Angry German Kid

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As Angry German Kid or Unreal Tournament Kid A was web video in 2005 and whose protagonist known internationally.

Origin and content

The video's producer had previously posted some web videos. Ever since he was given a camera for his 13th birthday, he has experimented with it and published short films. He appeared on the Internet under various pseudonyms. Initially, the videos were published in various forums and video sites or were exchanged on CDs, a large platform like YouTube did not yet exist. In 2005 the youngster brought out a parody of rap music videos with the fictional character "real gangster". This quickly spread to many platforms and the success motivated the filmmaker to continue with the same character.

Real Gangster 5: Play Pc followed in 2005 . In this, the filmmaker sits as a fictional character in front of the computer and gets a fit of anger because he wants to play Unreal Tournament , but the game doesn't load fast enough. He builds himself into anger, yells at the computer and finally smashes his keyboard.

Publication and contemporary reactions

After the first release in 2005, the video was soon distributed to other sites by copying and uploading it to others, including YouTube. The video or its protagonist became known in Germany as the Unreal Tournament Kid , internationally in the English-speaking world as the Angry German Kid , in Spanish as El Niño Loco Alemán , in Japanese as Keybord Crasher . The video was edited by others, accompanied by music or other words in other languages ​​were put in the mouth of the protagonist. It established itself as a well-known internet phenomenon worldwide . However, when it was broadcast across many platforms, most viewers were no longer aware that the scene shown was only an act.

When the Amok run occurred in Emsdetten in November 2006 , a discussion about the dangerousness of computer games broke out in Germany. In it, Focus TV distributed the video of the Angry German Kid as an example of how games can make young people aggressive. The web video found even wider distribution. The editors named the protagonist Leopold in the text discussed above. He was secretly filmed by his father, he was addicted to the internet and is now in a clinic. The television report was sharply criticized by scene media, among other things because the protagonist of the video is known for staging it. Nevertheless, he became a symbol of the fear that video games could turn young people into violent criminals. Years later, the contribution was withdrawn by Focus and given a blocking notice so that it will no longer be published.

Due to the increasing spread, the filmmaker, who was also recognized in his school, was bullied by classmates. Many believed the scene shown was real. He tried to clear this up, but eventually deleted all of his videos from the internet as much as he could and withdrew. He changed his appearance so he was no longer recognized, but the bullying didn't stop. Eventually, the youth himself became violent, intimidated classmates and announced a rampage at his school. He was expelled from school and served a month in prison.

Aftermath

From 2015 the maker of the Angry German Kid started producing videos again and posted them on YouTube. They are about his training and have no relation to previous films. However, he was recognized, but initially did not respond to inquiries about Angry German Kid . At the end of 2017, the Angry German Kid reappeared in public under the new pseudonym Hercules Beatz . The young man, who was now 26 years old and has in the meantime trained a bodybuilder body, published a disstrack in which he told of the events surrounding the publication of the web video 12 years earlier and insulted those who bullied him at the time. However, this is more for fun, as he now sees everything more relaxed. The filmmaker has been publishing his own rap songs since 2018.

The studio Ryanimation Entertainment produced an animation series in 2016 called The Angry German Kid and Friends Show , which tells fictional stories about the Angry German Kid and other internet phenomena.

Today the video is considered a prime example of web video of the 2000s, as well as, for example, Star Wars Kid . The video may be formative for the genre of German-language videos that are covered by new texts in other languages. By 2019 the video had over 10 million views in various versions on YouTube alone. As one of the most famous early internet phenomena , Angry German Kid is also covered in studies of memes. As an example of a video in which the protagonist does not meet expectations of masculinity and its content is linked to popular culture (just like Star Wars Kid ); as an example of the success of a video through its use and usability in many mashups ; or as an example of exaggerated reactions of the user in the investigation of psychological reactions in the interaction between humans and computers.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Dennis Kogel: Germany's Meme Master: The Fascinating Story of the Angry German Kid. Vice, November 21, 2017, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b c d e Matthias Schwarzer: "Angry German Kid": How an Internet video destroyed the life of a teenager. Editorial network Germany, September 14, 2019, accessed on October 3, 2019 .
  3. ↑ David Molke: Unreal Tournament Kid - 12 years later: From meme to rapping bodybuilder DJ. GamePro, November 7, 2017, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Anna Bühler: The Unreal Tournament Kid is back and doesn't want to stay undercover any longer. Puls / br.de, November 11, 2017, accessed on October 3, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Björn Rohwer: Hard to recognize: The Unreal Tournament Kid is now a rapper, producer & Hayvan. hiphop.de, November 8, 2017, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Lisa Fleischer: After 12 Years: The Unreal Tournament Kid answers questions about his old videos. Giga, March 28, 2018, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Angry German Kid in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  8. ↑ Meme: What happened to the angry "Unreal Tournament Kid". Der Standard, November 11, 2017, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Limor Shifman: Meme: Art, Culture and Politics in the Digital Age . Suhrkamp, ​​2014.
  10. ↑ Hanne Detel: Netzprominenz: The emergence, maintenance and monetization of celebrities in the digital age , p. 169. Herbert von Halem Verlag, 2017.
  11. ↑ Patrick Ehrenbrink, Sabine Prezenski: Causes of Psychological Reactance in Human-ComputerInteraction , p. 1. online

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