Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: MrBeast & Amazon sued, YouTube launches Hype feature + Secret Lives of Mormon Wives review

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: MrBeast & Amazon sued, YouTube launches Hype feature + Secret Lives of Mormon Wives review · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
• 0:03
  daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
• 0:06
  from social media, the creator economy and the digital space
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  every Monday through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meissner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
• 0:19
  Welcome back to Mini Scroll everyone.
• 0:22
  Before I get stuck in to today's episode, I need to make a
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  correction. Yesterday when I was talking
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  about Lunch Lee, which is Mr. Beast, Logan Paul and KSI's new
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  like Lunchables competitor brand, I said that it was going
• 0:36
  to be prime energy, like as in the energy drink in these
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  lunchable or like lunchely prepackaged lunches for
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  children. And I was like, how can they do
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  that? Anyways, you guys, a few of you
• 0:49
  guys corrected me. It is prime hydration.
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  So that makes a lot more sense. And I just wanted to say so
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  appreciate how kind you guys are Whenever I make a mistake in
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  fact checking or anything like that, you guys are always so
• 1:04
  sweet about how you like deliver the correction to me and I just
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  really appreciate it. So I just wanted to say thank
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  you. I know not everyone has an
• 1:12
  audience like that. And obviously, you know, when
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  let's say a YouTube video or if a podcast episode gets a lot of
• 1:19
  views, a lot more than usual, you know, maybe it kind of goes
• 1:23
  out into the stratosphere and then people are not as nice.
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  But for the most part, my core infinite scroll, mini scroll
• 1:31
  audience, you guys are so sweet and I so appreciate it.
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  And you guys always are so sweet, even when you have a
• 1:37
  difference of opinion. You know, obviously the story
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  that I reported on yesterday, the Matt and Abby story was also
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  kind of controversial and I knew that my opinion might not go
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  over super well. And I was just open to hearing,
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  you know, maybe I was completely wrong.
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  And a lot of you guys came through with some great feedback
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  and it was delivered so kindly. And you guys are just so smart.
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  You think of things that, you know, I don't think of.
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  And I just, I so appreciate you guys and I feel like I have such
• 2:05
  a good, smart audience and I love it.
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  All right, let's get into the stories for today.
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  I have three stories. Well, actually I have two
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  stories. And then I have officially my
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  review of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which I have been
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  putting off because I wanted to do it justice.
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  And I decided, you know what, if I don't do it this week, I'm
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  never going to do it. So I just need to RIP the
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  Band-Aid off. But I'm so excited to talk to
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  you guys about that. OK, some more Mr. Beast news.
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  To start it off, Mr. Beast and Amazon together are being sued
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  by contestants from Beast Games. I can't believe that I was
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  sitting here yesterday saying that I feel like everything
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  that's happened with Mr. Beast and like his PR image is just
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  like all over the place right now.
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  And I feel like this is going to really harm his chances of
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  working with entertainment studios and Hollywood again in
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  the future. And I think that this particular
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  lawsuit, him being sued alongside the studio that he's
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  working with, I think that's this is going to be like the
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  nail in the coffin in my opinion.
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  So adding to what is probably the worst a few months of Mr.
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  Beast's life, he is being sued alongside Amazon for how they
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  allegedly treated contestants on their show.
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  On September 16th, a lawsuit was filed against Mr. Beast and
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  Amazon on behalf of five participants in the Beast Games
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  reality show. So for context, Beast Games is
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  set to be the biggest competition show ever with a
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  winning prize of $5 million. Around 2000 people allegedly
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  competed in Las Vegas for a spot with 1000 contestants making it
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  to the final Amazon Prime show. Rosanna Pansino, as we know
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  YouTube, who has been very vocal about her participation in a Mr.
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  Beast show years ago. And then now she's been kind of
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  acting as a messenger, almost like a mouthpiece is maybe not
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  the right word, but like a messenger for some of the people
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  that competed in this particular show.
