Constructing an image
Below are the first two videos uploaded on Davidsfarm. They are both slideshows set to music that establish Davidsfarm’s image as a community.
Winter at Dave’s Farm
Summer at Dave’s Farm
Fragments from fans
joshmanz28 (2 years ago)
You farm looks like SO MUCH FUN!
Davidsfarm (2 years ago)
it’s a redneck resort.
coadster123 (2 years ago)
Is it actually? man i would love to stay there LOL
AmericanCountryPride (1 year ago)
I’m bringin’ my truck and pop-up camper!
MOTERHEAD69 (2 years ago)
Hey how old are these vids cause there are so many cars that u dont have anymore
Davidsfarm (2 years ago)
go back 18 years.
weirdstuffanimation (2 years ago)
i wish i had a life like that
Davidsfarm (2 years ago)
your life is what ever you make it to be.
MistaX8 (2 years ago
Yeah, but all of us don’t have a ton of farm land full of dirt roads and cars to smash the shit out of.
The imagined community
Below is the 1000th Davidsfarm video – 21 June 2009. In just over two years Davidsfarm has established a large fan base.
Davids farm official 1000 video tribute
Fragments from fans
mail846285fificorp (2 months ago)
when i grow up i want be just like the Davester.LOL
Romik126 (2 months ago)
meow lolspacialbubble (2 months ago)
Cool. I might try to be the number one at something in the world too… lets see… something that nobody else wants to do… ummmm… I know, I’m going to try and be the number one “toilet handle accessories” video provider to see if I can make it… I just might, who knows.
connberkshire (2 months ago)
I want to come up to Canada and hang out at Dave’s Farm- he’s just a regular guy who likes to build stuff, go fast, jump over things and blow shit up!!! Dave is THE MAN!!! Thanks a lot, eh?
Commentary
What I see in this sequence of videos is the transformation of a real place into a constructed image of a place and finally as an imagined real community to many people. I am having a problem with the word ‘real’ here as I am starting to question what is real - and that is a theme that will need to be explored in a full ethnograpy. What is interesting is that Dave says:
I went on YouTube for one sole purpose, mostly: one, I enjoy making videos, I always have but really it was to get in contact with my two ‘stolen’ sons.
David Rock of Davidsfarm in How to make good YouTube videos
So if we believe Dave, the constructed image of the early videos was designed to attract his sons. And it is true that the images go back 18 years when his children were small.
Another interesting point, is that in the early video on Summer in Dave’s farm, a fan says that ‘ I wish I had a life like that’ and Dave responds ‘your life is whatever you make it to be’ – very much in line with the arguments in Bell about the internet being a place where we can play with our identities.
In the comments regarding the 1000 video tribute, some scepticism has crept in which is not in the comments in the early videos ‘ummm…I’m going to try and be the number one ‘toilet handle accessories’ video provider and see if I can make it’.
