This is why I personally think that what they do IS fair use and transformative and not a substitute of the original product. I have to go and watch the original video to not have the goblin in the corner making inane comments and pausing it when I'm trying to take in the video.
Not all reaction channels are made the same. Some channels have at least interesting themes, like a classical music teacher who had never actually payed attention to rock, reacting to rock music classics. She is literally learning as she goes, and does some amazing and deep musical analysis of popular music, and you get to share her journey learning about the history of rock and the myriad of sub-genres, giving genuine appreciation to a genre I love.
Some streamers do movie reacts with Amazon Prime promotional tie-ins, so it's like sharing the couch with a group of comedians. If you already know the movie it enhances the experience with commentary and jokes.
Now, the particular brand of watching other YouTube channels, making dumb comments about them, stirring shit, causing drama and then doxxing other YouTubers. That whole scene is straight up trash and content theft.
I enjoy reactions to the movies I love because watching the reactors that are actually into the movies asking the right questions and having reactions to beloved moments provide me some small glimmer of the first time I watched them.
That’s something I wish was on lemmy but can only really find on reddit. I don’t want to read reviews, I don’t want gimmicky or nitpicky YouTube rants, I just want to reminisce about the good time we all just had and collectively complain about the things we didn’t like.