When the online phenomenon Dudu Faruk - a fictional persona created by Ori Comay in the guise of a crude, deliberately offensive rapper whose low-budget, provocation-laden clips scorched social media - became a national sensation, parents' organizations sounded the alarm. Here was a foul-mouthed star corrupting the youth. A few years on, those same parents may be surprised to discover that their now-grown children could encounter Faruk again, this time on a university syllabus.
Dr. Ido Rosen is the force behind two new books published by internationally renowned presses, books that, for the first time, fling open the gates of the academic ivory tower to Israeli digital culture. The back covers feature glowing endorsements from eminent professors who already praise the works' pioneering spirit and analytical depth. These are the fruits of research Rosen conducted during his doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge in England, where he focused on the first generation of Israeli online content creators.
"The internet is a vast and deep ocean of content, and that definition can mean many different things," he explains. "Coming from a background in film and television studies, I was interested in narrative works with a cinematic aesthetic, projects driven by creative intent. So, less about vloggers sampling foreign snacks in front of the webcam in their living room or beauty influencers offering discount codes, and more content that resembles established forms from the audio-visual cultural world: web series, short films, animation, music videos."
One book, Independent Content Creators Online: Transmedia, Crossovers, and Millennial Culture in Israel (Palgrave Macmillan), examines, among other questions, whether and how online creators positioned themselves as an alternative to institutional media, and how their works express the distinctive culture of Israel's Generation Y. The other volume, New Directions in Israeli Media: Film, Television, and Digital Content (University of Texas Press), co-edited with Professor Yaron Peleg of the University of Cambridge and Professor Eran Kaplan of San Francisco State University, is a wide-ranging collection of essays on major developments across Israeli screens over the past decade. Thirteen contributors chart the boom in local cinema, Israeli television's integration into the global streaming landscape, and the flourishing of digital creativity online. Alongside discussions of Avi Nesher's films, Palestinian cinema, and acclaimed series such as "Valley of Tears" and "Our Boys," readers will find chapters devoted to the web telenovela produced by the Arisa line of gay parties, and to the migration of the character "Tutit" from online sketches to the TV series "Zot VeZoti."
"First of all, I'm very proud that, thanks to me, distinguished Cambridge professors, the intellectual types who stroll around in gowns, sat down to watch Dudu Faruk's music videos. But seriously, I don't think anyone should still be raising an eyebrow. Since these young creators burst into our lives a decade ago, they've proven this isn't a passing trend but a significant component of contemporary Israeli popular culture. A distinct group began entirely independently, on the delirious fringes of the web, made a name for themselves through viral success, and today they're operating in the most central arenas imaginable: television prime time, the ratings juggernaut 'Eretz Nehederet,' the cinema multiplexes, and soon even repertory theater. Just a few weeks ago, by coincidence, two debut series by creators of this generation premiered simultaneously: 'Yekumot' by Roy Kafri and Gon Ben Ari on Kan, and 'Yeled Hara' ('Little Fucker') by Ariel Waysman and Niv Majar on Yes. Both series sought to challenge and bring something slightly different to the television screen."
Several more members of the first wave of Israeli online creators have since become household names. Take Udi Kagan, one of the most popular comedians in the country, who first entered our lives with the web series "Messiah" ("Mashiah"), or Gaya Beer Gurevich, who rose to fame through the character "Ben-El." Nevertheless, Rosen paints a more complex picture.
"In the early days of the web, the discourse was highly optimistic, promising an almost utopian vision of a pluralistic space where anyone with an internet connection could realize their creative vision, bypassing gatekeepers, executives, and funders to reach mass audiences directly. Accordingly, we mostly heard Cinderella stories: creators who knocked on the doors of television networks or film funds, were thrown down the stairs, stopped waiting for a green light, produced content with home equipment, uploaded it to YouTube, racked up staggering view counts, and became stars. Today, we're more disillusioned, perhaps even skeptical.
"In that early period, the media, and even academic literature from around the world, tended to highlight cases in which the web enabled communities that usually found no place on screen, or were actively excluded from it, to craft their own representation and narrative. But here in Israel, we see that, ultimately, the architects of online culture form a fairly homogeneous group. Nearly all are secular, educated, based in the center of the country; most hold liberal views; they include Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews. Unfortunately, we still haven't seen an Ethiopian, queer, Druze, or Arab online star on the scale of Udi Kagan and his peers. Hence, it's always important to ask who has access to the web. And even when the web allows marginalized groups to make their voices heard, that doesn't guarantee anyone will bother to listen.
"Another central problem, especially acute for Hebrew-language creators, whose potential audience is limited to begin with, is the difficulty of translating view counts into financial profit. That's why, a decade later, we find online stars gravitating toward traditional arenas like prime-time television. The revolutionary aspiration to pose an alternative fades; the credit they amassed online now serves as a ticket of entry into the very institutions that once rejected them - institutions they happily join rather than compete with or seek to dismantle."
The transition from cyberspace to the "real world" is another key theme in Rosen's research. For example, he devotes many pages to a meticulous and riveting analysis of Dudu Faruk's ill-fated live appearance on the television program hosted by Ofira and Berkovic, a disastrous interview that dealt a near-fatal blow to his career. "It connects to other pressing questions in an unstable, constantly shifting media market: Does amassing enormous view counts and proving one's ability to 'break the internet' indicate maturity and professionalism? Is it wise to rely on a track record as a 'social media personality' when allocating large budgets to emerging creators? Are the rules of storytelling in a web series identical to those governing a television series? Can the same skill set be used for both? These issues show that, despite the impressive achievements that have already established digital culture as fertile, innovative, valuable, and important terrain, many intriguing question marks remain. The revolution still has a long road ahead."