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  She's like sharing their stories on social media.
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  So she shared stories of participants being denied food,
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  medication, and even new clothes during filming, claims that now
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  appear to be corroborated by this new lawsuit.
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  The lawsuit seeks class action status on behalf of all Beast
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  Game contestants, alleging multiple causes of action
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  related to the chronic mistreatment and neglect that
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  they endured. The suit claims that production
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  created conditions that led to emotional breakdowns, while also
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  denying participants proper meals, rest breaks, and more.
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  They also claim that Mister Beast's production company
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  failed to pay minimum wages and overtime and failed to prevent
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  sexual harassment and expose contestants to quote, dangerous
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  circumstances and conditions as a condition of their employment.
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  The plaintiffs seem to be focusing on the issue of sexual
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  harassment, with contestants alleging that the show created a
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  hostile environment for women. Quote, I expected to be
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  challenged, but I didn't think I would be treated like nothing,
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  less than nothing. And as one of the women, I can
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  say it absolutely felt like a hostile environment for US, one
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  statement from a contestant reads.
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  We honestly could not have been respected less as people, much
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  less employees, if they tried. So yeah, I don't imagine that
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  production studios will touch Mr. Beast again for a very long
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  time after this. And this makes me sad for the
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  stain that this might put on like, creators and Internet
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  entertainment as a whole when it comes to how Hollywood and
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  traditional media view this industry.
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  You know, it's been so difficult for creators to parlay their
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  success online into traditional opportunities like traditional
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  media opportunities and having the biggest YouTube of all time
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  fumble this opportunity so hard to the point where the
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  production company like Amazon is or I guess the network is
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  being sued alongside him. I can't imagine that this is
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  going to do anything good for Hollywood's perception of
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  working with creators. OK, the next story that I have
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  for you guys is a little bit of tech news.
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  So YouTube is to launch a new feature called Hype, which is
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  designed apparently to help smaller creators.
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  So Hype is a new promotional system within YouTube.
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  The platform is introducing a quote UN quote like hype button
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  under each video and a leaderboard that features the
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  most hyped videos from creators with fewer than half a million
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  subscribers. So creators who have under half
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  a million subscribers, they're the only ones I guess that
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  qualify for this quote. It's focused specifically on
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  smaller channels and what people specifically choose to recommend
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  rather than just what they watch, writes The Verge.
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  While uplifting smaller channels, the Hype feature also
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  aims to build stronger communities on YouTube by
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  letting viewers feel more involved and supporting their
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  favorite creators. Success quote.
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  There's something alluring about being early to something cool,
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  to being the one to share it with the world.
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  It makes people feel invested in the things they're promoting.
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  The Verge rights. In the era of duets and stitches
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  and remixes, Viewers are creators, and creators are
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  viewers, and giving everyone a way to grow made sense to
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  YouTube. So the mechanisms behind hype do
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  seem a bit complicated because there are various requirements
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  for both creators and the users. Videos can only be hyped within
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  the first seven days of posting, and users are limited to three
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  hypes per week. And users, I mean like viewers.
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  Each hype is worth a specific number of points, which
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  inversely correlates to the channel's subscriber count.
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  The Verge writes. Quote the ideas that smaller
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  channels should be able to hit the leaderboard too.
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  So each hype to a smaller channel will be worth more
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  points. The 100 videos with the most
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  total points hit the top of the leaderboard.
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  The leaderboards will be country specific with a long term goal
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  of making them personalized to a user.
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  If I am able to get this feature, especially in
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  Australia, I don't know when that will be rolled out, but I
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  will let you guys know because I think that would be so cool to
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  test for our YouTube viewers. All right guys, it is time.
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  It is time for my review of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
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  I do want to preface this by saying I have not consumed any
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  reviews, any opinions? I have avoided all content
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  related to this show because I wanted this to just be like my
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  own raw authentic opinion on the show.
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  So I don't know, these opinions I'm sure are not completely
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  unique and new, but they are mine.
