2010 / Video / Viral home video
Double Rainbow
“What does it mean?”
The original is off-site. HAHrchives preserves the story and a route back to it.
What happened
Vasquez watched two bright rainbows over Yosemite, became overwhelmed by the sight, and narrated the moment with complete sincerity. The intensity made it both funny and strangely moving.
Where it came from
Paul Vasquez, posting as Hungrybear9562, uploaded his awestruck Yosemite double-rainbow video to YouTube on January 8, 2010.
Why it mattered
Double Rainbow is a corrective to the idea that early viral video was only ironic. The web made it funny, but it also recognized something real: a person having an unguarded, enormous feeling in public.
How it spread
The video sat quietly for months before a Jimmy Kimmel link and subsequent shares pushed it into a larger web conversation in July. Its delivery then became a template for songs, parodies, and excited reaction clips.
Keep going
The same corner of the internet
Before reaction videos, there was one guy having the time of his life at a webcam.
A 55-second family clip became the definition of “viral video.”
“I move away from the mic to breathe in.”
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