essay
25:08Cities Without People
1.7M views • 6 years ago
Jacob Geller
Jacob Geller's video essay on empty cities and what they say about our relationship to places, using games, literature and aerial imagery. It touches on works such as Invisible Cities.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
19:42Blade Runner 2049 | "Cells Interlinked" and Pale Fire (LITERALLY ME! INCELS INTERLINKED)
344K views • 4 years ago
Fallopium Films
A film-analysis video essay linking Blade Runner 2049's Cells Interlinked sequence to Nabokov's Pale Fire. It examines the poetry and meaning behind the film's references.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
19:06This Is Phil Fish
1.4M views • 12 years ago
Innuendo Studios
Innuendo Studios uses Phil Fish, creator of the game Fez, as a case study in internet celebrity. The essay argues that fame online works differently from traditional fame, and shows how audiences turn on the people they have elevated.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
1:15:38Contrepreneurs: The Mikkelsen Twins
4.2M views • 4 years ago
Folding Ideas
Dan Olson of Folding Ideas investigates the Mikkelsen Twins and the ghostwritten-audiobook passive-income course industry, even playing along with the scheme. It is a long video essay on get-rich-quick publishing grifts.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
9:36Why Are You So Angry? Part 1: A Short History of Anita Sarkeesian
1.1M views • 11 years ago
Innuendo Studios
The first part of Innuendo Studios' six-part video essay series on the online hostility around Anita Sarkeesian and GamerGate. It lays out the history and the motivations of the people involved.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
13:35The Marvel Symphonic Universe
8M views • 10 years ago
Every Frame a Painting
An Every Frame a Painting video essay asking why Marvel films lack memorable musical themes. It blames temp tracks and directors scoring to filler music.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
1:09:54Gambling and the desire machine | Pay to Win
222K views • 4 years ago
Jimmy McGee
A 70-minute video essay by Jimmy McGee on gambling, addiction and game design, tracing horse racing, slot machines and collectible card markets. It is the first in a series on making money from games.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
36:49The Hobbit: A Long-Expected Autopsy (Part 1/2)
5.9M views • 8 years ago
Lindsay Ellis
The first part of Lindsay Ellis's video essay series on the troubled production and critical reception of The Hobbit film trilogy.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
16:38Games, Schools, and Worlds Designed for Violence
3.1M views • 7 years ago
Jacob Geller
Jacob Geller's video essay examines how architecture in schools and in video games, such as cover shooters, is shaped by violence. It touches on brutalism, campus policing and protests.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
47:11Gacha Drama and the Korean Gender War
987K views • 2 years ago
Moon Channel
A video essay from lawyer-turned-YouTuber Moon Channel on the South Korean gender war, tracing its historical roots and modern origins through the lens of a gacha game controversy. It is the first part of a two-part series.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
21:10The Adorkable Misogyny of The Big Bang Theory
9M views • 9 years ago
Pop Culture Detective
A video essay from Pop Culture Detective arguing that The Big Bang Theory normalizes sexism and toxic masculinity through its portrayal of nerd men. It analyzes recurring tropes in how the male leads treat women.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
21:46The Alt-Right Playbook: Always a Bigger Fish
2.6M views • 7 years ago
Innuendo Studios
Innuendo Studios' Alt-Right Playbook episode, drawing on Corey Robin's The Reactionary Mind, argues that conservatism defends hierarchy and a shrinking in-group.
21:19Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite
1.7M views • 7 years ago
Folding Ideas
Dan Olson of Folding Ideas critiques Fortnite's monetization, arguing it uses manufactured discontent, such as shop design and skins, to push spending. The video dissects the psychological techniques behind the game's business model.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
28:31My Octopus Teacher: The Greatest Horror Film
229K views • 6 years ago
Maggie Mae Fish
Maggie Mae Fish analyzes the documentary My Octopus Teacher as an eco-horror film, critiquing it as a story of a man projecting his own needs onto a wild animal.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
39:52Ross's Game Dungeon: Deus Ex
1.5M views • 10 years ago
Accursed Farms
Ross Scott's Game Dungeon episode on Deus Ex, a long review of the game covering its narrative, politics and economic philosophy as well as its design.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
8:53Game Critics
17.7M views • 9 years ago
videogamedunkey
A videogamedunkey video essay on video game critics. It argues that a critic's taste and integrity matter as much as their score, and tries to explain why major outlets give such inflated ratings.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
25:09The Next Major RTS Will Fail. This Is Why.
985K views • 4 years ago
GiantGrantGames
A video essay arguing that the next major real-time strategy game will fail unless it gets the fundamentals right. It covers the playerbase and demographics, what older RTS games did well, and the roles of the engine, spectacle, development tools and player-generated content.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
28:15"You Couldn't Make Blazing Saddles Today!"
468K views • 6 years ago
Infranaut
A long video essay arguing against the claim that Blazing Saddles could not be made today. It looks at the film as satire of the sanitized Western genre and what it did to that genre.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
35:05Incels | ContraPoints
6.4M views • 8 years ago
ContraPoints
ContraPoints' 35-minute video essay on incels, examining the community, its worldview and how people get radicalized. It is delivered with theatrical style and an empathetic tone.
1:40:28Canceling | ContraPoints
6.3M views • 6 years ago
ContraPoints
A long video essay by Natalie Wynn of ContraPoints on cancel culture, drawing on her own experience of being pile-on targeted by other leftists. It is theatrical and discursive, mixing argument with performance.
