TikTok Acting is Hilariously Bad

[@ethanisonline]

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[@nevaya6011]

The second guys TikTok is from the divergent movie.

[@Koffiee]

No

[@osystena2178]

wait why did you redact the link in the video? im curious

[@timob.5974]

@@osystena2178 probably to dodge sponsorblock

[@skibiditoiletfan101]

hey dawg can tell me where u found that monkey music please

[@sukaisage]

I want all the biggest tiktok actors to get together and try to make a cohesive feature film in the style of tiktok povs. like, the sets are still their rooms, the dialogue is still just subtitles, but it has a unique compelling story. and then, you know, we can watch it burn obviously

[@rosecity_chris]

I mean they kind of tried it with that "something general" tiktok hospital show. It's really bad.

[@Portlandporkpies]

@@rosecity_chris i think it was like attaway general or sum

[@Ben-kv7wr]

Jordan Adika already found it it's called chicken girls and its... actually kind of compelling

[@sukaisage]

@@rosecity_chris sure Brat TV is bad but like, imagine if they didn't have a budget and a weird company behind them. they all just try to record something and make it a cohesive story but it's entirely tiktok-level quality. I want it to be a thing

[@dezchan369]

unfriended part 3 lol

[@damienmaymdien8087]

Imagine walking in on your kid and they’re just fake crying and mouthing words to their phone.

[@mcwjes]

"Put your phone down, Dillon. I made nuggs. You can snot it up later."

[@justinwatson1510]

As long as they’re not an incel, an MRA, or.a right-winger.

[@cinnamonsparrowdesigns]

@@justinwatson1510 right? I hear my kid talking to himself a lot and making up stories and stuff. IDK he's having fun and not hurting anyone. He's only 12 too lol

[@anmo_669]

had this happen to me. can confirm it was embarrassing as hell

[@fourlightsorchestra]

@@justinwatson1510 Good point. There are worse things than merely creating cringe content.

[@eloisefh]

Tiktok "actors" really think crying and being dramatic into the camera is good acting

[@JenTilly96]

Because being emotional=🌟acting 🌟

[@TheOctavian316]

More emotion = more betterer.

[@katsdraws]

Because that’s what wins every Oscar

[@michaelhaydenbell]

@@katsdraws Ok

[@VasiliZgRR]

It’s women speciality play the victim and feel sorry for them boo hoo…Acting is more than that. My brother 32 is an good actor and a manipulator. He can act autistic, shy, mumbling with words, acting stupid, acting gay….Those are acting. He also said people are stupid and he’s calculated and smarter than average people 🤣 he’s self-centered and cold. That’s what you call ‘’acting’’ but don’t end up like my brother he has issues 🤷‍♂️

[@ashquamarine]

tbh I don't really care about the tiktok 'actors' all that much. Like, if it makes them happy then more power to them! What really gets on my nerves is how seemingly no one understands what POV means or how to use it correctly 😭

[@rosecity_chris]

Thankyou! As someone who is an avid pov watcher on phub the whole point is to put you in the perspective of the person doing the thing lol

[@frog3262]

@@rosecity_chris 💀

[@oxbunnehxo]

@@rosecity_chris w-what?

[@arieslofi]

@@rosecity_chris brave

[@arieslofi]

for real tho it's such a pet peeve

[@brandonalejandroblanco]

As an actor myself, I realize that people tend default to super showy acting when they don’t have experience and Tik Tok exemplifies that. No one in these clips acts grounded or normal at all lol.

[@brandonalejandroblanco]

@@IAmVeV Nope and crying on command while a random pop song is playing while you’re also lip syncing ain’t acting either lol.

[@mystii8134]

Exactly! I've been doing lessons for a few years now and none of those pov people can ever convince me that they're not acting. Like you see them and you know that they're acting, you can't buy into their character because there is no character just 'me in a bunch of different situations where I'm the centre of the universe'

[@brandonalejandroblanco]

@@mystii8134 Influencers are usually too self absorbed to be good actors as weird as that sounds lol

[@Mo_9816]

I'm crying these are literally old tumblr prompts

[@calicoathena]

yes!! theres definitely an old tumblr blog full of nothing but this kind of writing prompt

[@Natashamertens]

Nonono, the episode one is actually pure comedy. Literally what playing episode is like

[@Feverm00n]

Yeah that one made me chuckle genuinely

[@helyphion]

came to the comments to say that, as someone who used to play episode quite a lot, that video is pretty spot on

[@wouldntyouliketoknowweathe9431]

I downloaded Episode to make stupid drama stories for fun and the first like three stories you have to play to unlock everything were ridiculous - EVERY choice was either bad or for gems, and they don't even give you gems. I wasn't really invested in them, but sheesh

[@Guro-Blue-kun]

I really liked the idea...but I found the performance and the actual writing really poor.

