Because letâs face it, you can do better than CinemaSins
By Bex Peterson, Editor-in-Chief
Iâll admit itâI have a guilty pleasure, and thatâs YouTube video essays. I love in-depth, long-form deep-dives into previously unknown topics, or excruciating analyses of obscure media moments. I like having them on in the background as I do mundane tasks such cooking, cleaning, or putting a face on for the day.
With pop culture in mind, here are some of my favourite media critics on YouTube.
In terms of media critics, you canât get much more iconic than Lindsay Ellis. Balancing humour with a vast wealth of knowledge and hard-hitting insight into modern film trends, Lindsay Ellis has become the gold standard of media analysis on YouTube. She has a few series on her channel worth looking into as well as the long-form video essays sheâs become known for. Loose Canon examines common characters, archetypes, and events that show up in film and television from their origins to their modern iterations. The Whole Plate looks at film theory through the lens of Michael Bayâs Transformers films. Last year, Ellis filmed a feature-length documentary in three parts on the fraught production of The Hobbit films and their lasting impact on the New Zealand film industry. No matter what youâre into, if you like film, television, and media, youâll like Lindsay Ellis.
Personal favourite video: âJoel Schumacherâs Phantom of the Opera: A Video Essayâ
Recommended starting point: âIs Beauty and the Beast About Stockholm Syndrome?â
Harry Brewis (known more commonly by his YouTube handle âH.Bomberguyâ) covers a wide variety of topics on his eclectic channel. You can find anything from video game analysis to long, heartfelt essays about the magic of the VHS format, as well as videos about politics, marketing, H.P. Lovecraft, and even a half-hour video on âLoss.jpegâ from Ctrl+Alt+Delâall delivered with intensely screwball humour. Notably, Brewis hosted a 60-hour Donkey Kong 64 charity livestream on Twitch in January to raise money for Mermaids, a UK charity that supports transgender youth. The livestream ended up raising over $347,000 for the charity and attracted the attention and support of not only fellow YouTubers, but some notable public figures as wellâincluding US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who dropped into the livestream to reminisce about her experience with the Nintendo 64 system as a child.
Personal favourite video: âSherlock is Garbage, and Hereâs Whyâ
Recommended starting point: âWhy Braid Is Greatâ
Unlike the other creators on this list so far, LaâRon Readus focuses less on long-form video essays and instead has a steady output of film reviews, trailer reactions, and media analyses. My favourite series on his channel is âTodayâs Lesson,â where Readus will pick a point of discussion to do with a trending topic or a current pop culture controversy and quickly dissect it. Readus is great for people who might want a more thorough and informed examination of their media but are intimidated by feature-length YouTube videos. Readus is also a published author, with a seven-part young adult superhero novel series available for purchase on Amazon titled, appropriately, The Hero Series. Readus is an incredible critic with a hefty backlog of videos covering an impressive range of media topicsâand with a weekly upload schedule, youâre not likely to be left wanting for content.
Personal favourite video: âBlack Panther: Was Killmonger Right? | Readus 101â
Recommended starting point: âThe Lion King (2019): 2D vs 3D | Readus 101â
Folding Ideas/Dan Olson
Dan Olson began his online media review show Folding Ideasâwhich analyzed trends in games, TV, and films in 10 to 20-minute bitesâin 2011. Though all the episodes of Folding Ideas are available on his channel of the same name, his content has certainly expanded since the official showâs end in 2014, evolving into a mix of off-the-cuff film review vlogs and longer video essays. Last year, Olson even filmed a three-part series doing a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the Fifty Shades of Grey films that serves as a fascinating insight into the art of adaptation on the whole. Olson has a dry, self-aware delivery and a personable demeanour that sort of makes every video feel like youâre grabbing a beer with a cool film studies TA whoâs as annoyed about the pretentious hipsters in your class as you are.
Personal favourite video: âThe Art of Storytelling and The Book of Henryâ
Recommended starting point: âEveryone Batman Kills in BvS (and why it matters)â
Jenny Nicholson is an extremely entertaining YouTuber who delivers insightful analysis thatâs almost disguised by her deadpan sarcasm and unpolished video production style. Her videos include reviews of recent pop culture âeventâ films such as the recent Star Wars movies and the ongoing Fantastic Beasts franchise; readings of terrible self-published books and questionable fanfiction; theme park reviews; parody skits; and more. These videos are usually filmed in her own bedroom, with Nicholson sitting on a bed often decorated with stuffed animals or action figures representing the main topic of the episode. Nicholson is upfront and unapologetic in her opinions, as well as deeply funny, and her videos will take you to some pretty strange corners of the internet (such as the subsection of Wattpad where many pre-teens posted crossover fanfiction of One Direction trying to survive the events of The Purgeâno, really).
Personal favourite video: âTrapped In A Island With Josh Hutchersonâ
Recommended starting point: âThe Worst Reality Show of All Timeâ
Johnathan MacIntosh, host of Pop Culture Detective, doesnât produce videos very oftenâabout once every few monthsâbut when he does, the videos are thoughtful and contain in-depth analysis of tropes in film, television, and video games. MacIntosh has a personable delivery and covers these topics with care and nuance. Itâs not often you get a man dedicating an entire YouTube channel to exploring positive and negative depictions of masculinity in pop culture, but he does it exceptionally well. Given that a lot of the men who need to hear these things tend to only listen to, well, other men, MacIntoshâs work serves as a great introduction to intersectional feminist critical theory with regards to modern media.
Personal favourite video: âThe Adorkable Misogyny of The Big Bang Theoryâ
Recommended starting point: âBorn Sexy Yesterdayâ
Honourable mentions
Big Joel: Big Joel covers a range of media analysis, from the Godâs Not Dead series, to the Twilight Zone, to deep-dive examinations of big-name YouTubers. I highly recommend his half-hour video essay, âThe Existential Horror of Shane Dawson.â
Brows Held High: Kyle Kallgren of Brows Held High covers classic film and âhighbrowâ media, acknowledging with affable self-awareness the pretentious nature of these topics. Comedian and columnist Jourdain Searles has been joining him on some of his more recent videos, and her voice is a welcome addition to the series. My recommendation? Check out his hard-hitting video essay on a classic â80s documentary, âShermanâs March in 2017.â
The Princess and the Scrivener: Two best friends, Paige and Sarah, analyze Disney and other media. The hosts are sweet and thoughtful, and they produce content pretty steadily if youâre looking for weekly uploads.
Overly Sarcastic Productions: Less analyzing and far more summary, but way better than anything youâre likely to find on your average summary channel. Host âBlueâ covers topics from history, while âRedâ summarizes and contextualizes classic literature and myths. If youâre looking for some information to back up an essay on Shakespeare, this channel is the one to check out.
Just Write: Sage Hyden uses his channel to explore the ups and downs of writing for film and television, with a series of videos titled âWhat Writers Should Learn Fromâ as well as a diverse backlog of video essays. Despite being a fan of all things Tolkien, I really enjoyed his series âWhy the Hobbit Sucks,â as it was one of the first deep dives that actually touched on the issues I had with The Hobbit series.
