YouTubers: Dan and Phil
So I've blanked out of this blog for ~2 weeks, mostly because my time has been split between catching up on work (just when my teaching job's on its semestral [side note: What is this red underline? Is semestral not a word?? Is the "sem" in "sembreak" just short for semester??] break, my other three jobs suddenly decide to be active) and watching YouTube.
I don't talk about it much, but my obsession with YouTube has been looming over the horizon for a while now. It started with me discovering the React Channel (thanks, FineBros!) and then eventually seeing YouTubers React, and from there discovering the people who I assume are probably YouTube's most famous YouTubers. I eventually subscribed to Tyler Oakley, and since he knows everybody, I became tangentially interested in other YouTubers.
ANYWAY, so nowadays I've been very into danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil. I'm not sure how exactly this happened, because I have known about them for a while now, but I've only recently actually watched their videos. It was probably me re-watching the Dan and Phil React to Teens React to Dan and Phil.
In any case, they're all I've been watching for the past week (no joke, our TV has never been so ignored [I watch all my shows by connecting the hard drive to our TV lol]), I figured, why not write about Dan and Phil and try to sort out why exactly I've been so embarrassingly into these two lately?
Individual Personalities
It took me a while to understand the difference between Dan and Phil. Being an Asian who has had an obsession with British accents because of Harry Potter, the outgroup homogeneity effect (hashtag PSYCHOLOGY) comes into play here because I sort of just saw them as generic white boys who have British accents. Dan in particular caught my interest because - let's be real here - he's easy on the eyes.
But as I watched their videos and, interestingly, scoured through the YouTube comments their videos received, the difference became not only obvious, but glaringly so. Dan's sense of humor is sarcastic, brash, and he's what I see as the male personification of the Jennifer Lawrence/Anna Kendrick personality, except of course as a YouTuber, Dan's appeal is that he really had no reason to come up with a persona in order to be likable, so that's probably how he really is "IRL," haha (that was a reference). So yeah, he's more outgoing, swears more often, and is - for lack of better word - edgier than Phil.
Phil, on the other hand, is kind of like a British Boy Scout. He's smiley, energetic, and just seems like a genuinely nice person - and not in the bland way. He's just very positive, he rarely ever swears and he always makes it a point to bleep out even the most basic of swear words. He didn't swear when he and Dan played horror games for Halloween, but he swore when he was playing a badger simulator game and he had to protect is badger babies - which is practically his personality in a nutshell. I think of him as the Steve Rogers to Dan's Tony Stark. That's actually a very fair analogy, and it's probably why I'm so drawn to them, but we'll get to that in a bit.
Friendship Dynamic and also, PHANDOM
Their massively different personalities somehow mesh together very well - if you've been living with the same person for 3-4 years and you're closer with them instead of wanting to punch their teeth out, that's saying something. Watching their older videos (and sometimes even their more recent ones), where anyone else may be put off by Dan's hostility or misunderstood his sarcasm, Phil often takes it in stride and continues saying his jokes and bits of anecdotes.
Putting it into an analogy that is either going to make everything click into place or confuse you a hell of a lot more, in the Japanese Manzai (comedy skit form), Dan is the tsukkomi and Phil is the boke. While he isn't "air-headed" in the more obvious sense of the word, Phil is the more "innocent" of the two, often not seeming to catch innuendos or not reacting to them as obviously as Dan does. Dan often does a The Office-inspired look at the camera whenever Phil inevitably says something that could be taken out of context. And quite often these things are treated by fans with seriousness, especially nonverbal communication.
And here, of course, is where I talk about the Phandom - which is a combination of "Fandom," referring of course to Dan and Phil fanatics, and "Phan," the (you guessed it) ship name of Dan and Phil. If you don't know what shipping is, you're probably better off not knowing in this context (but let's be real, if you're here and you know me at ALL, you probably know what that is). In any case, you can bet that statistically probably 90% of Dan and Phil's fanbase wants them to get together/believes they're already together and is continually looking for "evidence" to prove their relationship. Half the comments on any of their videos - whether together or not - seems to point out 3-5 second microglances, hand brushing, and other such things in videos. People are crazy about them getting/being together.
You can only imagine how that must be for them, but as they've been on YouTube since 2009 (even longer for Phil since he was there before Dan), they not only knew this was probably coming with all their fame, but they've done things which I think is what sets them apart from your average fandom - they continually recognize the Phandom and have openly talked about such things on their videos. They even have special videos ("Tumblr tag" videos) where they just go on Tumblr and look through their username tag, which often features strange fanart and fanfiction involving the two of them. They're vocal about uncomfortable it makes them, but the fact that they still continue to recognize the fandom and the shipping, you can imagine, fuels their fanbase even more.
