I wish I could watch you watch people watch Pavarotti

I’m fascinated with YouTube reaction videos lately (I’m fascinated with YouTube in general, but that’s another story).

I think there is a beautiful subconscious thing happening when we watch people react - on at least three levels:

1. you are, yourself, reacting to the original material in real time

2. watching someone else unlocks a measuring of your experience to theirs (this can take various forms based on preconceptions or assumptions about the material, the reactor, or yourself)

3. your level of familiarity with the original material can alter your experience in either direction. Either you know what’s coming and you can’t wait to see a stranger react to it (in the case of these Pavarotti Nessun Dorma high notes), or you don’t and you get led through someone else’s mind while they AND you watch for the first time - how cool is that?

Am I overthinking this?

I love these videos of people reacting to Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma. Give them a view and see if I’m the only one who really enjoys this process. There is a HUGE YouTube subset of these reaction videos across all genres, so be forewarned - it’s a slippery slope!

-Joseph