Web Crush Wednesdays: Colleen Ballinger

Colleen Ballinger is a YouTube personality who rose to fame with her character Miranda Sings some five years ago. Miranda is a caricature of the worst aspects of a young musical theatre geek: she’s full of herself, overdoes her acting, and thinks she knows all there is to know about performance without ever needing to actually study it. She says “I’m a professional and professionals don’t need to take lessons from other people because they can teach themselves”. Now, believe me when I say that my enjoyment of this character in no way implies that I dislike musical theatre geeks. I am one, and I’ve made some of my best friends by geeking out over musicals together, but that’s not to say these aspects of Colleen’s Miranda character don’t actually exist among us. Now, I’ve never met anyone who was as extreme as Miranda or possessed all of these traits at one time, but it’s fun to see aspects of people I know, including myself, parodied by this character.