F My Life is a perfect example about how popular print media cannot guess what people will enjoy reading, and how the internet solves that problem. I suppose it’s obvious that people like hearing crazy stories about how other people have unfortunate lives, but with the formalities and levels of editing involved with print media, I could see how fmylife’s content would not end up being published. Furthermore, the fact that the site can be updated with new content keeps people coming back and keeps the ad revenue flowing, something that print media could never achieve.
But I think the site is an interesting commentary on what our society values in its entertainment, and we never would have realized this aspect of the public preference if it weren’t for the ease of publishing on the internet.
2 responses so far ↓
zjs02008 // March 27, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I don’t really agree with your analysis of F My Life.
1st, I don’t believe that FML is sadistic. It is more like a new type of joke that people make up to be humorous than descriptions of real events that readers would think funny only because they think they really happened to the writer.
I don’t think the contributors of the site are serious and I think most of them write with intended humor, whether the descriptions have any truth to them or not.
2nd. I don’t think this type of humor is necessarily something new. I remember watching tv shows on skateboarding and bmx bloopers and falls. Similarly the humor there isn’t really sadistic, and it tends to be the person making the mistake that submits the material in the first place.
jadedred // March 30, 2009 at 1:51 pm
wow…way to shoot down all my ideas zack…