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March 8, 2019 3:43 PM Subscribe
Lindsay Ellis: How YouTube Made a Star Out of This Super-Smart Film Critic.
I assumed she was, since she's a woman on the internet with an audience, and also because she has said the word "feminism" without pronouncing it "feminazi."
I really enjoy her videos and she's one of the very few channels I subscribe to. I think what I like most is how the point of her videos is rarely to say "thing good" or "thing bad", but to look at what we can learn about those things. She does have some videos that scratch the "thing bad" itch for me (her videos on Rent and Phantom of the Opera), but it's never just simplistic trashing. It's, well, critical - positive and negative.
It's interesting to read about how involved and expensive the process of making her videos is now. The staff isn't really visible from the videos themselves (unless you've made videos on your own and know how much work is involved). I remember her talking about the pros and cons of that, how she feels weird that people attribute all of the work to her, but on the other hand, how that protects her staff from some of the harassment she gets.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:12 PM on March 8, 2019 [28 favorites]
I really enjoy her videos and she's one of the very few channels I subscribe to. I think what I like most is how the point of her videos is rarely to say "thing good" or "thing bad", but to look at what we can learn about those things. She does have some videos that scratch the "thing bad" itch for me (her videos on Rent and Phantom of the Opera), but it's never just simplistic trashing. It's, well, critical - positive and negative.
It's interesting to read about how involved and expensive the process of making her videos is now. The staff isn't really visible from the videos themselves (unless you've made videos on your own and know how much work is involved). I remember her talking about the pros and cons of that, how she feels weird that people attribute all of the work to her, but on the other hand, how that protects her staff from some of the harassment she gets.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:12 PM on March 8, 2019 [28 favorites]
The numbers are really...like YouTube pays garbage, basically? 10k/month from patreon, and YouTube pays less than that for a gajillion views? That’s some bullshit. Serious bullshit.
No shit it isn’t profitable. The other part of this story is that it seems unlikely that she’s supporting herself and four employees with these numbers, even though she’s hugely popular. I wasn’t surprised to learn she was married — professional content creators are rarely self-supporting. But goddamn. She’s one of the few YouTube stars YouTube would actually want to point to, and they pay her a pittance.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:19 PM on March 8, 2019 [16 favorites]
No shit it isn’t profitable. The other part of this story is that it seems unlikely that she’s supporting herself and four employees with these numbers, even though she’s hugely popular. I wasn’t surprised to learn she was married — professional content creators are rarely self-supporting. But goddamn. She’s one of the few YouTube stars YouTube would actually want to point to, and they pay her a pittance.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:19 PM on March 8, 2019 [16 favorites]
Lindsay Ellis is my favourite person doing any form of criticism on YouTube. She's also one of the few people I can think of that presents as doing criticism that is, you know, actually doing criticism. Most of them are doing reviews/rants/let me show you this thing/I'm going to talk about this thing as if I've put thought into it, but really just spout off some really basic analysis I cribbed from Wikipedia.
That manufacturing authenticity video essay they talk about in the article is truly excellent and I strongly encourage everyone that hasn't seen it to go give it a watch. It's the kind of thoughtful commentary and criticism on Internet culture that we need more of.
Really sad to hear she was being targeted. I know that's the reality of doing any kind of feminist anything (especially criticism) on the Internet, but I don't do the Twitter thing and had no idea it had escalated beyond asshole YouTube comments. I wish her all of the success and hope to follow her for years to come.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 6:06 PM on March 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
That manufacturing authenticity video essay they talk about in the article is truly excellent and I strongly encourage everyone that hasn't seen it to go give it a watch. It's the kind of thoughtful commentary and criticism on Internet culture that we need more of.
Really sad to hear she was being targeted. I know that's the reality of doing any kind of feminist anything (especially criticism) on the Internet, but I don't do the Twitter thing and had no idea it had escalated beyond asshole YouTube comments. I wish her all of the success and hope to follow her for years to come.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 6:06 PM on March 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
I was musing watching the latest ContraPoints video where most of the video is lit so that Natalie's face is blown out and you mostly see eyes and lipstick, but at the moment where she says the main kicker conclusion of the argument suddenly her face was lit normally, that Lindsay has really defined a whole genre of communication because that is straight from her style.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:42 PM on March 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Space Coyote at 6:42 PM on March 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
Her Hobbit videos were also excellent.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:09 PM on March 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 7:09 PM on March 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
That video about YouTube is truly excellent. I'll be back in 3 days after I've watched all the rest of her stuff.
