Hyperfixation Review: Jenna Marbles

Jenna Marbles content has adapted throughout the years as trends have changed. When I was 13 she was the funniest person I'd ever watched - her 'What Girls Do', 'What Boys Do', 'What x Means' type content was iconic and perfect for the era. As were her Bart-Baker-esque parodies (a couple of which did not stand up to today's standards, of course) and her drunk tutorials. As time went by she made less angry opinionated content, which served her very well. No clickbait to be seen, either. She did make videos about the 2016 election, but in the wake of the election, she simply made a video where she made her two Italian Greyhounds get married in order to cheer us all up. These greyhounds were called brother and sister before this. Go figure.

From 2017 onwards, her content became... niche. Like, 'Cutting Soap For My Dog While He Wears A Turtleneck', 'Making Tiny Things For Our Hamster', 'A Face Full Of Rhinestones' niche. It's these videos that I go to when I'm sad, because they make me feel really good. Sometimes when you're feeling fucking awful all you need is to watch a grown woman treating her stupid little ugly gremlin dogs like babies. Another private reason I like Jenna Marbles is that my partner is a bit like Julien and it's validating to see another person struggle to stop their adult boyfriend causing himself serious bodily harm because he had an impulse to stick his hand in bubbling oil. I feel seen.

She did make some problematic content towards the beginning of her YouTube career. She was not the only creator to do so, and many creators continue to profit from problematic content with little to no pushback. Jenna knew she could have kept going on her platform and decided she didn't want to. I respect her decision immensely. She apologised for it as best she could and is trying to do her best to stop profiting from that content by taking the videos down, ceasing the ad revenue, as well as distancing herself from it as a creator. I won't be sad if she decides to stay away from YouTube forever. I don't watch most of her videos from 2020, before she left, because she looks sad in them. You can see that she isn't enjoying herself, and it's the happiness you can see in her videos, especially from 2017-2019, that makes them so fucking enjoyable.

Hyperfixation Rating: 10/10