Your favorite video essays

[Lexi Darling]

Over the past few years, one of my favorite things to put on during my daily routine is YouTube video essays, informative ones, media roasts, nothing like a nice deep dive.

I'll start it off with one of my favorites by the wonderful Jenny Nicholson.

I also highly recommend her videos on Bronies, Dear Evan Hanson, and the one where she ranked all 15 odd Land Before Time movies.

I'd love to see what kind of video essays you all enjoy, the longer the better!

[DJChameleon]

You struck a nerve just by using the words deep dive. I follow a guy that does deep dives on certain movies and that's what the name of his channel is.

He basically does easter egg type breakdowns and blink and you miss it references for different movies. He started out only doing it for superhero/marvel movies and now he does it for other films as well.

Here is one focused on Jaws.

[Lexi Darling]

Nice, love a good dissection and analysis of the classics.

Big Joel is a favorite YouTuber of mine, he mostly does more sociopolitical content but he also did an hour long analysis of Adam Sandler's infamous 2006 disasterpiece, Click.

Which, as someone who has seen a pretty big chunk of Sandler's filmography, is nowhere near his worst movie and not actually that bad IMO. But it's an entertaining essay.

[Meatwad]

Nice, love a good dissection and analysis of the classics.

Big Joel is a favorite YouTuber of mine, he mostly does more sociopolitical content but he also did an hour long analysis of Adam Sandler's infamous 2006 disasterpiece, Click.

Which, as someone who has seen a pretty big chunk of Sandler's filmography, is nowhere near his worst movie and not actually that bad IMO. But it's an entertaining essay.

The Waterboy has to be his worst film by far. It was so bad I wanted to leave the movie theatre 15 minutes into it.

I went on a date to watch that movie and the fact my date liked it only confirmed that there was not going to be a second date. 

[DJChameleon]

The Waterboy has to be his worst film by far. It was so bad I wanted to leave the movie theatre 15 minutes into it.

I went on a date to watch that movie and the fact my date liked it only confirmed that there was not going to be a second date. 

Boo gimme your date's number. The Waterboy was hilarious as shit.

The worst Adam Sandler movie is called Going Overboard.

[Lexi Darling]

Boo gimme your date's number. The Waterboy was hilarious as shit.

The worst Adam Sandler movie is called Going Overboard.

Yeah the Waterboy rules. I saw it in theaters and it was my introduction to the Sandlerverse, so I'll never be able to not love it. "I invented electricity! Ben Franklin is the devil!"

I've never actually seen Going Overboard, I think as a proud(?) Sandlerhead I owe it to myself to check out his first movie. Would you say it's worse than Jack and Jill? Pixels? That's My Boy?

Either way, I'll add it to the list for bad movie night.

[Meatwad]

Boo gimme your date's number. The Waterboy was hilarious as shit.

The worst Adam Sandler movie is called Going Overboard.

Never seen Going Overboard but if its worse than The Waterboy I'd rather not be exposed. 

[DJChameleon]

Yeah the Waterboy rules. I saw it in theaters and it was my introduction to the Sandlerverse, so I'll never be able to not love it. "I invented electricity! Ben Franklin is the devil!"

I've never actually seen Going Overboard, I think as a proud(?) Sandlerhead I owe it to myself to check out his first movie. Would you say it's worse than Jack and Jill? Pixels? That's My Boy?

Either way, I'll add it to the list for bad movie night.

Close to Jack and Jill but slightly lower. It's actually the first movie he's been in.

[DJChameleon]

I stumbled across this video today and I agree with his main points near the end of the video.

It's mad cringe when interracial couples make the fact that they are an interracial couple their whole identity.

[Lexi Darling]

I stumbled across this video today and I agree with his main points near the end of the video.

It's mad cringe when interracial couples make the fact that they are an interracial couple their whole identity.

I love FD Signifier. His videos on Drake, anime, and the several ones on the manosphere were all very good food for thought.

[innerspaceboy]

Kirby Ferguson created my favorite video essay of all time titled, "Everything Is a Remix" in 2010 for free to the public. He went on to remix that project releasing updated versions of each installment in 2015 and 2020 before publishing a final edit in 2023 which is the version presently hosted on YouTube.

Earlier iterations spent more time on how classic rock remixed and borrowed heavily from the blues, and explored the Campbellian Hero's Journey that was Star Wars. Later editions trimmed back those elements to explore emerging subject matter like artificial intelligence.

Here's the final cut:

Everything is a Remix (Complete Updated 2023 Edition)

And while the project was evolving Ferguson released short minisodes like this one about The Matrix and all the content it remixed:

I'll share one more favorite - a narrative video essay exploring the world's most important 6-sec drum loop (The "Amen" break) -

[DJChameleon]

This is the second video essay I have watched from her but she makes some excellent points more so in this one than the previous one I watched.

Where she was trying to speak on behalf of men and what they think about a specific rapper. She found it nefarious that men liked this one female rapper, if they are on board with liking her then something is fishy and not normal in her opinion.

[Lexi Darling]

This is the second video essay I have watched from her but she makes some excellent points more so in this one than the previous one I watched.

Where she was trying to speak on behalf of men and what they think about a specific rapper. She found it nefarious that men liked this one female rapper, if they are on board with liking her then something is fishy and not normal in her opinion.

Interesting video, for sure. I'm not sure if anything I say on the idea of female empowerment means anything to anyone, but I thought she made some good arguments as to the limits of attaining empowerment through the male gaze.

I do consider myself a feminist, but being completely honest it's getting harder for me to say that out loud in some spaces; my experiences are pretty different from cishet women's and even most trans women's, and I sometimes feel like voicing those experiences regarding gender and feminism are seen as irrelevant or even invalid.

And I completely understand, I have some pretty weird perceptions of gender by default. I sometimes feel like anything I say regarding the male gaze and pandering to patriarchal ideals is completely hypocritical given how I choose to live my life in relation to my male partner. We don't see our whole thing as rooted in misogyny, it certainly isn't intentionally or consciously like that. But I do understand that to a lot of people my partner and I (both AMABs) engaging in our dynamic comes off as perverse and offensive, and because of that I have no right to speak on feminist topics.

It makes me feel like crap sometimes, honestly.