Personally, I'm amused at their antics and I find their friendship beyond adorable, but I don't actively ship them. Like, I don't squeal at little glances or go out of my way to read into small touches, and I definitely don't read fanfiction, but I'm amused at the Phandom and I do scroll through the video to look through timecodes people put in the comments, hahaha.
What I love about watching them is watching how differently they react to things, but how the dynamic of their friendship works so well too. A great example of this is when they're playing Portal 2 while Phil is blindfolded and Dan has to instruct him to get past the level. It's highly entertaining and their personalities have never been so distinct as well.
I should also mention that in addition to being incredibly famous (if you watch their vlogs, you'll notice they constantly get recognized), they've also hosted their own radio show on BBC, they've hosted the BRITAwards on the internet stream, and they're going on a freaking tour for A BOOK THEY WROTE TOGETHER. What even. (Yes, I have reserved a copy of the book. SMH @ SELF.)
In conclusion, I have a lot of analogies for Dan and Phil and why they work, but it all boils down to how they complement each other. Dan's the tsukkomi, the Tony Stark, the Jimmy Kimmel, the Angst in fanfic. Phil's the boke, the Steve Rogers, the Jimmy Fallon, the Fluff. I love them both equally, though I do have a soft spot for Phil (have you seen him play Shelter?? It's about the most adorable thing ever).
To end, here's a list of some of my favorite videos from the last few days:
I don't talk about it much, but my obsession with YouTube has been looming over the horizon for a while now. It started with me discovering the React Channel (thanks, FineBros!) and then eventually seeing YouTubers React, and from there discovering the people who I assume are probably YouTube's most famous YouTubers. I eventually subscribed to Tyler Oakley, and since he knows everybody, I became tangentially interested in other YouTubers.
ANYWAY, so nowadays I've been very into danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil. I'm not sure how exactly this happened, because I have known about them for a while now, but I've only recently actually watched their videos. It was probably me re-watching the Dan and Phil React to Teens React to Dan and Phil.
In any case, they're all I've been watching for the past week (no joke, our TV has never been so ignored [I watch all my shows by connecting the hard drive to our TV lol]), I figured, why not write about Dan and Phil and try to sort out why exactly I've been so embarrassingly into these two lately?
Individual Personalities
 |
| So attractive. |
But as I watched their videos and, interestingly, scoured through the YouTube comments their videos received, the difference became not only obvious, but glaringly so. Dan's sense of humor is sarcastic, brash, and he's what I see as the male personification of the Jennifer Lawrence/Anna Kendrick personality, except of course as a YouTuber, Dan's appeal is that he really had no reason to come up with a persona in order to be likable, so that's probably how he really is "IRL," haha (that was a reference). So yeah, he's more outgoing, swears more often, and is - for lack of better word - edgier than Phil.
Phil, on the other hand, is kind of like a British Boy Scout. He's smiley, energetic, and just seems like a genuinely nice person - and not in the bland way. He's just very positive, he rarely ever swears and he always makes it a point to bleep out even the most basic of swear words. He didn't swear when he and Dan played horror games for Halloween, but he swore when he was playing a badger simulator game and he had to protect is badger babies - which is practically his personality in a nutshell. I think of him as the Steve Rogers to Dan's Tony Stark. That's actually a very fair analogy, and it's probably why I'm so drawn to them, but we'll get to that in a bit.
Friendship Dynamic and also, PHANDOM
Their massively different personalities somehow mesh together very well - if you've been living with the same person for 3-4 years and you're closer with them instead of wanting to punch their teeth out, that's saying something. Watching their older videos (and sometimes even their more recent ones), where anyone else may be put off by Dan's hostility or misunderstood his sarcasm, Phil often takes it in stride and continues saying his jokes and bits of anecdotes.
Putting it into an analogy that is either going to make everything click into place or confuse you a hell of a lot more, in the Japanese Manzai (comedy skit form), Dan is the tsukkomi and Phil is the boke. While he isn't "air-headed" in the more obvious sense of the word, Phil is the more "innocent" of the two, often not seeming to catch innuendos or not reacting to them as obviously as Dan does. Dan often does a The Office-inspired look at the camera whenever Phil inevitably says something that could be taken out of context. And quite often these things are treated by fans with seriousness, especially nonverbal communication.
And here, of course, is where I talk about the Phandom - which is a combination of "Fandom," referring of course to Dan and Phil fanatics, and "Phan," the (you guessed it) ship name of Dan and Phil. If you don't know what shipping is, you're probably better off not knowing in this context (but let's be real, if you're here and you know me at ALL, you probably know what that is). In any case, you can bet that statistically probably 90% of Dan and Phil's fanbase wants them to get together/believes they're already together and is continually looking for "evidence" to prove their relationship. Half the comments on any of their videos - whether together or not - seems to point out 3-5 second microglances, hand brushing, and other such things in videos. People are crazy about them getting/being together.