posted by hippybear at 8:43 PM on March 8, 2019
posted by hippybear at 8:43 PM on March 8, 2019
Ellis’ deftly edited essays are in a genre all their own
I love me some LE, but this is just asinine. I imagine she finds it pretty cringey, too, appearing as she often does on videos with similar creators. She's definitely in the top of her genre, but to suggest she's alone is damnably stupid. And youtubers thrive on community.
posted by es_de_bah at 8:50 PM on March 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
I love me some LE, but this is just asinine. I imagine she finds it pretty cringey, too, appearing as she often does on videos with similar creators. She's definitely in the top of her genre, but to suggest she's alone is damnably stupid. And youtubers thrive on community.
posted by es_de_bah at 8:50 PM on March 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
I do love how Ellis’ videos are part of an art...movement ...thing, broadly speaking called Leftube, where they all influence and help on each other’s Projects - The latest Philsophy Tube video had an Ellis VO cameo as he did a VO cameo for Contrapoiin’s Incel video. Its been very interesting watch what is basically a genre gel together like this.
posted by The Whelk at 8:58 PM on March 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:58 PM on March 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
I think Lindsay is totally fabulous and it pains me that she gets such horrible shit. Every time I see a woman I think is great online, all the dudebros in the world will make her life hell. If she hadn't already been online-famous before the dudebros came, would she be doing anything at all, I wonder.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:03 PM on March 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:03 PM on March 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
From the article: She also wants to get to work on a video she’s been thinking about for months, one that will connect the work of urban planner Robert Moses with the 1988 hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (It will all make sense when you see it).
Holy shit, I can't wait for this.
posted by duffell at 5:11 AM on March 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
Holy shit, I can't wait for this.
posted by duffell at 5:11 AM on March 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
Okay, I haven't watched all her stuff, but I'm watching her compulsively now. She's exactly the kind of viewpoint and criticism that I really like. Thank you for posting this, I feel like I have a new fun window onto the media world!
posted by hippybear at 1:46 PM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 1:46 PM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
She's a friend of one of my friends, and I got to hang out with her for a super fun night before I knew anything about her work. In person, she's just as interesting and interested and smart and hilarious as you'd hope. And she said her job was that she made YouTube videos with criticism about Disney movies, so I didn't understand how it was so much more and better than that.
posted by lauranesson at 1:57 PM on March 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by lauranesson at 1:57 PM on March 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
Re: Ellis working on a piece about Robert Moses.
I've been expecting this, given she does a gag about "ranting about Robert Moses" in her Hunchback of Notre Dame essay, and given that she shows The Power Broker as a recommendation in her "400k Q&A" video.
In a perfect world (according to me), her Robert Moses video would have interstitial moments of her riding shotgun in a car driving along the Robert Moses State Parkway, or over the Robert Moses Causeway bridge, or parked at the Robert Moses State Park.
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 4:07 PM on March 9, 2019
I've been expecting this, given she does a gag about "ranting about Robert Moses" in her Hunchback of Notre Dame essay, and given that she shows The Power Broker as a recommendation in her "400k Q&A" video.
In a perfect world (according to me), her Robert Moses video would have interstitial moments of her riding shotgun in a car driving along the Robert Moses State Parkway, or over the Robert Moses Causeway bridge, or parked at the Robert Moses State Park.
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 4:07 PM on March 9, 2019
I totally missed this post over the weekend. I'll add my voice here to the others who celebrate her. While certainly haven't watched all of her videos or even agree with her all the time I think she does good work. Film criticism can be (to put it mildly), a lot of the time, inaccessible to the average person. Intellectual engagement with popular culture may be my jam, but what she's doing here is interesting and worthwhile for even those that aren't interested in understanding what Disney films say about Western culture. The ability to convey ideas about popular media with a engaging and accessible voice without the fustiness of navel gazing academia is an incredible skill. Hopefully, she'll get paid for it in a media that's less toxic then Youtube.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:10 AM on March 12, 2019
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:10 AM on March 12, 2019
I often put her videos on while I'm drawing or working on stuff, she is definitely one of the best film critic youtubers, highly nuanced, covers many approaches, explains issues clearly. I don't even really like movies, and often have not seen or will never see things she covers but it's still great content.
posted by GoblinHoney at 11:49 AM on March 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by GoblinHoney at 11:49 AM on March 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
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