As is the standard. Look, I would make a youtube playlist for these things, but that's too easy. I like a good challenge and I want to add more friction to this process. I don't want o simply add any video essya I happen to have a passing interest in. I want to list the S-Tier, "good shit in my book". In this collection, you'll find my favorite video essays that compel mein one capacity or another. I'll elaborate accordingly. This list will never be comprehensive, nor will it have the best stuff. It's my favorites, remember?
"Video essay" is used liberally here. In reality, I'm including "essays", "documentaries", and other Youtube videos that are otherwise inteded as
As a weirdo on the internet, I happen to know a thing or two about what it means to live a double life. I can recall that in my early days of my undergraduate education, I was so excited to reinvent myself to new people. I was excited to present to be someone I wasn't. I was excited to hide my "power level". In doing so, I found that my "power level" started to fall, though this is only something I realized with the power of externally motivated hindsight. While I was able to break down the brick wall of "Masking" before watching this video, I find that this video presented a parallel experience to my own. Lilian presents a story that aligns much with my own personal sentiments. This video is perfect for people who need to hear the words "it is okay to be yourself" in a way that isn't from an "industry plant" (you know what I mean). I like Lilian's videos a bunch, but this is easily my favorite.
Low hanging fruit. Just a really excellent video through and through. It's a video that makes me want to write better. It's a video that makes me want to learn Japanese. It's a video that makes me recognize that researching the context in which a piece of media is made is just as interesting as the media itself. It's a piece that shows how these two factors, when studied in tandem, can elevate our understanding of the media to a compelling study of human nature.
Lute's videos never fail to make me smile, but this one gets me every time. I love the way lute spends the first seven minutes of the video gassing up Kirby 64 before pivoting into Kirby's Dreamland 3. This is truly the magic of a creative vision and not giving a fuck about what might be a "broadly appealing" approach to videos. I love the way lute says "he's my best friend too", when referring to Gooey in the intro. I love that lute bashes the "cleaning Kirby" haters, and I especially love that he says that KingK needs to get on SSRIs. I don't mind the edgy humor here because it feels authentic to lute's presentational style. It's a good video that really pitched me hard on Dreamland 3 after years of having not vibed with it. And you know what, lute's reight, this game is a beautiful game. Lute opened my eyes, and then stuck their fingers into my sockets, pulled them out b ythe cables and showed me the light. Thanks pal.
I am not at all involved in the rhythm game scene, so this video has been a tremendous view into this internet niche. I love how technical this video is while still being relatively approachable as someone with absolutely no knowledge of what would be considered "impressive" without this context. Yes, this is more of a listicle than an "essay" but I'm not going to be picky here. I think this video is really fun. It's a celebration of a long-standing community that deserves to be recognized.