YouTube Video Essayist Thread

[Basic Blond Boy]

YouTube video essays have been a major genre since the beginning, but have really kicked into popularity with the fall of That Guy With The Glasses and the political and YouTube climate past 2016. The idea of their genre is to be the more “mature” evolution of Doug’s work, being more analytical to a film’s themes and messages. In practice, it is an hour long slog going over how a children’s movie goes against my communist ideology and why that makes it bad. Not all video essays are terrible, but a good chunk, especially for films/tv a can be boiled down to the former with the creator acting way smarter than they are.

This thread is a containment thread to store some of the shittiest takes on products you can find. They can range from political to non, though I suspect more political than not as BreadTube has a stranglehold on this genre.

Here is a video which I stumbled upon recently that easily highlights the genre. Granted, this is a small channel, but it came up in my recommendations, so why not. The video is basically your average Lion King and Incredibles promote fascism take.

This one is a non-political one that I stumbled upon recently. Not terrible, but still, it is 10 mins of a preschool show being propped up as deep for adults. I about laughed my ass off when the end got religious.

Edit: This got posted before completing? I didn’t post, so I just deleted the previous.

 

[urr13 account]

I guess we should avoid this becoming just another QuintonReviews thread but in general I find most movie/pop culture video essays annoying without even watching them.

The "everything is a masterpiece" genre of film essays where movies that just came out are immediatley declared masterpieces annoys me, not only is it regularly applied to pretty mediocre films it also begs the question "if thats a masterpiece, what isnt?"



Maybe wait a few years and a few viewings of a movie before declaring it a masterpiece?

I also kind of hate the "changed comedy" genre of video essays, like oh really it changed comedy? comedy was never the same after this?



Even if it's about a skit that I like there's something about over-inflating the importance or quality of something that to me just feels like it drags everything down. If Seth Rogen is a comedy genius then what do we call people who are actually funny?

"genius" "changed the game" "masterpiece" none of this means anything anymore thanks to youtuber pop culture video essayists.

It doesn't help that the type of people who make these videos are always unbearably smug.

 

[Kendall Motor Oil]

The breadtube thread has some mentions of a few video essayists. If you want to find some, look at the Philosophy Tube and Contrapoints clones/orbiters. Many of them are painfully boring, though.
The breadtube thread doesn't really allow most political video essayists as they are considered adjacent though people like Thought Slime Mildred are well within breadtube.

 

[Basic Blond Boy]

The breadtube thread has some mentions of a few video essayists. If you want to find some, look at the Philosophy Tube and Contrapoints clones/orbiters. Many of them are painfully boring, though.

I know of quite a few, Lindsey Ellis being one of the biggest contributors, but I thought a thread to contain all would be more fun as they span way beyond those cliques and take up shit tons of my YouTube recommendations. Plus, there are many non-political ones too that are equally insufferable as shown above with the “Masterpiece” category.

 

[WeWuzFinns]

There is this whole genre for making ten hour videos wanking over vidya such as oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=oblivion+retrospective

 

[Rembrandt]

I hate the thumbnails and naming conventions for these kinds of video essays with a passion. It triggers the same sets of neurons as those trained to ignore advertisements and all the tricks of trade that came with them. Hyperbole sells well on YT but it makes me wanna gouge my fucking eyes out whenever something is an UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE, a HIDDEN GEM, a COMPLETE DISASTER, FLAWED, FORGOTTEN or anything else. I don't care about The Fall or The Rise or The Lost Art of something. Seeing Every Word Capitalized Also Is Annoying | A Cinematography Video Essay. And it's even worse when a Youtuber tries to subvert this by making only low case titles that ask a question or sound zany and casual.


I prefer shit that doesn't try to catch my attention, just says ""The history or XYZ" and ends on that. Thankfully those exists, too.

 

[56 others]

If I hear a sophomore level essay intro, I immediately end the video

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

J Aubrey is the prime example of why this is just another excuse to avoid having to work for Buzzfeed to make “video essays” into a self-glorified blog post on their website



His recent thumbnails for his videos are about as more exaggerated as his actual videos, even while keeping it simplistic for content.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

If I hear a sophomore level essay intro, I immediately end the video

If they play Persona 5 music or classical stock music, it's immediately cringe, even worse if the content creator has a british accent

 

[Basic Blond Boy]

There is this whole genre for making ten hour videos wanking over vidya such as oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=oblivion+retrospective

> TES4: Oblivion Analysis | Quick Retrospective
> 12 hour run time
> “a quick retrospective”

Damn, Mauler has got some competition.

 

[Colon capital V]

Do theory videos count? Cause there's this one that really grinded my gears when I finished watching:

When I first clicked on this I was expecting a interesting video about a spongebob theory, what I got instead was some half-assed speculation about how Bikini Bottom takes place on Neptune and any counterarguments to such an absurd claim he just says "oH wElL tHe ShOw Is SpEcUlaTeD tO bE a DrUg TrIp sO yOuR aRgUmEnT iS mOoT. bUt ThAtS jUsT a ThEoRy!"
I was left pretty pissed seeing as I just wasted 11 minutes of my life watching some dipshit ramble about whatever without any thought put into his claims. God this video sucks.
On the other hand, while I wouldn't consider this video to be bad, near the 25 minute mark is when shit really went off the rails and had me dying of laughter because of how absurd of a turn it took

Oh and there's this 4 hour review of Pikminby Arlo. Not a review of all three of the games + the spinoffs, 4 hours of just Pikmin.

Haven't even bothered watching the whole thing, but what could you fucking say about a single game for that long that you could probably finish it within the same time??