[@cancelledavac]

Yeah but it would’ve been funnier if his dad _did_ respond with “you don’t have enough gems, asshole”

[@capy3759]

Everybody gangsta until your soulmate turns out to be the world's greatest necromancer

[@finn3726]

it happened 2 me :/

[@capy3759]

I'm so sorry to hear that

[@kassideef8465]

Peeing my pants to the “when he sings to u manipulatively” this dude definitely uses his “skills” in real life

[@atleynater]

as an actor, that "tiktok acting v real acting" thing is so funny to me because i've seen both "types" of acting in the same performance

[@suxzne]

how did you get into acting bc i wanna act too

[@nemisacoolperson692]

i used to be hyperfixated on wizards of waverly place and i can confidently tell you the first “pov” was based on the family wizard competition in it and it was completely wrong and genuinely makes me annoyed

[@AngelBirdo]

This is me inviting you to rip into that bitch as a fellow neurodivergent, tell us why they're wrong bestie /gen I used to LOVE Wizards of Waverly Place (I was so in love with Alex??) But it's been so long since I've watched any so I can't properly put into words, but I saw "wizard competition" and it sent me lmao

[@zorro......]

omg this made me rmb i genuinely teared up as a kid at the ending of that movie

[@ks20699]

SAME THOUGHT

[@bedi3983]

Holy shit you just unlocked a memory

[@nemisacoolperson692]

@@zorro...... well it’s a 4 season disney sitcom from the 2000s but there was the two movies Wizards Of Waverly Place The Movie and Alex Returns. there was a consistency issue between wowp the movie and the show because both feature a family wizard competition but the official one from the show was different from the original movie one.

[@astraldescent191]

The bit about the person named "Four" is from a movie called Divergence It's part of a trilogy that was released back during the rash of dystopian teen fantasy IP - things along the line of the hunger games Divergence is about how being unique and going against the grain of society is good and you gotta do it even if people fight the crap out of you the whole way, though I typically watch movies high as hell so the deeper meanings will have been lost on me if there are any Rewatching that stuff these days is actually pretty fun

[@amaniiexxchnge]

I was confused cause he put four on the screen too lol

[@sjie1874]

Technically at the end she dies so the message is revolt against and you’ll get shot yeih

[@TurbopropPuppy]

i mean, really, Divergence is about "you're special because you have a personality, unlike all these other stupid kids" it's not that good

[@maryellenparmenter9303]

The Divergent books are fairly decent (at least I liked them as a kid)

[@Sammlee94]

I first thought it was "I am number 4"

[@emmacurtis7394]

I’m a professional working actor who was wondering what to do in my spare time to increase my “value” as an actor, and one of my friends seriously recommended I do Tiktok acting POV’s. All of my coaches (some of who have Oscar award winning clients) were like don’t you dare do that stuff unless you’re after fame, soaps, and reality tv stuff. But it’s basically a given you won’t work in anything serious in the industry

[@rosecity_chris]

Aw cmon you don't want to exploit horrible tragedies to cosplay as victims in hope of achieving said fame? Good on you for knowing better. Wish you the best.

[@brandonalejandroblanco]

As a fellow thespian let’s not shame soaps. That’s steady work if you can get it lol.

[@JenTilly96]

Wow um. I'm 14 years old now,and since I always liked playing pretend as a kid. And I was like make little videos of myself just doing that. And now it dawned on me that I want to do acting aswell. I just love playing characters and make up scenes in my mind and do them by myself (this is important btw). I kinda would like advice from you. I don't really have anything right now to do even pursue that dream. I've never been in anything because I have no confidence whatsoever that's why I mostly do these things by myself because it's fun. I really have no experience or training whatsoever and I probably won't because it's probably expensive and I'm still in school. Again can you provide any advice from your experience being in the acting world that maybe could help me in the future? I am really curious to hear from you. Like were to start? How long should I wait to take training? At what age? Just anything really. Really hoping to get a response.

[@ayannadivineempath]

@@JenTilly96 come to la there is always a need for bg and small role actors it’s not hard to break in

[@JenTilly96]

@@ayannadivineempath I'm in a different country.😶 well I will be living in America soon so yeah. But thanks for the advice 😊

[@alyssajade6802]

i’m an actor and what that guy used to make himself cry is called emotional recall, we’re recommended against using it lol. it’s a pretty easy way to make yourself cry (aka often considered not ‘real acting’) and can be emotionally damaging if used a lot, so not great to be teaching people that on an app

[@egg4666]

oh what do you usually do if you need to cry on command :o? idk anything about acting sorry

[@xkeons]

@@egg4666 yeah i was wondering that as well. What’s recommended?

