I Am a Ukrainian

A promotional still for the video

"I Am a Ukrainian" is an Internet viral video, first posted on YouTube in 2014 featuring a young Ukrainian woman supporting the protestors in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. It was filmed by Graham Mitchell. By late March that year the video had been viewed about 8 million times.

Background

The woman in the video was initially not named[1] in order to keep her safe,[2] but was eventually identified as Yulia Marushevska, a Kyiv Ph.D. student of Ukrainian literature at Taras Shevchenko National University.[3] Marushevska and British photographer Graham Mitchell shot the video after the death of five people, three of whom died of gunshot wounds, on January 22.[3][4] Marushevska felt she needed to do more for the EuroMaidan, and was frustrated with what she perceived to be the foreigners’ ignorance about why the protests were happening.[3] She wanted to inform the viewers that the Ukrainians want to change their government due to concerns over alleged unchecked corruption within it.[3][5] They ended up shooting a 2-minute, 4 second long video[5] where she speaks in English.[6] In July 2015 Mikheil Saakashvili, Governor of Odessa, announced that Yulia Marushevska accepted a job as Deputy Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration. According to Mikheil Saakashvili Yulia Marushevska had previously spent a year of training at Harvard and Stanford universities.[7]

Popularity

The video was uploaded to YouTube on 10 February 2014.[3] By 19 February it was reported to have about 3.5 million views.[6] By 21 February it had about 5.2 million views,[5] by 22 February it had about 6 million views,[8] and by 27 February it passed 7 million views.[9] As of September 2015, the video has 8.5 million views.

The video has received a mostly positive reception, with the majority of the tens of thousands of comments in support.[5][6][8] A 21 February count on YouTube gave the video about 70,000 "likes" and 4,000 "dislikes".[5] A minority of voices, primarily those opposed to the revolution, argued that it is too one-sided.[6][8] It has also been criticized for its professional production value, invoking a comparison to the controversial Kony 2012 viral video, which misled viewers into thinking it was a purely amateur production.[8][9]

BBC News has described it as having by far the greatest impact of any video from the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.[6] Moses is now working on a feature-length documentary about Yulia's and Ukraine's progress in the year following her viral video.[10]

Notes

  1. ↑ André Crous, ‘We want to be free’, Prague Post, (19 February 2014).
  2. ↑ Deborah Stambler (2014-02-14). "I Am a Ukrainian: Can You Be Viral and Anonymous? | Deborah Stambler". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Jim Hoft, Yulia Marushevska: Ukrainian Activist’s YouTube Video Viewed 7.8 Million Times, The Gateway Pundit, (March 14, 2014).
  4. ↑ "Ukrainian Woman's YouTube Video Goes Viral" Voice of America. 2014-04-01.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Central New York. "Viral video 'I Am a Ukrainian' generates millions of views, many fans, some critics". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 BBC Trending (2014-02-20). "BBC News - #BBCtrending: 'I am a Ukrainian' protest video goes viral". BBC. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  7. ↑ "Yulia Marushevska Deputy Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration" Facebook. 2015-07-09
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Questions Raised Over The 'I Am a Ukrainian' Video". Neon Tommy. 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  9. 1 2 "Mass protests in Ukraine: Tracking America’s hand in regime change | Celebrating Being Zimbabwean". Thepatriot.co.zw. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  10. ↑ "I Am a Ukrainian: The Movie" Official Website. Retrieved on March 31, 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, September 13, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.