They pretend to have 'pillow talk', whisper comforting words to the camera, act out domestic quarrels and gently pet the screens.
"The first time I watched an 'ASMR Girlfriend Roleplay' video it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck," says 27-year-old Dutch filmmaker Guus Voorham, who was so fascinated by what he saw that he decided to devote his final film project to this specific YouTube genre.trend, seeing young women record granular sounds of cheek kissing, hair ruffling and arm stroking to mimic the sensation of having a partner in bed with you.
"First, I wanted to expose the negative side of the phenomenon, because I thought that these women abused the loneliness of men – they can make a lot of money doing it," says Guus."But when I started editing, I also noticed the sweet and beautiful sides to doing this. I focused on people whom I thought I would never be able to understand. To me, this is one of the greatest things about making documentaries.
There are, Guus says, also women who think of it as an act of altruism, to combat loneliness. But in the end the role-play videos resemble a commercial product, most of all."The makers of these videos are competing for viewers, and they are trying to excel in pleasing," he says."They don't want to make just one person happy, like in a relationship, but they are trying to make all of their viewers happy.
Part of the discomfort may be caused by the old-fashioned way the young women are portrayed; they're literally only on screen because they're trying to please a man. Many of the videos start with a shot in which the girl is pretending to sleep, and then slowly but gently wakes up;"Sorry, I fell asleep while I was waiting for you. It doesn't matter if you're late, I'll always be there for you," they whisper to the camera.
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