[@amb3rrif1c]

I kno singing and acting aren’t super related but this reminded me of a video I saw on the Les Miserables movie adaptation from 2012 and it talked abt how crying fucks up ur singing so from what I’ve gathered if u cry during a performance, via emotional recall in this case, and u have to sing, not only do u do emotional damage to urself if u made urself cry bc of emotional recall but u also weaken ur singing, dragging ur own performance down as a whole. Makes me wonder if the emotional recall guy is ok, now that I think abt it

[@DubsOdyssey]

@@egg4666 I can't remember what it is, but if someone isn't able to you can always put some stuff under your eyes and it'll kinda "burn" and make you tear up

[@awkwardmunchkin2376]

@@egg4666 (I'm not an actor, just a theatre kid so I don't know if I really count, but) it helps to get "immersed" in the characters. If you're given a scene and it makes sense for the character to be crying, it's good to imagine how they'd feel in the moment, and project that emotion onto your body language and portrayal of the character. If you can't cry as the character, it's best to depict emotion in other ways. It's important to establish a barrier between you and the character you're portraying, otherwise it starts to be harmful to your mental health if you can't maintain that division between acting and reality.

[@alicethemad1613]

The one parodying the game Episode and its terrible writing is actually pretty funny

[@alh7197]

Yeah he’s the only one who was slightly decent lol

[@amelia3146]

Every single tiktok was like a punch in the face I still haven’t recovered Edit: the “life is a game of episode” guy is actually genius and SPOT ON

[@diversifiedplural6294]

I do cosplay tiktoks and it is EXTREMELY embarrassing to have someone walk in on you recording

[@em.elizabeth7368]

im pretty sure the "4 like the number" was professional writers- I could swear its from divergent

[@thatlycantomboy]

i think it’s a bit of a stretch to call the Divergent writers professional (in spirit), but yeah, you’re right, that’s almost certainly from the first movie

[@JasminMiettunen]

I googled, it is from Divergent 😂 Quote from IMDb: “Four : My name's Four. Christina : Four, like the number? Four : Exactly, like the number. Christina : What happened, one through three were taken? Four : What's your name? Christina : Christina. Four : The first lesson you learn from me, if you wanna survive here, is keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me?”

[@medusashair4025]

@@JasminMiettunen and that is why I refuse to consume any form of media abt divergent. It’s cringe and boring lol

[@JasminMiettunen]

@@medusashair4025 nah, it's cringe sure, but not boring lmao When I'm bored, I watch a lot of teen shows and movies. They're not the peak of filmography, but they're entertaining at the least 🤷‍♀️

[@medusashair4025]

@@JasminMiettunen not rly lol. I don’t consider films that actively push out misogynistic ideals and romanticize such characters with these ideals ingrained in them as entertaining or even worth reading/watching.

[@beththegreen]

I think there's a danger of giving people (kids especially) the wrong idea of what it takes to get into prestigious acting or stage schools jobs etc, setting them up for anguish and failure when inevitably they are rejected or laughed off the stage even It's like that whole issue with that TikTok guy not getting into that elite college, and hoardes of fans harrassed them and the staff etc publicly enraged for them not accepting a TikTok famous dude with no especially outstanding grades or record in acting/ the performing arts, just a TikTok portfolio of (even for TikTok); mediocre at best clips And they were expected to choose him over all the incredibly talented HARD WORKING people with all the prior achievements to prove themselves, who worked every day for their craft etc ?who have worked towards this specifically for a decade plus? Perfect example of warped understanding of the real world

[@justinwatson1510]

It’s not that warped. White people have been able to fail their way up in the US for a long as the US has existed. We can still expect a double standard that stacks the deck in our favor, especially as it pertains to the “justice” system.

[@anothercub6958]

Ah yes, that kid. He went to an award show if I remember correctly... for some reason. I don't know if he intentionally did what he did to garner the attention he did or whether or not he is an industry plant, but he is certainly just another moderately attractive whiteboy enabled by the internet.

[@Veronike._]

Do you know the guy’s name?

[@Veronike._]

@@anothercub6958 do you remember the guys name?

[@sophitiaofhyrule]

@@Veronike._ Axel Webber I think

[@whocare9942]

Tiktok actors seem to think Disney live action shows were high art

[@richardd.3745]

Let’s be fair. Actors on those shows usually have coherent scripts, passable direction and the kids usually had some sort of talent and training.

[@GreyFencer]

I wonder how many of the people were asked to leave community theatre and assumed it was because they were too good and not just insufferable.

[@Nagataeatscorn]

The way you phrased it made me chuckle, haha.

[@adamgardiner5869]

This is less a twinge of cringe, more a binge of cringe. (Luv u Chad Chad!)

[@karynstudiosloane-ceramics436]

3:30 The way he just _chomps_ the popsicle is really what's shaking me up

[@mcdonaldstown6226]

There are two roads for a failed actor: vacant right-wing talking head or tiktok "personality"

[@reneedailey1696]

Cheesy Christian movies a la "God's Not Dead"?