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  OK so first overall I loved this show.
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  To me it felt like a younger, more refreshing version of
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  housewives. And the reason why I felt like
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  that to me is because the women didn't shy away from discussing
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  difficult topics or personal scandals.
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  Like reality TV is so curated now because people are worried
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  about their public image. And that's especially true for
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  the housewives. And I understand the housewives,
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  a lot of them have a lot to lose.
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  But I would also argue that the women on Secret Lives of Mormon
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  Wives have possibly more to lose because they are so ingrained or
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  like, ingrained is probably not the right word, but they're so,
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  yeah, maybe ingrained in a religion that has so many like
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  has such a strict moral code. So they could so easily lose
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  their community, you know, based on what happens on this show.
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  So I kind of thought that that might impact this show more than
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  it did. I found that they were so open
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  to talking about personal scandals.
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  They talked about things that I was shocked that they opened up
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  about, like Whitney's RSV video, her husband being on Tinder,
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  Taylor swinging her domestic violence arrest, Demi's Fruity
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  Pebbles, Macy's husband never wanting to have sex with her,
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  Jen's husband's gambling problem.
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  I'm sure there's other things that I'm missing, but they
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  brought up so much and none of them like ran away.
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  You know, you see on Housewives and other reality shows, so
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  often a cast member brings up a scandal or something and that
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  housewife gets so frustrated and they're like, I'm not talking
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  about this. Or in some instances they'll
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  break the 4th wall and be like, I can't believe you brought that
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  up on camera. There's like BBB or whatever to
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  hopefully make it so that it won't air.
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  We see that all the time on reality TV.
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  And these women like I, I'm sure it's just because it's their
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  first season. They wanted to make good TV.
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  They don't feel in the driver's seat as much as kind of veteran
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  reality TV stars do. You know, we do kind of see that
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  flip eventually. Once a reality star feels
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  invaluable to a franchise, they will feel like they have more
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  power and therefore they can kind of call the shots on what's
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  brought up on camera and not. But these women, they aired it
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  all out. Now, in terms of my opinions of
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  the cast, I know Macy is a potster and the few things that
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  I have not been able to avoid online, I have seen a lot of
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  people don't like her. At least they kind of call her
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  like the low key villain. But I loved her.
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  I really really liked how she defended all of her girlfriends,
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  whether that was genuine or not. And sorry, I should say that
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  when I talk about the show feeling more refreshing or
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  authentic than housewives, I don't mean that it's not overly
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  produced. It absolutely is.
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  Like there were so many moments, you know, in this show where it
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  was so obvious that producers like told someone to call that
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  person or, you know, set up those games when they were away
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  for Macy's birthday and they played that like truth box game.
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  Like that was obviously not actually Demi's idea.
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  Like I'm sure it was producers, right.
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  So I'm not saying that it was not overly produced.
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  And I think Macy played the role, of course, of like Potster
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  and and kind of on the fence so that she could be that bridge
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  between the feuds. But I really liked how she
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  defended all of her friends, all of the women, you know, about
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  their bad partners. Like I like that she just told
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  Taylor straight up, I don't like Dakota because of how he was
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  speaking to you. I think that's kind of bold,
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  especially for these women who are in such a patriarchal
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  culture and religion. I liked how Demi was also very
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  much that on that side as well. She was, you know, kind of
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  coming for Jen. Her and Jesse were kind of
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  coming for Jen about Zacks behavior and I don't think that
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  was necessarily the right way to deliver it.
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  I appreciate that they could see his patterns, that they could
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  see his narcissism. I don't know if they were used
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  the word abusive, but in my opinion, from what we saw, I
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  would say he was being abusive to Jen.
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  I appreciate that they were being so open and honest with
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  her about that. I don't like their delivery.
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  I think that they were getting almost like mad at Jen.
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  And I think in those situations, that can often make the person
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  shut down and shut their friends out of their lives.
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  And I think that's kind of what's happened, right?
