, legitimate subjects. Situating this discursive formation within the culture of Web 2.0’s neo-liberal developments, the article seeks to explore how ‘celebrity’ may be conceived beyond its commercial, corporate axis and instead be considered a state of ‘selfhood’ which allows each person equal space to consummate a unique vision of themselves