[@SkiddlyBink]

and ben shapiro is somehow both!

[@doeeyes2]

@@SkiddlyBink and Steven Crowder

[@allisonelizabeth6596]

And shitty soap operas!!!!!

[@unnameablename]

@@allisonelizabeth6596 hey, at least shorty soap operas are steady employment.

[@BlitzedPort]

I'm not having such a hard time keeping pace because I was into like, way too many AUs when I was a teenage, but even I had to stop and go "super hero AU where you have to eat a specific food that gives you a super power but also it's a timeline AU...... okay, that's a bit excessive." Good god, I didn't know how deep the rabbit hole went.

[@hauntedsunsets]

every time I see one of these weird POV scenarios I just recognize it from some tumblr post. like why has this migrated

[@yeonjunseyes2726]

i hate that for some of these I wanted to see part two. they're the perfect amount of bad yet intruiging.

[@anothercub6958]

That's how they get you

[@lokthuum]

seeing people redo that scene from grey's anatomy ("my name is April Kepner" clip) rubs me the wrong way because that's such a fucked up episode and it just feels weird to see it used in a tiktok LOL

[@violet..violet..]

what happens?

[@allisoncastle]

@@violet..violet.. Mass shooting. April states all of those things to humanize herself with the shooter…

[@allisoncastle]

Completely agree!! Was scrolling so long to find a comment about the clip lol

[@alaskapuss]

@@violet..violet.. It's an episode where there's a shooter in the hospital, and she's trying to convince him not to kill her.

[@MagpiedInTheFace]

Sadly I have to keep acting like I enjoy them when my friends send me those videos 😔 (guys please Istg I have good friends this was light hearted, I don't need help💀)

[@chcknpie04]

Those are not your friends

[@TheSimplyCooking]

Practice for when your friends send you the 100th picture of their child

[@wheatywhaffle7344]

pov: you need new friends

[@pigslaundry5593]

Why?

[@k3upikachu]

No you don't lol I've literally lectured my friends on not sending certain types of posts (e-girls and other dumb shit). If you do it in a funny way they should get the message with no hurt feelings

[@tomhermann1167]

These 'acting skits' get so much better with distorted mario kart music. I’d love for this to become a legitimate trend

[@oryxiac]

Tiktok acting is like if Broadway actors got really high before doing a show

[@mythicbxtch1989]

Sometimes Tiktok acting is so bad for me that I can’t even laugh at it

[@sylphium]

Me this entire video

[@bluepenguin6079]

I remember scrolling and finding some of these and watching them, but then being confused as I looked at their account and tried to find a satisfying ending to the video I was watching, just to find other parts of that "series" that had nothing to do with the previous part 💀💀

[@kaodi6993]

you're a fun hater, and I love you

[@MsSasoDei]

I still remember the time I saw a girl doing a musically on the bus (back when musically was still a thing). The music was on mute too, so it looked extra fucking weird. Like it's one thing to do it alone in your apartment, but it's even worse when people do that in public

[@benjaminstevens4468]

What bothers me the most about “POV” videos, is how many people clearly don’t have any understanding of what “POV” means.

[@isaacjosephh]

ur hair is looking flawless i hope u have a great day ethan

[@eldritchteletubby9319]

Ian Boggs (the body count guy) used to create really fun and interesting content about being bilingual and mixed-race within the US. Idk what changed. He's said he wants to be a professional actor, so maybe he saw how well these povs do on the algorithm and ran with it to get his numbers up.

[@richardd.3745]

Maybe he should go to drama school and actually learn how to act if he wants to be an actor.

[@eldritchteletubby9319]

@@richardd.3745 I get where you're coming from, but acting school is WILDLY expensive. Like, 100k per year expensive. Ofc, I agree that there's got to be another option then TikTok povs.

[@richardd.3745]

@@eldritchteletubby9319 plenty. Community theater, workshops-literally all the things actors do to hone their craft and not these awful TikTok’s

[@eldritchteletubby9319]

@@richardd.3745 There are acting coaches on KZbin who have put out entire courses for free! If he's actually trying to improve his acting by doing this shit... Welp, good luck with that, I guess.

[@richardd.3745]

I assume there’s a deluge of “When are you getting a Netflix show” in the comments like that one awful Eliana tiktoker

[@insquidio0us]

and the "your acting is so good!!!!!" comments from the 12yr olds

[@greyskymy]

They should receive criticism instead of comments by blind fans that make them remain in this way.

[@badger6882]

The tiktok where words are a kind of currency seems to be inspired from a dystopian novel called "Vox" where women are required to wear "word counters" that give electric shocks when you use more than 100 words per day. Weird to see the concept getting more attention

[@zorro......]

woah what?

