The Internet Demands Uplifting Videos. So He Stages Them.
Dhar Mann and other “wholesome” channels combine the high-definition slickness of today’s YouTube content with the feel of a corporate-training video.
Credit...Photo illustration by Alicia Tatone
By Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein
Aug. 4, 2021
Few online genres are as fascinating as the realm of “wholesome” content, an ever-widening pool of tender, morally uplifting stories about moments of kindness, human beings caring for one another and people leaving big tips. Most of this wholesomeness is found in real life, captured in videos of charming family moments or warm encounters with strangers. Other examples are at least manufactured in real life, as with the TikTok influencer who films himself buying things for people living on the streets of Los Angeles. You might think a staged, fictional video of an inspiring moment, clumsily scripted and stiffly acted, would be infinitely less compelling, and yet: Consider the YouTube sensation Dhar Mann and his 11.2 million subscribers.