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  Like, Jen has moved across the country with Zach.
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  Zach's taken her away from Utah. She's not really part of mom
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  talk anymore, as far as I know because she's not there
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  obviously physically. And I don't think she'll be on
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  Season 2 if there is a Season 2 because she doesn't even live in
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  Utah anymore. And now she's on social media,
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  you know, defending her marriage, defending Zach.
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  I would be interested to know if she's kept relationships with
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  those women. I can't imagine after Zach saw
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  the show and after his family saw the show that they're very
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  happy with her being friends with them.
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  So yeah, I think their delivery was not the right way in that
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  scene. But I really liked seeing them
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  tackle that issue because again, we don't really see that on
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  reality TV. I I mean, I watch literally
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  every housewives franchise. I watch Kardashians, like I
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  watch all the major ones, and it's very rare to see some like
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  to see women so openly and honestly talk about that.
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  And even in real life, you know, to have that very, like, open
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  conversation with your friend would be very, very difficult to
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  say. Like, I think your husband is
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  mistreating you. I really appreciated that side
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  of it. I also think that this show in
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  general has been really good PR for Taylor because Whitney was
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  so horrible. She made Taylor who legitimately
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  in the middle of the season or at the beginning of the season
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  was arrested for domestic violence that led to her child
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  being hurt. Like that is a low bar, you
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  know, but it like it actually made Taylor look good because
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  Whitney was so blatantly horrible to all the women.
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  And I also think the Taylor that we saw in episode 1, it was not
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  the tailor we ended up seeing the rest of the season.
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  I do think her arrest humbled her and I was pleasantly
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  surprised by her in several scenes throughout the rest of
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  the show. Except obviously her like
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  constant excuses for Dakota. Obviously Dakota and Zach are
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  the worst. Also Michaela.
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  She looks so much like Leighton Meester.
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  That's all I could see when she was on screen.
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  But I am very disappointed that they tackled so many issues with
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  like the women and their husbands and they talk so openly
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  about how they're in this very patriarchal religion and how
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  they get married before their frontal lobes are even developed
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  and all this stuff. But no one brought up the fact.
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  And I'm sure it's just because it's like normal in their friend
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  group now because they've been together for so long.
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  But like no one brought up the fact that Michaela got pregnant
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  at 16 to her now husband who was 21 at the time.
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  That is so messed up. And again, I am sure that was
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  kind of normal at the time, and I'm sure that they're just used
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  to it because they've been in their friend group for so long
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  and they've been together for so long.
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  But I was like, can someone please mention this?
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  Like, this is crazy. OK, Now I wanted to talk about
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  like the most fascinating revelation that I had from the
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  show. Again, this is probably not some
• 16:29
  groundbreaking opinion. I am sure people are talking
• 16:31
  about this all over Reddit and, you know, all over the Internet.
• 16:34
  I'm sure this has been said, but I haven't consumed any of that.
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  Like I said, OK, so I could not believe how seriously they take
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  mom talk. I thought it was the funniest
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  thing ever because they talk about it like it's this really
• 16:51
  important institution in their lives, right?
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  And I was laughing along thinking like this is insane and
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  then I realized Oh my God. They talk about mom talk like
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  it's a church. They have created their own like
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  mini religion in their lives with mom talk.
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  You know, like they all abide by like the set of standards or
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  like these guidelines around mom talk.
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  They make collective decisions about what would be appropriate
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  or not for mom talk. Like when Whitney was offered
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  the vibrator sponsorship, you know, they all talked about it
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  collectively. If it like, represents mom talk
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  well and if she should do it. So much of the season is
• 17:35
  dedicated to them not knowing the direction of mom talk
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  because they don't have a clear leader anymore because there's
• 17:41
  this tension between Taylor and Whitney.
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  And I realized that I think for these women, mom talk represents
• 17:49
  like a matriarchal version of Mormonism to them, like an
• 17:53
  expression of their religion If the women were in control or at
• 17:59
  least on more of an equal playing field.
