Saying Good-Bye to Jenna Marbles

Many years ago, back when I was still in High School, I found myself getting involved in the YouTube community that I heard a few friends talking about. Before this I hadn't really paid much attention to it, only using it to watch music videos from my favourite bands. It was during this first foray into the mad and hilarious world of cat videos and people attempting to play video games, that I came across a hilarious woman from America, Jenna Marbles.

It was her weird brand of self-deprecating humour and ridiculous skits that had me coming back for more. She had been on the internet for many years by the time I got round to discovering her, so I ended up using the backlog of videos to pass any time I had outside of school. This soon turned me into a faithful fan, eagerly awaiting her weekly videos for many years to come.

Growing Up with an Ever-Changing Vlogger...

When I first started watching Jenna's videos I was in my mid-teens, not entirely sure who I was as a person and dealing with a ridiculous amount of teenage angst, you know like many other people at that age. Most of my self-hatred swirled around the idea that I was just a bit odd, people thought my sense of humour was just bizarre and increasingly child-ish the older we got.

That's why I enjoyed watching early Jenna Marble's videos; she was a person who wasn't afraid to be herself. Yes, she was a typically beautiful blonde woman, yet she was also unashamedly weird. Her style of humour was random, and not that normal for someone who typically looks like her (entirely going off stereotypes I was aware of at the time). This brand of comedy spoke to me. It also helped, that I found a few people who enjoyed watching her as well - now I had people who I could talk to about this relatively unspoken person in England.

Someone Who Wasn't Too Serious...

Another reason that I always returned to Jenna's channel was how little she adhered to the normal and ever-changing video format that was emerging on YouTube as it became more recognisable and popular as a form of "cool" money-making. All her videos were made because she found them funny for herself, over time this was the only reason she made videos - finding herself hilarious and putting it on camera. Of course, myself and her many followers also found her brand of comedy just as funny, waiting each week for her next random shenanigan.

As I entered my twenties I was still watching her. Now her videos had moved on from silly skits and entered what she called "the journey of a 30-year-old lady". Each week saw her trying out something entirely random, most of which revolved around the beauty community, yet done in weird and wonderful ways. Some days she was colouring her hair, other days she was sticking acrylic nails onto her partner in crime, Julien Solomita. Together, along with their three dogs, we watched as they combined their own brand of comedy with beauty, caring for dogs, and cooking.

Never-Ending Honest and Positivity...

In this "new era" of Jenna Marbles' videos, we got to see someone who was honest through and through, something rarely seen from the recent popular YouTuber content creators. Jenna was always looking to create videos that made her happy and her followers smile, providing a bit of comic relief from anything horrific that was happening in the world. This was also combined with her own honesty, never shying away from detailing personal matters that were affecting her mentally.

Jenna had become everyone's older sister, offering advice for those that asked for it, while also becoming a role model for many people who watched. I found myself loving her channel more so, continuing to find solace in her comedy while relating to the issues that she dealt with.

It was refreshing watching someone who always came across very much as a normal person, rather than a caricature created to boost views. If she made a mistake or inadvertently offended someone, she was quick to post a lengthy and very real apology, noticeably making changes to avoid repeating that same mistake. She showed that people are able to make mistakes and learn from them, even when they are in their 30s.

Her Final Good-Bye...

It was when 2020 came around that many things in the world started to change, not only was there the ever-growing presence of a dangerous new virus making its way around the world, but there was a new social awareness that was changing the way we looked at one another. Cancel culture was very much the makings of the first few months of 2020, with many content creators and celebrities being called out for disrespectful and offensive behaviour that they may have enacted in the past.

Many of these accusations had foundations, people who were racist or homophobic or just down-right offensive for the sake of views were being called upon their behaviour and swiftly punished for it. Then there were others who were called up for actions that were made many years ago - most of whom have grown from those actions and changed for the better. This is were Jenna Marbles soon found herself.

It was July 2020 when Jenna posted her good-bye and apology video. People had re-discovered her old content from 5-10 years ago and found fault in them, calling her out for offensive behaviour. In true Jenna form, she quickly responded with a very detailed apology in which she pulled up her own videos and detailed how they were indeed offensive and made at a time when she should've known better. Her apology was heartbreaking to watch, you could see how truly sorry she was - but also how defeated she had become with the ever aggressive tone that social media was taking. From there she said her final good-bye.

It was safe to say I sobbed. I felt like I had lost a friend, someone who I had watched for hundreds of weeks of many years. What made it harder was it felt very unjust; yes the videos were offensive, but the tone was taken with someone who had shown clear growth and wasn't even the same person who had made those videos. It felt like a witch hunt for someone who didn't deserve it.

Gone, but not forgotten...

I've made that sound more dramatic than intended. Of course, I miss Jenna, but not in the same way as a person I actually know. It is a gap in what I would normally use for a boost in positivity, something to take my mind of the horrors of the world. Seeing someone who is unashamedly themselves and helping others to do the same through hilarious comedy and showing people how to take life less seriously.

However, I'm glad she has said good-bye, from watching her final videos you can see the extent to which Jenna was taking the criticism, he exhaustion with the world around her becoming more apparent. I'm glad that she is able to take herself away from it and simply live her life without judgement and by her own rules. I intend to follow this same example and be unashamedly myself, and show-off my own weird personality without shame.