[@toothfairy10133]

oh, i read that. i was fairly young so i have no idea if it was any good but i liked it at the time, i thought it was pretty realistic and interesting but i can't say the characters stuck with me. i was like 14 tho so who knows lmao

[@badger6882]

@@toothfairy10133 I think the book was trying to be like 5 different books at once. Conceptually, its memorable, but I agree that the characters were forgettable, just vessels for different viewpoints

[@kinnoyu8448]

At first I thought you said "acne" and then you immediately asking "what does it mean?" Was just very confusing and funny

[@moreonthisat7393]

This was probably the best short film I've ever seen. Phenomenal acting Ethan, almost came to tears.

[@Romanticoutlaw]

the "pov after we argued" one.. whose pov??? The stalker in your room??

[@SkiddlyBink]

i don't know if the monkey noises one was the actual audio but it's driving me bananas. kept expecting them to pick bugs from each other's hair

[@mollymontgomery4565]

Hi, I'm a college student studying acting (specifically performance theatre) and I figured I'd offer my thoughts on this video. I wanna clarify, though I do disagree with some of Ethan's takes, this is NOT me trying to shit on/roast Ethan or anyone else who agrees with him, I'm just offering my perspective as (a person learning to be) an actor. And since this subject matter is important to me, I'm probably taking it more seriously than Ethan was, but that's not attack on him as a person. - I think a lot of what's wrong with the 'pov' ones is just the script/concept. Some of these tiktokers don't know how to convey information in an easy-to-digest and sensical way. Plus, trying to tell some intense sci-fi story in a 1-2 minute vertical video just isn't the best medium for it, there's not enough time or physical space onscreen to fully dive into the setting or plot. - some of the acting itself is also a problem. People who haven't learned how to act always try to jump straight to being overly dramatic without first immersing themselves in the setting or character. - I also hate that they always have some pop song playing in the background. It takes me away from taking their acting seriously and just reminds me that this is tiktok. I don't want to judge them just by the platform, but lipsyncing to a movie while frickin rap music plays in the background is quintessential tiktok (derogatory). - i don't necessarily agree that acting is lessened because the people are just doing it behind a random wall in their bedroom or whatever. Don't get me wrong, having a good "set" definitely helps with spectacle, but a large part of acting is immersing yourself in the text's given circumstances no matter what the actual circumstances of your performance are. Acting is acting, whether you're doing it in your room or in front of the most expensive film camera known to man. - this is a nitpick, but the episode one was accurate because that is literally how some episode choices are. Your character instigates something, then changes their mind at the last second even though the other person is clearly willing to continue. Episode is dumb, is what I'm saying - I really liked the "it still hurts / I've moved on" one! The person did a fairly good job conveying the difference in emotions with just their face. One of my favorite things about acting is that scripts are sometimes up to your interpretation. You get to choose how to bring your character to life, and this person clearly has good range doing so. - "I would argue that most of acting is line delivery" - in other contexts, definitely, yes. But not in this one. Acting is all kinds of things. Last semester I had to do a dance/performance art movement piece, and there was no dialogue, but I was still acting. Lip syncing like this is definitely more limiting than more conventional acting bc you have to work around the audio, but that's part of the challenge. I think it's a valid form of acting, it's just a slightly different art to film/stage acting. - i also liked the "tiktok acting vs real acting" post, it showed off how a lot of beginning actors feel the need to overact with their bodies to accentuate their points (ie the tiktok acting side waved their hand over their face on the line "put my fake face on." that kind of hilariously literal stuff is very common when you're first learning). The person's "real acting" is even still kind of overdramatic, I'd be interested to see a take of these lines where the character is less physically tense. Like they're trying to keep their cool but the anger is spilling out in their voice. Sorry for rambling, I'm an artsy theatre kid, i love this kind of shit lol - of course the acting looks weird when you remove the audio they're lip syncing to. Your video of you just speaking like a normal person would look weird without sound. In this case the audio is an integral part of the genre. It'd be like listening to only the tuba part of an orchestra composition, it's gonna sound weird without the rest of the song around it - the "which one got betrayed/which one is insecure" trend is interesting to me because it highlights subtle differences that can change the vibe of a performance. I think it'd be cooler if there was more contrast though. Like in the stabbing one, maybe one girl is crying and the other girl looks like confused, and then it's up to the audience to debate why they're having those reactions. - "I think these kinds of videos lead people to believe they're better at analyzing body language than they actually are, when it's like, neither side is insecure, you're acting" - the actor's job is to make you believe they are insecure (or whatever character trait). If you think they are failing at that, then fine, but that also requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief on the audience's part. Like I said at the beginning, I'm not trying to shit on Ethan, but that sentence just irks me. - 'I guess you can act insecure, but i dunno, that's kind of a hard thing to illustrate" - actually true! it's better for actors to think in terms of verbs, bc then you're focusing more on how they express an emotion rather than trying to summon the emotion itself. So a character who is insecure might try to seem less visible, or to put down the other person, depending on their personality. - "it's acting in the same way that playing pretend as a kid is acting" - pretending is the heart of acting. I get what you're trying to say here, but at its most basic, acting IS pretending. - "when people see trends like this, they just want to do it more [and that stifles creativity]" - this isn't just an acting tiktok problem, it's an everywhere tiktok problem. an everywhere internet problem. an everywhere everywhere problem, really tl;dr/conclusion: acting is weird and complex, and there's all kinds of types and nuances of it; it's fine to think this style of acting is weird, but idk, i find some value in it and think it's not worth total derision.

