I love this video dearly. It hits the nail on the head about relationships in so many ways that it feels almost realistic in some ways. But let me start off by talking about the (in)famous girl in the video, Laina. I stumbled across her picture numerous times in various reddit posts where she had become a meme. Later on, I looked her up to figure out who the “Overly Attached Girlfriend” figure was and discovered her over on YouTube. In an awesomesauce fashion, I found out that she is continuing to produce videos on a consistent weekly basis and has embraced her public figure and turned herself into a comedy act.
So the video continues in this trend of building up more on the Overly Attached Girlfriend meme, this time showing what a typical relationship operates. In particular, we see Jimmy (who is another YouTuber) and Laina at someone’s home just watching TV. What I love about this video is the expression on both of their faces that convey a great deal in such a short time span. Laina acts as the highly emotional girlfriend, trying extremely hard to get her (in-video) boyfriend’s attention for some reason. On the other hand, Jimmy, being your typical guy, has his brain turned off and is just watching the television show, possibly unaware of the emotional distress Laina faces.
The video starts out with Laina subtly trying to get Jimmy to take notice of her hand. Of course, the moment Jimmy is ready to respond, Laina pulls her hand back in disgust then distances herself on the couch as if telling Jimmy that he should have known better. At this point, Jimmy looks taken aback and suspects that something is eating away at Laina, for which, like a lot of women, Laina simply responds, “I’m fine.”
Of course, the “I’m fine” response from a woman never is that plain and involves millions of conflicting emotions (possibly even her period). Afterward, Jimmy settles back into watching television, which for him (and a lot of guys in his situation) pretty much is his way of communicating either that he really is clueless about Laina’s feelings or that he’s playing it safe by remaining mute. In these situations, remaining mute probably is the worst thing to do for a guy as his silence more than likely is eating away at the woman, who wants some form of affirmation in her life through the guy’s acknowledgment of their existence in some form. Unfortunately, for most guys, we never (if any) truly understand what exactly that acknowledgment or desire is.
During this little episode, I just love how Laina’s face clearly shows how emotional torn she is. Of course, any irritation with Jimmy’s lack of response is obliterated the minute he receives an SMS from his friend “Sam.” Laina seethes in envy at the possibility that “Sam” could ambiguously be coded for Samantha, which we never receive any confirmation. Jimmy casually laughs at the stupid message he receives and promptly forgets. On the other hand, instantly Laina goes into a small episode where she attempts to counter Jimmy through faking how she receives a message from an unidentified guy. After giggling slightly and receiving no notification, Laina takes her behavior up a notch by getting noticeably louder, which prompts Jimmy to finally inquire about the message. Laina discards any details about the message except that it’s from “some guy” and the fact that this guy consistently is sending her messages. Jimmy in partial apathy gives the whole situation a cackle which prompts her to toss her phone to the side.
In turn, apparently a pretty blonde girl appears on the TV show they are watching, where Laina forces Jimmy to make a snap judgment comparison between Laina and the television blonde. Here, Jimmy really doesn’t care much for the girl on TV as Laina’s jealousy continues to rise. Poor Jimmy starts to become confused as Laina makes the odd accusation that he believes the girl on TV is prettier than her. The only thing he can do is shrug and remain quiet.
The plot takes a slight twist when Laina inquires about what the show they’re watching is about. Jimmy describes the plot very logically, maybe even slightly condescending when he says that it’s “Not that complicated.” The logical, cold reasoning in Jimmy’s answer induces Laina to began tearing up and from out of nowhere desperately asks, “Why don’t you love me anymore?” And by this point like the rest of us, Jimmy inquires, “What?”
This video does a nice job of summarizing what I feel are problems in a lot of relationships. I recall growing up how my mom had numerous issues with my dad but never truly communicated exactly what would bug her. Usually, when this bouts of anger occurred, my mom would sit on the couch and brood in silence. My dad, who had a similar disposition to Jimmy’s in this video, was pragmatic. So for instance it would become dinner time and my dad would approach my mom and start asking about what she would want to eat. However, if my mom was angry, you’d see her on the couch, chewing her tongue like a goddamn cow and watching some violent sci-fi or action flick. Eventually, my dad would grow desperate in prodding my mom into action where by my mom would combust and all her frustrations would assail my dad all at once.
The other thing that I love is how Jimmy’s expression for the most part is blank. I have a few interpretations of this expression but to the women out there, it’s pretty straight forward. It’s a sign that a guy is tired, doesn’t give a fuck and just wants to watch a show before hitting the bed. He probably looks that way because he either wants to take a nap, watch another show, finds the show engrossing or hop back into his mancave to do what guys like to do (not exactly masturbate either).
My other interpretation for Jimmy’s expression is the feeling of conquest where a great deal of subtext might be inferred in terms of this video acting as an interpretation for couples in a similar relationship. What I mean by that is that there’s a good chance the two (at least from the storyline in the short clip) had sex recently. I think biologically after a guy has sex with a woman, the drive for sex with that woman slowly decreases. During a psychobiology course I took over at UCI, there was a study conducted between lab rats where they would use a male rat and multiple female rats. The male rat after mating with a female rat would lose interest in that female rat but move on to the other female rats.
I think with regards to human males, this aspect of sexuality remains true. It’s not that a guy’s sex drive diminishes but that he merely and gradually loses interests in the female he paired up with over time. A lot of the stimulation ends up being lost after the “release” in successfully mating with their objective. It pretty much is the act of conquest. Thereafter, the male pretty much feels satiated by their deeds and looks to newer opportunities.
For myself, I remember back when I was with one of my girlfriends in Japan how I lost an incredible amount of interest over time with her. Towards the end sex felt more like a chore than something I enjoyed and I wanted more time for myself to enjoy the hobbies I had previously. Part of the problem in my case was that we simply did not have enough in common to really make that relationship work beyond certain physical and convenient activities. Without really having more context to this short clip, one can only assume that the characters Laina and Jimmy play are similar in that they more than likely do not share enough in common, which is why they might have some relationship issues.
Also, the end part is great because of how melodramatic Laina ends up becoming. Yet I think a lot of girls are like this where they might have this dire need for attention. The best part about that is how small things end up becoming a huge issue. We go from just not holding hands to essentially a failed relationship with Laina burst out in tears. Most guys would look at this as overreacting. But the failure of attention from guys might multiple exponentially in a woman’s mind.
Another major issue in this clip is insecurity issues. Jimmy is a good looking guy, with a decent body and seems to have reasonable confidence in himself. Obviously, Laina, despite being a very pretty girl, lacks a lot of self confidence, which is what makes her very emotional and envious. Part of the problem that I can see in this type of relationship is that psychologically it’s not on equal footing. It makes me wonder if say Laina had a slightly plumper, out-of-shape boyfriend with confidence issues (like yours truly) whether or not her attitude would change in a situation like this. Instead, rather than being attached would she act repulsed or even abusive? Would it be the guy who ends up becoming attached and envious and Laina becoming apathetic towards him?
Regardless, I really enjoyed this video. Not all YouTube videos make me want to write a full page response, but this one certainly gave me some inspiration to put down a few paragraphs.