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  And that's the messaging that they keep telling us about mom
• 18:04
  talk. Like they keep telling us that
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  mom talk is like this really empowering thing for them.
• 18:10
  You know, you can see that through their frequent
• 18:11
  discussions of how they talk about how they're the
• 18:14
  breadwinners of their family quite a lot on the show.
• 18:17
  Their frequent mentions of how mom talk is like taking on the
• 18:20
  patriarchy, about how mom talk is there to support progressive
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  Mormon women. I feel like they are
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  inadvertently creating their own idealized culture or religion
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  through mom talk that values women or like at least like I
• 18:38
  said, puts them on like kind of an equal playing field to men.
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  And I think that's the reason why mom talk, as you know, a
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  TikTok collective and also now then the show have both been so
• 18:50
  successful because all of the women are on the same page.
• 18:54
  To them, mom talk represents something bigger.
• 18:57
  And I mean, that keeps saying that on the show, but they
• 18:59
  can't. I don't find that they
• 19:01
  articulate it well. And I think it's probably
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  because they're not super conscious of it.
• 19:05
  And I think that this kind of inadvertent creation of like a
• 19:09
  mini religion within their big patriarchal religion, I think it
• 19:13
  makes sense that that has emerged.
• 19:15
  They all grew up in this very high demand religion and that's
• 19:18
  all they know. And so it makes sense that they
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  are repeating, you know, those patterns and there's cultural
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  norms and that organization almost with in their, like,
• 19:29
  miniature social group. But yeah, it's like, I think it
• 19:34
  works. And they're so successful
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  because all of the women are on the same page.
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  And you can really see that, like, they're all very
• 19:39
  supportive of each other. And I think that's why Whitney
• 19:42
  was ostracized because she was not acting in the best interest
• 19:47
  of the group. She was doing what the Real
• 19:50
  Housewives do, which is acting in the best interest of the
• 19:53
  show. She was acting outside of, you
• 19:57
  know, the guidelines, these arbitrary kind of invisible
• 20:00
  guidelines that mom talk has created for it to function the
• 20:07
  way that these women are supposed to be functioning and
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  acting within these guidelines that Mormonism has set out for
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  them. But they're trying to break free
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  of it. And so they've created mom talk,
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  which gives them the sense of security because it's still kind
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  of related to Mormonism. Like, you know, they're, they're
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  all still Mormon and they're still kind.
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  Kind of like some of them are living more Mormon than others,
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  but now they have this group that is letting them have a bit
• 20:33
  more expression, a bit more freedom than Mormonism.
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  And they don't have to stray too far, but they can kind of
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  experiment within the confines of mom talk.
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  And they know where those boundaries are.
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  Because like I said, these are women that have grown up with
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  with knowing nothing other than being in a box.
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  So to just not be in any type of box anymore, not living by any
• 20:54
  type of guidelines or social construct, that would be really
• 20:59
  challenging. So I don't know.
• 21:01
  I don't know if that's an absolutely wild take, but that's
• 21:04
  what I got from it. I highly recommend this show.
• 21:07
  I think it's so, I think it's so good.
• 21:09
  I don't know, maybe I'm just like looking at it way too deep,
• 21:14
  but I literally had chills the whole time I was watching it.
• 21:17
  I was obsessed. I really hope there's the season
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  2 and I really hope, I don't think it's gonna happen, but I
• 21:24
  really hope that Taylor gets away from Dakota and that Jen
• 21:28
  gets away from Zach. Anyways, guys, that's it for
• 21:32
  Mini Scroll today. Thank you guys so much for
• 21:34
  listening. Please remember to rate review
• 21:37
  and subscribe. It means so much to me.
• 21:39
  It helps me grow. It helps me keep going.
• 21:41
  I love you guys. And there will be a deep dive
• 21:44
  tomorrow and then I'll be back on Monday with Mini.
• 21:47
  OK, bye.