[@zorro......]

oooo i did want to say that i totally thought the same thing about the girl who is over it/not over it tiktok! she did really well on that. that said, i feel like the biggest downfall is the fact that in using audios, line delivery is taken out of the equation, which (im not professional actor, tbf, but) i believe probably carries some weight in terms of how well someone acts

[@mollymontgomery4565]

@@zorro...... Line delivery definitely grants the actor a lot more freedom and influence, but I still think it's cool to try and work around audio to act. it's an interesting subgenre, just not necessarily for everyone

[@dhop6361]

@@mollymontgomery4565 I really liked a lot of takes on this, and for the most part I'm sympathetic to your points (not an actor btw). As far as the lip syncing though, I can't fully agree. You are right that a lot can be conveyed through moving/dancing. I've never seen that type of performance and I really want to look into it now, so thank you! BUT these tiktokers are adding a verbal component to their acting and I also feel that just doing the typical tiktok lip sync takes away from the "performance." Would you agree that in the "it still hurts..." video, the way the actor chooses to speak would go a long way towards conveying those emotions as well? Affect is pretty important.

[@LezbeOswald]

i appreciate this and i agree with a lot of your takes. when Ethan said "most of acting is line delivery" i thought that was super weird, i mean we had the whole silent era in film, and the silent acting in those movies were so popular that many filmmakers thought audiences wouldn't want to see talkies!

[@witchfulthinking4804]

so i really enjoy your content, but i do disagree with something you said towards the end of the video. i don't think these guys are stifling creativity. there's always gonna be trends, and a lot of those times those trends are gonna be things a viewer ( you, me, anyone ) doesn't understand or doesn't think is good, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad or uncreative. especially when immediately after talking about stifling creativity, you mention that this form of content is counterintuitive to the way 'these things are done' ( i'm probably paraphrasing that! ) but like... *that* is stifling creativity. it's very important to be able to think outside the way things are done. i think defining acting or creativity as a process can be very stifling. i don't understand pov tiktoks, i don't really get their ideas, but i don't need to. they do have an audience that very clearly enjoys what they're doing, and if the creators also enjoy what they're doing and find meaning in what they're creating, then that's not 'bad content'. i don't think you're saying any of this to be mean spirited but i think the way it's said can come off hurtful and maybe dissuade people who have a different form of creativity from exploring that side of themselves because a different content creator online said it's bad. that's just my two cents and i'm obviously just some other random person on the internet, so ya know, take it with a grain of salt too!

[@sleepyqueer]

yeah idk man, this is what a lot of musically was as well, right? it’s just transformed to suit the new platform better. and like, as someone who had wanted to be an actor, this just feels like a harmless and fun way to practice facial acting. i used to do this into my mirror and phone camera 🤷🏻‍♂️ not everyone has training, so yeah some (most, arguably) are going to be cringey as hell. a lot of these are painful lmao but that doesn’t mean they’re inherently bad? there is an issue within tiktok povs too, like these older people making very sexual tiktoks aimed towards, well, teenagers? the weird ideas some of these things promote, etc. idk. i think i’m the same age as ethan if not a year or two older, but this is very “old man yells at clouds”

[@revwroth3698]

18:50 "pov after we argue" whose POV is that man? Your cats? There's at least 3 different angles...

[@jongkittae]

it's a really weird genre you're right but I will say that I know one of them, ian boggs, he at least puts time and effort into like creating the storyline and shit instead of just lip syncing along with something that already exists. not that it makes any less cringe tbh but I do appreciate that he's at least trying to make a universe that's interesting and not just recycled content.

[@VenusianLissette]

thank you for being so funny + the editing is equally hilarious.

[@arugulafriend]

The music you’ve chosen to replace the tiktok audio is inspiring

[@teztheis3654]

Love how you totally missed the Divergent reference lol

[@purplefondue5991]

I find these POV tiktoks fascinating simply because it's regular people attempting to demonstrate complex and vulnerable emotions. I'm wondering what kind of psychological impact this has had on people, especially since we all went through the pandemic and many of us experienced isolation. Curious to see whether this kind of content inspires fasified emotions while simultaneously creating more empathy? Or vice versa? To add onto the note about people analyzing body language, do you this will create more misunderstandings btwn ppl bc there'll be someone actually upset and those around them may analyze it too much and think that normal reactions are the fake ones?