You can only imagine how that must be for them, but as they've been on YouTube since 2009 (even longer for Phil since he was there before Dan), they not only knew this was probably coming with all their fame, but they've done things which I think is what sets them apart from your average fandom - they continually recognize the Phandom and have openly talked about such things on their videos. They even have special videos ("Tumblr tag" videos) where they just go on Tumblr and look through their username tag, which often features strange fanart and fanfiction involving the two of them. They're vocal about uncomfortable it makes them, but the fact that they still continue to recognize the fandom and the shipping, you can imagine, fuels their fanbase even more.
Personally, I'm amused at their antics and I find their friendship beyond adorable, but I don't actively ship them. Like, I don't squeal at little glances or go out of my way to read into small touches, and I definitely don't read fanfiction, but I'm amused at the Phandom and I do scroll through the video to look through timecodes people put in the comments, hahaha.
What I love about watching them is watching how differently they react to things, but how the dynamic of their friendship works so well too. A great example of this is when they're playing Portal 2 while Phil is blindfolded and Dan has to instruct him to get past the level. It's highly entertaining and their personalities have never been so distinct as well.
I should also mention that in addition to being incredibly famous (if you watch their vlogs, you'll notice they constantly get recognized), they've also hosted their own radio show on BBC, they've hosted the BRITAwards on the internet stream, and they're going on a freaking tour for A BOOK THEY WROTE TOGETHER. What even. (Yes, I have reserved a copy of the book. SMH @ SELF.)
In conclusion, I have a lot of analogies for Dan and Phil and why they work, but it all boils down to how they complement each other. Dan's the tsukkomi, the Tony Stark, the Jimmy Kimmel, the Angst in fanfic. Phil's the boke, the Steve Rogers, the Jimmy Fallon, the Fluff. I love them both equally, though I do have a soft spot for Phil (have you seen him play Shelter?? It's about the most adorable thing ever).
To end, here's a list of some of my favorite videos from the last few days:
- PHOTOBOOTH CHALLENGE - A CLASSIC. This was so hilarious I had tears in my eyes halfway through. Great video to have on hand at the end of a particularly shitty day, I can imagine.
- Dan and Phil react to Teens React to Dan and Phil - THEY WERE SO ADORABLY NERVOUS, haha. And I love that they latched on to Ethan's "I'm not about that life" because I personally found that hilarious.
- EXTREME MAKEOVER DIL’S HOME EDITION - Dan and Phil Play: Sims 4 #13 - Have I mentioned they made a gaming channel on YouTube and they have 20 videos of them playing Sims 4, where they made "Dil Howlter" (combination of their names and features because they basically ship themselves at this point)? It's incredible and though I've binge-watched their Sims 4 videos before, I still watch at least one once a day. #TRASH haha I'm linking this particularly because HOME BUILDING YES.
- A Day in the Life of Dan and Phil - They actually have a whole series of these, and I love each one equally. This was the just the most recent one in my history, haha.
- BREAKING DAWN REACTION VIDEO - They review Breaking Dawn after watching it. I never watched this movie, but this was amusing af. I watched this toward the end of the binge and I was just like... what is my life even.
- THE WARDROBE - Dan and Phil build a wardrobe for their new flat in London. Why does this amuse me so much.
- YouTube Whispers 4 | ThatcherJoe - This isn't even from their channel, but I watched it like 5 times because it was so hilarious. I NEED MORE COLLABS BETWEEN THEM AND LOUISE, I need it like air.
- Dan and Phil SIM SURPRISE PHONE CALL - This is an unlisted video so it doesn't have as many views as their other videos, but it was just so adorable, and their fan that they call was spazzing out so hard, hahaha.
- Dan and Phil 'Friend Test' - They're tested about each other in a YouTube event and fangirls scream out answers that make it obvious who their OTP is. Also, Phil is the best friend anyone could ever ask for.
- Dan the Dinosaur vs. Phil the Lion - THE EXTINCTION RACE - There's a whole series of videos featuring this challenge, but this is probably my favorite. Quality YouTube content. Great.
- TUMBLR TAG 3! (With Dan) - One of their recent videos looking through their tag. Hilarious and amazing.
- SEE ALSO (because I am lazy): Phil is Not on Fire series, LITERALLY THEIR WHOLE GAMING CHANNEL IS HILARIOUS, their Cooking Videos, DanandPhilCRAFTS, Blindfolded Challenges, and any video where Dan collabs with Louise because YES.
Okay I'm done. Please don't judge me too hard.
I like how you think of Dan and Phil, and I really enjoyed this postime. But of wanted you to know the people who do all this INTENSE SHIPPING are called demoted phanneis as they annoy the he'll out of everyone!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there was such a term! I'm not very active in the phandom, actually, I'm just a very loyal consumer of their content and books, hahaha. Thanks for leaving a comment! ^_^
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