If you, like me, hate doing anything without background noise, then YouTube’s cache of video essays and deep dives is a shining treasure trove of silence breakers. I have spent a lot of time listening to many video essays, from multiple six-hour plus explanations of the Five Nights at Freddy’s game lore (“Five Nights at Freddy’s Lore in Only 8:47:38” and “The Complete Five Nights at Freddy’s Story Explained“) to a 10-minute explanation of how the Dark Ages “were fine, actually” (The “Dark” Ages were fine, actually — History Hijinks). I love the passion these creators have for the topics they share, so here are some of my favorite video essays and essayists (so far).
1) Overly Sarcastic Productions YouTube Channel
Overly Sarcastic Productions is an amazing channel with well-researched, passionate, and informative videos on mythology, history, architecture, and tropes. You could pick any video to watch that piques your interest and I assure you you will not be able to look away. I am partial to the Trope Talks series; one of my favorite videos of this series is “Trope Talk: Character Deaths.”
“Sarcastic, yet informative, summaries of classic and not-so-classic literature and mythology, as well as major historical events!”
Overly Sarcastic Productions YouTube About Section
Another, longer video that isn’t structured with a script but is still extremely well thought out and informative is “Satirizing Superman – Detail Diatribe.” Red and Blue, the quick and clever main creators of the channel, have personalities that I deeply admire for the passion and research they put into every video. I cannot recommend this channel enough to view entertainment with a new perspective that is passionate and observant.
2) Twilight | ContraPoints
Natalie Wynn of the channel ContraPoints has created a video that exemplifies brilliance. I was enthralled for the entirety of the two-hour and 50-minute runtime and didn’t want to look away. One commenter calls the video:
“…a trojan horse to deconstruct sexuality and kink in the world at large…”
Comment by @ryanzerda
This video is a dream of philosophy and feminist thinking and is so complex that I want to watch it again to absorb all the information that lies within. It is a freeing video discussing the topics of fiction, desire, fantasy, power, death, and identity by relating the themes of and reception to Twilight to the world at large. I would probably recommend this video the most on this list.
3) Defunctland Youtube Channel
Defunctland is a great channel that gained a lot of press for his “Disney’s FastPass: A Complicated History” video that now has a staggering 20 million views (well deserved might I add). Defunctland’s delivery is to the point and informative with his tone leading to comedic moments about the history of out-of-commission theme park attractions that will make you double back to make sure you heard him correctly.
His most recent video at the time of writing this is “Defunctland: The American Idol Theme Park Experience” which I only mention because I had an absolute blast watching it. Defunctland’s videos are such a joy to watch, well-researched, and never fail to be interesting.
4) After 34 Years, Someone Finally Beat Tetris by aGameScout
This video probably deals with the most niche topic on the list: diving into the history of trying to get to the true Tetris kill screen. I only learned about this video by chance when scrolling on Instagram and saw a post about it.
This video has impacted me — not in any deep philosophical way — but in how people persevere and adapt to specialized fields. People don’t have to have some big larger life plan. You can dedicate your time to a 34-year-old video game and develop new groundbreaking techniques to maximize individual and community skills. A game that was thought to not be beatable, was beaten for the first time ever by 13-year-old streamer Blue Scuti.
5) The Jersey Shore Collection by Mila Tequila
I watched this two-part Jersey Shore breakdown from Mila Tequila when I was very sick and it certainly watched like a fever dream. I was never into MTV’s most popular show but knew about it to the same extent that the collective consciousness does through popular culture. This is a two-part, 4.5 hour long total, episode-by-episode recap of all of the drama, plot, and tabloids of the infamous six seasons. Mila Tequila takes this task with humor and insight that goes beyond a simple recap. I have never had any interest in watching the Jersey Shore and I’m sure I got more entertainment out of all of the highlights than I ever could if I had binged it.
6) Why the Music in Cats (2019) is Worse than you Thought by Sideways
This one hour and four-minute rage-filled video will have you at the edge of your seat waiting to hear the next part of the hilariously bad musical adaptation that is somehow not the director Tom Hooper’s first offense. Sideways is a YouTube channel dedicated to music and music theory applications in popular media. The topics of his videos are easy to understand by someone like me who stopped playing an instrument in the seventh grade and has no knowledge at all of technical theory. If you want more Cats deep dives to watch, another good video is Lindsay Ellis’ “Why is Cats?“ which talks about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s inspiration for the play and its lasting cultural effects.
7) How Audio Enhances the Horror of Five Nights At Freddy’s by Scruffy
Scruffy goes into how the audio design of the first Five Nights at Freddy’s or FNaf game creates a very effective sense of horror. When demonstrating uneasiness caused by what we hear, the examples Scruffy gives are very clear and an experience in and of itself. At a runtime of 18 minutes and 12 seconds, the video is packed with concise and easy-to-understand information that draws you in. The format of a video essay helps to isolate the specific audio elements to convey their effects on the overall gaming experience. With the aid of thoughtful audio design, FNaF was able to secure itself as an iconic staple of indie horror games.
Conclusion
I love video essays. Instead of watching or interacting directly with a piece of media, I can have someone else tell me in less time what the main points of it were. Nevertheless, I will always love when people have a passion for what they do and the thoughtfulness that goes into making a good video essay.
I understand that not everyone has the time to sit down and watch, say, a two or more hour-long video. I would recommend breaking up the longer ones into 30-minute chunks like a TV show to watch it without such a large time commitment. Plus it’s something to look forward to! These video essays are fun, entertaining, thoughtful, and even educational. When you have some free time and don’t know what to watch or if you’re going on a walk and want to listen to something in the background, tune into one of these and enjoy!