[@chatnoir9038]

Hello ethan, internet sibling with increasingly chaotic hair with each upload. Happy pride month 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈

[@Lou-uw4rn]

Ah yes the years of training it takes to become an actor perfectly imitated by a tiktoker

[@RayStarfruit]

The reason I’ve looked at tik tok actors is to A. Make fun of them B. Use the audio they ruined

[@thistletown2912]

9:43 this is referring to the mobile story game episode that requires you to pay for gems to make specific choices

[@kirasooverit]

I'm not an actor, but film student primarily focused on screenwriting and acting. Acting is ugly. It's taking your life experiences, especially the painful ones, and using them to emulate the emotions of a character going through a similar experience. In other words, acting isn't making up emotions, it's taking your emotions and applying them to your character's situation. Acting can be fun and inspiring, but it can be very stressful and emotionally draining. This is not acting. It's ppl forcing out constipated little tears and mouthing lines to a camera that have no meaning or value. They are more invested in making content than creating a story and character. Of course, there's nothing wrong with it if that's what they want to do, and it's certainly fun to laugh at.

[@cecemepls0]

As an Ohioan, the one character being from Columbus, but having a dad who farms corn is hilarious. Of all the places corn grows here (of which there are MANY)....the capital city is surely not one of them LMAO

[@asheronthehoise4813]

i know lmaoo like in order to be a real corn farmer in columbus you'd have to be studying agriculture at OSU or something, that's the only place with cornfields i've seen in columbus 😭😭

[@yucky7020]

14:48 fun fact, this is called method acting, a specific kind of acting that makes an actor/actress recall an event in their personal life that would give the same element of a scene. Which if a director ever tells you to do this THEY ARE NOT A GOOD DIRECTOR!!! No actor/actress should be in the state of mind that the character is in.

[@B0OBIES]

The one with 💎 over his head is based off a mobile game called Episode. In the game, diamonds allow you to "buy better choices" . If you wanna know more, Kurtis Connor plays it 🤣

[@TheSimplyCooking]

The idea from the one at 11:00 is taken from the book VOX by Christina Dalcher, which is basically a worse Handmaids Tale.

[@rinn1061]

Okay but the girl who started making an ironic sci-fi series about zodiac signs (rune) actually got me so invested and I stand by it.

[@missmaia6839]

found you i think through chad chad a lil while ago and i have been HOOKED ever since i’m so happy to see a new videoooo YAAAAAAY thank u lovely

[@wikedbarley9510]

I've been watching your videos and I just noticed your background isn't just regular newspapers it the weekly world news, I love it, please get more bat boy articles on your background

[@thatlycantomboy]

my issue with first man is him using plots from things is he doesn’t actually know anything about them. but like, he reminds me of a DCOM actor, bad but harmless and he seems like he’s having fun, it’s nice. like idk, a lot of roleplayers are bad writers but they’re still having fun and I love ‘em. playing pretend is just fun sometimes, tbh.

[@klemchowder1692]

I, too, go to sleep on top of the covers while wearing my giant watch

[@ImGonebabyyyy]

That moment when I’m so good at not murdering people that my counter goes to -100 😍

[@malmamia8912]

19:42 two people starting to go at it with that music is killing me

[@sleepyqueer]

this video felt different from a lot of your other content, i think because it feels a little mean spirited? like i get it, povs are cringe, and there are weird and arguably harmful aspects to them, but a lot of the ones in this video just seemed... innocent? facial acting is a very important part of acting for screen acting, trying to do the same scene while trying to convey different emotions to the audience is actually a pretty neat idea. while body language etc may not be true to real life, it’s a huge part of acting and if you want to criticize that you’re perfectly entitled to but it’s much larger than tiktok. i find these povs cringe too, i don’t really enjoy them but i can see a teenage me being really into them, back when i was very into drama. and i imagine that’s a lot of the main audience for these tiktoks, at least the non-creepy ones (u kno the ones i mean). a lot of the criticism you gave these people seemed off, like asking these people, some of which seem very young, to produce scripts for a short tiktok. there are people on tiktok who do that, and they’re awesome, but it’s also unpaid labor mostly, and just done for fun. it’s a free app aimed at teenagers, that for most people is a hobby, so asking people to put more effort in because you see their hobby as “weird and lame” is kind of out of pocket, in my opinion at least. like it’s tiktok, you know? it’s not netflix, it’s not the oscars, it’s not even youtube, it’s the app that used to be musically. and so far as it not being acting and more like playing pretend, well, acting is playing pretend? just like writing is like daydreaming or drawing is like doodling? it is creative, even if you or i don’t see it as creatively valuable, i guess. a lot of training for acting and improv are surprisingly similar to children’s games, so basically what i’m trying to say is that the criticism felt flat, and (in the nicest way possible im not trying to be mean at all) a bit pretentious? i know this comment is long as hell so i don’t know if anyone will even read this far, but to go back to the “weird and lame” comment for a sec, it just felt like something a bully would say? like it just felt mean for no reason, honestly. before i make this comment any longer, let me just finish it off by just saying that i really enjoy your content, and i mean no disrespect. i just think it’s worth evaluating what it is you’re really criticizing, if that makes sense? is the thing really worth drawing attention to, is it doing active harm, etc. in most of your content you do seem to go by that kind of philosophy, so that’s the main reason i say it. idk, hope this wasn’t too preachy, ur free to do whatever you want at the end of the day, that was just my 2... or 5 cents i guess.