 

[Atatata]

I used to watch a couple of channels since they make for okay background noise but their lengths are getting ridiculous.

Seriously, who in the right mind would sit through a four hour video about H3h3's stupid podcast? Half of the time, they're just repeating themselves.

 

[whothefuck]

https://www.youtube.com/@LackingSaint/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@iamerror/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@FoldingIdeas

https://www.youtube.com/@Leadhead

i used to watch a lot of video game essays cos i liked hearing others interpretations of the story, and why they liked it. but after a while it turned into bullshit "this character is a TRANS ICON" or "why this game highlights the EVILS OF CAPITALISM". i mean jesus let me turn my brain off for a sec i dont want to hear about this shit.

i listen to film podcasts more nowadays and i enjoy those more tbh, lets me have em on in the background while i do something.

 

[mindlessobserver]

I have become a real fan of literally everything by Pilgrims Pass. He actually seems legitimately intelligent and self aware unlike most youtube political theory essayists.

 

[Basic Blond Boy]

I want to list off some key channels that fall into the YT essayist category.

Nerdstalgic
I swear this guy’s videos are two hours long, but they are apparently 8 mins. His channel is pretty much the basic, ‘x’ did this channel. I recall the OC video being especially funny to me as it feels like 8 mins of pure cope.

“Noooo, being a nerd is cool! This decently attractive guy from a show in the 2000s made reading Legion of Superheroes bad ass.”

The Take
Pure basic white bitch channel. It is the most basic bitch takes imaginable with a good whiff of BreadTube bullshit. If not that, then it is typical Millennial sperging. At least the girls running it are fairly attractive.

I have to love how the women who speak poorly of male characters in old movies now love new age druggies like Pete Davidson even though their characters treat people equally like shit.

heybuwan
She loves Rise of The TMNT because diversity and has made 4 videos on it speaking about its autism representation, gay representation, and it’s racist depiction of Asians.

 

[Kendall Motor Oil]

This guy does millennial bait "retrospectives". Beyond his all-too-common youtube lisp, this video stuck out to me. I'm surprised he hasn't done a Maude retrospective given the similar politics.

Not interested in millennial/gay millennial(Golden Girls, jose? really?) nostalgia bait? No video essayist channel is complete without breadtube-esque political diatribes.

 

[Whatevermancer]

J Aubrey is the prime example of why this is just another excuse to avoid having to work for Buzzfeed to make “video essays” into a self-glorified blog post on their website

View attachment 4161807View attachment 4161809

His recent thumbnails for his videos are about as more exaggerated as his actual videos, even while keeping it simplistic for content.

I think he's alright, if you ignore his politisperging. Although, when it comes to youtuber drama, I prefer Joon the King or Fredrik Knudsen.

 

[Woke Blue Muttlema]

Like a year ago I posted in the Commentary Community thread about the overlap of video essays with Danny Gonzalez-tier commentary and I meant to highlight some of the most retarded shit I found but gave up because I already deal with too much autism in the threads I cover.

I think this thread needs to stay away from the explicitly political videos unless we want this to become the breadtube thread 2.

This video made me think it was worth a shot, and also what made me realize I have no stomach for this brand of retardation. Have fun.

 

[Womble of Wimbledon]

This guy does millennial bait "retrospectives". Beyond his all-too-common youtube lisp, this video stuck out to me. I'm surprised he hasn't done a Maude retrospective given the similar politics.
Not interested in millennial/gay millennial(Golden Girls, jose? really?) nostalgia bait? No video essayist channel is complete without breadtube-esque political diatribes.

Was waiting for this guy to get big enough to show up in the BreadTuber thread but I guess he never did.

The closest thing to a good "video essay" channel I've found is Hats Off Entertainment. I guess his style is more mini-documentaries but he is informative, genuinely passionate and sticks to the topic (comedy movies, mainly). Rarely goes over 15 minutes, too.

I put video essayists in the same category as "chill beats to relax/study to". No-one actually watches this shit, it's just white noise in the background while they do something else.

 

[Basic Blond Boy]

I think this thread needs to stay away from the explicitly political videos unless we want this to become the breadtube thread 2.

I feel like we should set a rule that the videos should pertain to media and not outright politics. If it is a sped going over the Fascist nature of Teletubies or some shit influencer that isn't Shapiro, or any explicitly political figure, it is fair game. Might also be best to stay away from the more documented BreadTubers.

This guy does millennial bait "retrospectives". Beyond his all-too-common youtube lisp, this video stuck out to me. I'm surprised he hasn't done a Maude retrospective given the similarish politics.

Not interested in millennial/gay millennial(Golden Girls, jose? really?) nostalgia bait? No video essayist channel is complete without breadtube-esque political diatribes.
View attachment 4162401

Ahhh... This guy
I remember watching the Home Improvement episode and it was shit. His entire channel is baiting people with retrospectives so that he can then do a bait and switch to politics. I just try to avoid him whenever he comes onto my recommendations. I don’t even know why he shows up, I don’t watch any content involving the shows he covers.

I put video essayists in the same category as "chill beats to relax/study to". No-one actually watches this shit, it's just white noise in the background while they do something else.

Pretty much this, but I would add that there is very little out there to even listen too, so many begrudgingly fall into this genre out of boredom. I would rather listen to an angry reviewer or someone like Pan, a person with a sense of humor at least, but this dry, overly self-indulgent style killed off many of the former genres. Every now and again a good commentary comes along, but I will admit, I spend much of my time on YT finding anything of interest as I am just bombarded by video essays and streamer crap.