Dream's Face Reveal
In this article, Kai Blackmon will be discussing Dream's face reveal and what we can take from the reaction to his beautiful Dreamworks-styled face.
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Dream’s Face Reveal and the True Nature of the Internet
Dream’s Face Reveal and the True Nature of the Internet
By Kai Blackmon
By Kai Blackmon
We have all heard plenty of news from the Dream SMP that managed to get everywhere. Sometimes, these were smaller stories: fans simping just a little too hard, members of the Minecraft world leaving for more than likely better possibilities and a twenty-year-old getting his VISA citizenship for the USA--why he would want to move here I have no idea. Meanwhile, there has been much bigger news, such as the death of the world's best memer and the TNT death of the best city in all of the Minecraft world. One of those stories is ever so slightly more important than the other. However, in our current time, the biggest news to spread has been the reveal of yet another twenty-year-old's face! Even more concerning than the fact that Gen Z is focusing on this story over everything else in the world--such as the continuing story of Putin bullying smaller countries or who we should vote for in the upcoming election and whatever is going on with the Try Guys right now--is the fact that the internet has taken to absolutely destroying the good glory out of a random adult on the internet. Again.
YouTube - Where'd Dream go?
The Minecraft sensation known as Dream has worn a cartoonish white mask over his face ever since his early appearances online. Unfortunately, this is just simp baiting and everyone seemed to imagine there was some type of god of a man behind the simple grin. Oh, by the way, for all of the boomers who may be reading; a simp is a term used for someone who has an unhealthy level of romantic feelings or attraction-- to the point of going above and beyond for someone who may or may not know of your existence. They also might not necessarily exist. Think of everyone’s feelings for Edward from Twilight or whatever that thing was y’all had for Emma Watson. Where was I? Oh right! Everyone who knew of Dream expected some type of model-- for lack of a better term-- to be behind that mask. This had led a lot of people who were waaaaay too attracted to his voice to visualize the perfect man for them to get all smitten over--once again, for lack of a better word.
Of course, Dream isn’t a god. He is a person--surprisingly. I'm not even going to lie: I myself thought he was a formless being of algorithms and Minecraft thumbnails. Even still, behind the mask is a man named Clay. On Oct. 2, 2022, he posted a video titled “hi, I’m Dream.” A very fitting title for this video, right? The video includes a long period of stalling in various ways: cropping his own face out of the screen, teasing to pull the mask off, and standing behind a greenscreen --which gets annoying as (insert evil comparison here)--until he finally turned around to reveal his actual face. This was followed by several minutes of him talking at a 1/4 angle to the screen in order to truly show off only the right side of his face: quite clearly his good side. Now, I am not here to bully the great, goofy, green man. Everyone else online seems to have that covered.
YouTube - There he is!
After the reveal, the internet was covered in posts about how the famous creator's face looked and was full of memes comparing him to various characters that are thought to be ugly so, basically, every Dreamworks character. Twitter was being bombarded with the hashtag #PutTheMaskBackOn, which was trending equally with the original hashtag, #Dream’sFaceReveal. Thankfully, the green man didn’t take these insults to heart, saying in an interview with BuzzFeed News, “There’s gonna be bad people, people that are going to be mean, so I didn’t take it to heart, I expected stuff like that.” That’s kind of tame, given the fact he had received a death threat before the video had been released but to each his own. We should all be glad this twenty-something-year-old isn’t hurt by all of this; we don’t need more drama. Well, I need more drama so I can actually make good content, but that’s beside the point. Regardless, I find it much more interesting what this says about the nature of the internet. The fact that someone should expect to be insulted openly online does not spell well for us. We should be expecting to see weird videos and fanart that we really didn’t want burned into our minds. That is what is fun about the internet-- being traumatized by weird communities, rather than malicious communities.
Apart from Dream, millions of other internet users have seen or been a part of the wonderful act of cyberbullying. In fact, it is kind of just accepted by the world at this point. Oh, what a joy is the life of one who has social media. More than likely, everyone reading this has heard about how bad cyberbullying is for children. This is just so overrated; kids just need to toughen up man, said the average Twitter user. With that being said, we have strongly underrepresented the number of adults who are cyberbullied. Whether it is because they are just cringy dads or Facebook moms, they are making horrible mistakes in their lives, or both, I do not know. It is probably both, though. However, it is clear that these people go through a fair amount of bullying online, given that the Cyberbullying Research Center has been motivated to say that “We receive more inquiries from adults than teens. We know that cyberbullying negatively affects adults, too. It is just that we spend the majority of our efforts studying how this problem impacts school-aged youth.” See, even the boomers can understand the problems of Gen Z. No wonder they don’t like our new technology.
Cyberbullying doesn’t always just stop at a mean comment digging at your artwork. By the way, if you have received any type of harassment for your work online, I am sure that piece was quite lovely--unless it was one of those questionable fanarts I discussed last time--then it is gross. Anyway, cyberbullying can get to great extremes and includes bullying such as catfishing, cyberstalking, online harassment, trolling--yes that counts, for all of you memers--and last but not least: death threats. Generally, death threats are where most people would draw a line in the sand, unless you are an Xbox or Playstation kid. It gets much worse if you are one of those gamers. Sadly, death threats are much more common in the world than you might think. In an article by Philip Eil on Vice, it is even suggested that they are now “a way of life” for congress members. You also can find plenty of lists online of celebrities who have received threats--Kanye West, Selena Gomez, and Madonna all being a small fraction of them--and even journalists, just to name a few. Should I be scared to check my email after learning this information, given that I write in one of the most typically controversial categories of journalism? If you do write a threat to me, then just make sure it’s funny and I’ll be fine.
Newgrounds - I don't know what to say other than the fact that his crutch is perfect.
That being said, many people can react very differently to death threats. Many who get them every day have become numb to them, while others freak out, going as far as locking themselves in their homes or offices. By the way, if you ever feel the need to get into a controversial position, then you have to have an entertaining bunker room for when you have one of those casual death threats. You shouldn’t just be panicking and crying in a small white room; you need to panic and cry with ✨S T Y L E ✨. It's like glamping but better and much more depressing. Anyway, death threats aren’t just as bad as someone staying in their house for a week, vibing to music while doing a couple of puzzles. Your own mind becomes a warzone of fear. Eli describes it as a form of weaponizing anxiety, like sending a bomb into another person's brain. It creates a huge amount of uncertainty and can cause serious mental issues within the victim. There are many stories of people locking themselves in their homes out of fear that, when they step outside, they will be killed without being prepared for it. Sadly, this has become much more casual. No matter your profession, age or ethnicity, you still have the chance to receive a death threat-- even the people who don’t leave their room anyway. Although everyone in the world is different and some are wealthier than others, everyone can be affected mentally by threats.
As time goes on--and cyberbullying and death threats become more common--the world has learned how to cope in one way or another, whether that be hiding away in your bunker eating Pringles, or it means you scream out “Deep Fried HECK!” and risk your life because, dang it, your boss wants those papers in by Friday. Obviously, the internet can be a positive place, but much of the time it can be terrifying to navigate. Dream's situation isn’t bad to him, given that this man already assumed the internet would go to he-...heck and is just kind of going through life without caring too much. However, that doesn’t play out for everyone and the way the world works can really mess with someone's mental state. You may be saying, “Dang, everyone is a snowflake nowadays.” Well, Dave, not everyone likes to be threatened with their life. Friendly reminder kids: be nice, be safe and make sure to pay for your streaming service subscriptions.
Signing Off,
Signing Off,
Kai Blackmon.
Kai Blackmon.
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