1:29:45J.K. Rowling | ContraPoints
7.9M views • 5 years ago
ContraPoints
A roughly 90-minute video essay by ContraPoints on J.K. Rowling and the controversy around her views on gender. It examines why many LGBTQ people and allies soured on her.
34:50DICKS: Do you need to be one to be a successful leader?
2.2M views • 9 years ago
Max Joseph
Filmmaker Max Joseph's 35-minute video essay asks whether you have to be a jerk to be a successful leader. It draws on Adam Grant's givers and takers, Robert Greene and famous demanding directors.
7:49The Alt-Right Playbook: Introduction
1.5M views • 9 years ago
Innuendo Studios
The introduction to Innuendo Studios' video essay series on the rhetorical tactics of the alt-right. It examines how bad-faith debate and harassment work online.
26:27GitHub Actions Feels Bad
118K views • 2 years ago
fasterthanlime
A fasterthanlime video essay arguing that GitHub Actions is a poorly designed system, with a history of personal computing and CI, and a look at how it works behind the scenes. It is sponsored by Brilliant.
1:18:07PAW Patrol's Dark Secret, Explained
944K views • 4 years ago
Skip Intro
A long video essay by Skip Intro asking what vision of policing the kids' show PAW Patrol suggests. It mixes comedy with serious critique and features guest voices.
18:16The Alt-Right Playbook: The Card Says Moops
2.1M views • 7 years ago
Innuendo Studios
An Innuendo Studios video essay from the Alt-Right Playbook series that uses the Seinfeld 'the card says moops' scene to explain bad-faith argument tactics. It describes how reactionaries use sincerity and irony as shields in online debate.
28:20Jordan Peterson | ContraPoints
4.8M views • 8 years ago
ContraPoints
ContraPoints' long-form video response to Jordan Peterson, critiquing his ideas including his use of the term postmodern neo-Marxism. It is delivered in her theatrical essay style.
27:15The Fake Futurism of Elon Musk
1.8M views • 6 years ago
Tom Nicholas
A video essay by Tom Nicholas critiquing Elon Musk's futurism, covering SpaceX's Mars plans, Tesla versus Ford and the idea of a slow cancellation of the future. It asks whom Musk's vision of the future serves.
26:14Data | Philosophy Tube
876K views • 6 years ago
Philosophy Tube
A Philosophy Tube video essay on data, surveillance and the algorithms built on personal information, touching on Cambridge Analytica and the 'nothing to hide' argument.
28:53Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs - Part 1 Male Perpetrators
6.3M views • 7 years ago
Pop Culture Detective
A Pop Culture Detective video essay on how jokes about men sexually assaulting other men are common in entertainment media. Part 1 focuses on male perpetrators.
12:17The Alt-Right Playbook: Never Play Defense
1.9M views • 8 years ago
Innuendo Studios
Innuendo Studios' video essay in the Alt-Right Playbook series argues that bad-faith actors force opponents to defend their positions, so the way to avoid their trap is to never play defense.
3:51:10Plagiarism and You(Tube)
44M views • 2 years ago
hbomberguy
A nearly four-hour video essay by hbomberguy on plagiarism on YouTube, centered on specific creators who copied other people's work. It examines what plagiarism is and how it went unaddressed.
1:49:22The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse
8.2M views • 3 years ago
Folding Ideas
Dan Olson of Folding Ideas spends months in the virtual world Decentraland and delivers a long critique of the metaverse, NFTs and DAOs, and why virtual worlds fail as places.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
1:15:54"Games as a service" is fraud.
1.1M views • 7 years ago
Accursed Farms
Ross Scott of Accursed Farms makes a 76-minute argument that selling video games as a service is a form of consumer fraud. He lays out legal arguments that games are goods, covers ownership and programmed obsolescence, and discusses game preservation.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
20:38What Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games
16.9M views • 7 years ago
Razbuten
Razbuten has his wife, who has never played games, try a sampling of titles and shows where she struggles. It highlights unspoken game conventions that experienced players take for granted.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
31:08The Fall of The Simpsons: How it Happened
8.7M views • 9 years ago
Super Eyepatch Wolf
Super Eyepatch Wolf analyzes why The Simpsons declined after its golden age, pointing to changes in the writers' room and a shift in the style and complexity of its comedy.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
22:03Space Station 13 Review | AHELP: Clown Grief Pls Ban He™
10.2M views • 7 years ago
SsethTzeentach
SsethTzeentach reviews Space Station 13, the chaotic multiplayer game, by recounting absurd stories of singularities, malfunctioning AIs and plasma fires.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
14:05TUN: Un-Ruining the MMO
291K views • 13 years ago
MrBtongue
MrBtongue argues that modern theme-park MMOs lost what made earlier sandbox online games compelling, and that MMOs could be saved by returning to sandbox design.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis
6:01Slavoj Žižek on "They Live" (The Pervert's Guide to Ideology)
427K views • 12 years ago
Christian G
A short excerpt from The Pervert's Guide to Ideology in which Slavoj Zizek analyzes John Carpenter's They Live. He uses the film's fight scene and sunglasses to explain how ideology works.
Topic match · Film analysis & criticism
42:53Ross's Game Dungeon: Deus Ex - Human Revolution
1M views • 10 years ago
Accursed Farms
Ross Scott's Game Dungeon episode critiques Deus Ex: Human Revolution, looking at its design, politics and visual style. It is part of his series of opinionated game reviews.
Topic match · Gaming culture & analysis