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Started from the Bottom: Benjamin Franklin and Drake Compared

2013-09-24 · letter vlog · John · 3:55 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Personal life, Pop culture) · mode: Personal essay

John compares Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography with Drake's "Started from the Bottom", argues that neither man started from the bottom and that success narratives rarely acknowledge privilege, and calls the self-made individual a deeply flawed idea.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John works out with a trainer, Sean; running to Drake's "Started from the Bottom"

  • ★ John says that for the last few months he has worked out a few times a week with a trainer named Sean, who has changed his life; he can now run six miles in under an hour. — 00:00:00
  • ★ John says he has been listening a lot to Drake's "Started from the Bottom", an excellent song to run to. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — The Drake song and Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and the idea of considering them together

  • ★★ John says the song is basically about how Drake started from the bottom and he and his crew are now at the top. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John, rereading Franklin's autobiography, says Franklin was a founding father who invented the lightning rod and bifocals and started universities, fire departments and libraries. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John says it occurred to him that Franklin's autobiography and Drake's song are really interesting and problematic to consider together. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Superficial connections: success narratives about success, and both a smidge repetitive

  • ★★ John says both are successful people's narratives about success: Franklin negotiated important treaties with the French, and Drake says not much happens in the music industry without him. — 00:00:58
  • ★ John jokes that both narratives are a smidge repetitive: the song's title chorus appears about 35 times in 3 minutes, and Franklin overuses words, especially "ingenious". (playful) — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Franklin's famous arrival in Philadelphia, and why he did not start from the bottom

  • ★★ John retells, mock-heroically, the autobiography's most famous moment: kicked out of his apprenticeship, Franklin reaches Philadelphia with one copper shilling, buys three loaves and gives two away. (playful) — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ John says Franklin did not start from the bottom: he came from a family of wealthy printers, carried a letter of recommendation from the colony's governor, and was the right class, gender and race. — 00:01:58
    • check: a family of wealthy printers — doubtful
    • check: a letter of recommendation from the governor of the colony — doubtful

00:02:26 — Drake did not start from the bottom either; success narratives are privileged narratives; their accomplishments still count, but the self-made individual is a flawed idea

  • ★★★ John says Drake did not start from the bottom either: his mother is a teacher, and from a very early age he had a lucrative role on the TV programme Degrassi. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John says Drake is Canadian, which he calls arguably the best place in the world to be born today. (hedged) — 00:02:26 · Canada
  • ★★★ John tells Hank that the success narratives we hear are almost always privileged narratives that almost never acknowledge that privilege. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John says none of this denigrates their accomplishments: no other Degrassi alum matches Drake, and no one else in the 18th century invented bifocals despite having Franklin's privileges or more. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John says Drake is on the road making half a million for a show, unlike any other Degrassi alum. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ John says the idea of the self-made individual who builds a successful career on their own is deeply flawed; as long as we believe it, we collaborate too little and judge others too often. — 00:02:26 · collective action

00:03:16 — Why John prefers Drake's retelling: Drake credits his crew; nobody succeeds alone; sign-off

  • ★★ John says he is probably a bigger fan of Franklin but appreciates Drake's retelling more, because Drake also says his whole crew is here, acknowledging that his success came from a "we". (hedged) — 00:03:16
  • ★★ John says nobody succeeds alone: Drake did not make his success on his own, and even Franklin relied on English opticians to invent the bifocal. — 00:03:16

In the description and comments

Humor (significant)

  • John boasts he can now bench press 100 pounds 15 times in a row. — 00:00:00

    “according to the law of transitive benching, means that I can bench press 1,500 pounds one time in a row”

  • John doubts Hank knows the Drake song "Started from the Bottom". — 00:00:29

    “Fortunately, 90% of its lyrics are in its title.”

  • John recasts Franklin's real story in the style of Drake's lyric: started in the upper middle, got very near the top. — 00:02:26

    “George Washington's still a little bit above me. I was close!”

  • Arguing that nobody succeeds alone, John turns to his own workouts with his trainer. — 00:03:16

    “I didn't develop this astonishingly athletic body on my own.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: American Dream · Benjamin Franklin · Drake · social privilege · Started from the Bottom · The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Also: People: George Washington · Sarah Urist Green

Works: Degrassi: The Next Generation

Concepts: bifocals · collective action · lightning rod

Places: Canada · France · Philadelphia

Only in the description or credits: internet access · PBS Digital Studios · The Art Assignment · The Fault in Our Stars (film)

Also centred on American Dream: Gatsby's American Dream: Reading The Great Gatsby Critically, Chapter 1 · The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes · Is the American Dream Real?

Also centred on social privilege: Neck Beards and Fitness Challenges · Time for AWESOME · Deserving · Should I Feel Guilty? · How I (barely) Passed 11th Grade English · ...Not My Proudest Moment

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