Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog

A review, by Ariella Phillips, Student, University of Notre Dame, Class of 2012

"With my freeze ray, I will stop the world.....

That’s the plan/ Rule the world/ You and me/ Any day

Love your hair.”

Dr. Horrible’s Sing A Long Blog is a production that is utterly Millennial. Not quite definable, it’s a movie/blog/musical/webcast/thing. It was never shown on TV, never advertised, a case of completely out-of-the-box thinking and approach. Despite the low budget (it was made during the writers’ strike), the quality of the music and acting is top notch. And every college student has seen it.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the link. It’s a little long (40 minutes) but if you have 10 minutes it’s worth watching through the first song, “My Freeze Ray.” In case you don’t have time, here’s why I think Dr. Horrible appeals to Millennials.

The message.

We want to change the world. We’re a little fuzzy on exactly how, but as Dr. Horrible says in the first few minutes, “the status quo is not… quo!” We’re a little innocent on this point, almost naïve. Still, we know there’s something wrong with our world, and we are going to fix it, either through Penny’s volunteering with the homeless and vegetarianism, or Dr. Horrible’s freeze ray.

The Medium.

Dr. Horrible is on OUR media, the Internet, which Millennials take special pride in. Yeah, yeah, we know our moms are on facebook now, but gosh darn it, we’re the ones who know it best. Dr. Horrible starts off talking to a computer cam, blogging his email responses on his exploits in world domination and love. If you look closely, you’ll see the remote for his heist is an iPhone. Technology is something all millennials use, know, and exploit. Even if we don’t have a transmatter ray, it’s our superpower.

The Nemesis.

Captain Hammer, the Corporate Tool, is Dr. Horrible’s "true nemesis". Captain Hammer is the ultimate boomer. Or gen X-er. Or just a jerk. But he represents everything our generation isn’t. If Millenials are trying to make a change, there is the status quo, thwarting us at every turn (Hammer: “It’s curtains for you, Dr. Horrible; lacy, gently wafting curtains”). Really, we’re sick of our Captain Hammers. Please forward the memo to all the boomers, gen X-ers, and the rest who say we can’t make a difference.

The Attitude.

Millennials are constantly struggling to prove to the rest of the world that we can make a difference, that we’re not the pampered, “everyone gets a trophy” generation, but one that will make an impact. We empathize with Dr. Horrible as he strives to show Penny he’s “not a joke, not a dork, not a failure.” Millennials who survived the gauntlet of college applications understand his anxiety to gain admission to the Evil League of Evil. Those who survived the gauntlet of the workplace understand Penny’s tale of all the times she was turned down and fired from jobs. Dr. Horrible tells Penny over frozen yogurt of wanting to do great things, and be an achiever, but it seems he just won’t be given the chance to prove it. It’s a worry of all Millenials. We just want to be given a chance to show what we can do – and we’re terrified it’ll never happen.

Millennial Marketing: The Vulgarity Gap

Nothing dates a Boomer so fast as to wince at expletives and vulgar humor. Yet a quick look at Adult Swim, Family Guy, and CollegeHumor.com quickly show that Millennials are perfectly comfortable with language and humor that makes my generation blush. Vulgarity is no doubt part of the attraction.

I recently begain following an interesting young woman on Twitter. She thanked me for the follow, but sent me several @ replies trying to warn me off.

@carol_phillips i'm not so sure you're going 2 like my tweets. they r pretty raw. :) u seem like u tweeting 4 professional reasons.

@carol_phillips no offense, but most ppl of ur generation usually don't like hearing raw thoughts/emotions/language.

@carol_phillips if u click on my id & look @ past tweets, u will get an idea of why i issued the warning. :)

She's right of course, generally people my age don't like to hear rough uncensored thoughts.

Which brings me to, My New Haircut. The success of this non-professionally shot YouTube video further illustrates the generational divide. Twenty-two million views puts My New Haircut among the all time YouTube greats. Rated "Really Fuckin' Funny", it has spawned numerous spoofs and a top spot on College Humor. While not in the same league as Evolution of Dance (116MM views), or Laughing Baby (79MM views), it does rank up there with Miss Teen South Carolina 2007's 43 minutes of fame (34 million views). (Note: For those who are interested, ReadWriteTalk does a good job of explaining the complexity of ranking YouTube videos as many of the top ones are professionally produced).

For those of you over 30, here is some background. MyNewHaircut is a 2007 video filmed by Brett Tietjen and his friend Mike Allen in New Jersey in June of 2007. Tietjen has a master's degree in film production from New York Institute of Technology and his own production company called L2X Productions. Both Tietjen and Allen star in the video, which features a well-known stereotype in Long Island bars, the 'guido', a tanned, buff, spiked hair guy with more bravado than brains who is singlemindedly focused on going to techno bars and 'winning with the ladies' (Hint: not the way he describes it in the film).

The film, reportedly shot, edited and aired all in one day, has spawned many spoofs ranging from an Asian version (Rated "Reary Reary Funny") to a senior citizen version to a Jewish version (Rated "Kosher") by University senior, Eric Niederman.

Needless to say, the film's popularity has launched Tietjen's career. Jagermeister sponsored a tour called, "The Skanks and Broskis Tour," which has gone all over the country appearing at local bars and clubs. There is a script for a movie version and a reality TV show, all of which will no doubt be wildly successful for the young film-makers, their production partners and brand sponsors.

Which brings me back to my original observation: what Gen Y finds "Really Fuckin' Funny", other generations generally do not. Even Niederman, the marketing major who created Jewish spoof, says, "My family doesn't like my comedy, but thought the video was hilarious. They showed it to my grandparents which was awkward because I cursed a lot in it."

Given the vulgarity divide, I think it's fair to say that My New Haircut and other properties like it, is unlikely to cross over to an older audience. For over 30 Millennial marketers, that means we need to put our own sensibilities aside.