[@grace-4072]

i think you’re totally right! the episode one and the dual side ones are pretty good in my opinion

[@taya._]

this is giving musical.ly acting

[@beththegreen]

@8:08 it's like he forgot being blind and blind people exist in real life, he's treating it like a WACKY GOOOOOFY sort of reverse super power handicap etc. Especially when it's put alongside and identically to things like being a vampire or something I winced,man

[@doeeyes2]

The first dude's content is a perfect example of what you get when a platform values quantity over quality. It takes time to formulate a well thought out idea and execute it properly. You cant act out such comolex storyline in under 60 seconds and not have it be a convoluted, nonsensical mess. Plus just over the top bad acting.

[@TriniGamerGirl7]

Omg those were way worse to sit through than I thought. I keep saying Tik Tok has some good to it but I keep seeing more horrible things that outweigh the good.

[@qwerkiangoita7148]

FINALLY a video on this topic i was expetting someone to react to these "fantastic" tik toks

[@iamatrashcan]

i find it suspicious that those are the types of people to make fun of theatre kids…

[@gahyeonsgf2685]

"thanks" "what?" "for not killing us" "oh facts" had me ROLLING

[@RayStarfruit]

The only tik tok acting I will accept is voice actors not the pov ones people that just voice act.

[@Saibellus]

these acting tiktoks are just cringey AIM roleplays recycled back in the form of a modern trend and no one can convince me otherwise.

[@DuhLikeTotally]

He was worried that his soul mate is human but going by her -100 bodycount I'm guessing she's at least a necromancer

[@pepsimann2038]

i genuinely never realised people actually like devin’s povs i subbed to him because i thought he was taking the piss outta the trend and now he is the trend 💀💀

[@cptkaboom]

Ethan, thank you for taking the bullet for me on this one. I don't possess the level of self loathing required to watch these damn things on my own.

[@gertrudkylvaska2064]

thank you for putting this up and aiding me in my goal of not downloading tiktok. thanks to kind folk such as youself I still get the golden nuggies without having to go through the shxt

[@RegularBeams]

I actually love wren and I'm so happy to see them popping up sponsoring my faves

[@violetheise4717]

I can't tell a joke without laughing before even getting to the punchline, but I still think I could act better than these people... Edited because I don't punch anyone.

[@natrosenquist]

Cherry limeade is so good. Great choice, Ethan

[@MrShowoff27]

I'm always excited when you post a new video

[@maggiebottoms43]

they are actors in the same way i am a professional pooper.

[@aya-vs9sb]

ethan is really out here sitting through all that "acting" lmaoo thank u ethan!!

[@vaibhavikulkarni3180]

frndly reminder acting isnt just being able to cry or laugh on command

[@ToruKun1]

Broke: Kicking your kid out of the house for being LGBT Bespoke: Kicking your kid out of the house for being an """actor""" on TikTok

[@GlassThirdEye]

There's a guy on tic tok named scumbag dad that does hilarious parodies of these stupid pov tic toks.

[@dairymold]

Remember that guy on Vine who did good impressions of both Harrison Ford and Robin Williams? And played young Han Solo in a fan-made Star Wars thing?

[@hollisticc]

NO BUT THE EPISODE ONE WAS ACTUALLY REALLY FUNNY ETHAN HE’S MAKING FUN OF THE EPISODE APP

[@joshuajennings4070]

My headphones disconnected in the middle of one of the tiktok and it was infinitely better to watch without sound

[@wlammy4ever]

Yesssss i guess im gonna go to bed a little later ETHAN COMES FIRST

[@someofmyplantsarestillaliv5037]

exactly what I said too

[@lokkju14]

the real acting talent here is ethan making those damn emoji faces

[@zakc0re]

14:20 WTF IS THAT 😭😭😭🙏

[@winterwolf0100]

The bit about gems is actually a pretty realistic portrayal of all the stupid “pick your path” story apps. They give you the option, but it always costs way more gems than you’re given to do the interesting paths, which forces you to buy from them.

[@EnderGirls24]

man. i used to make cosplay tiktoks a while ago and i gotta say… people are really tryin too hard. maybe it’s cause i was only doing it for fun but