Glad to see this one taking off! I’ll be making more video essays as time goes on, since I really enjoy it and it seems a solid confluence of my various skill sets. I’ll still make skits and put out my films on occasion but I imagine I’ll be making more essays than not. Hope yall stick around to enjoy!

Also, as per an ABC investigation, meta was just caught paying neo-nazis and white supremacists to post to its various platforms. Can’t make this up, y’all. Stay safe out there.

“society never promised him love, society promised him a romance” goes unbelievably hard

im so obsessioned with the backrooms it makes me wanna merge without looking

3:11 bear said he wants Niki to love him more than anyone in the world. That includes herself. When she goes to the bathroom all over herself, she only washes it because bear thinks it’s gross. She had no self-care impulse because she loves him more than she loves herself.

She covers her face with flowers because bear told her to. He said she's scaring him. So she covered it with a literal bouquet of flowers

The mouthwashing refrence fits so well into this topic and it made me really happy because its one of my favorite games of all time

OK, I literally screamed when you transitioned the conversation from obsession to backrooms. That was clean kudos to you!

while hearing your points about clark expecting mary to solve all his problems i was reminded of the themes in silent hill 2 on how james refuses to build any meaningful connection to everyone around him looking for his wife who in reality he couldnt be with anymore when she couldnt burden all his problems. the tendency of a man to subconsciously not have deep connection with anyone except their girl results in placing all his mental burdens on her and without realizing it, traps both of them into the same nuclear family format you pointed out. Also both of the ladies are named mary, great video too!

The no ai disclaimer immediately got me locked in and excited, I really enjoy videos made entirely by another person!! Already can see the high quality editing

Please for everyone's sake keep doing more videos just like this I'm looking forward to more

16:34 love this, it mixes up perfectly with my view of Bear being a failed protagonist of what could have been your typical horror film. People defending Bear with "what he was supposed to do?" isn't valid. If this movie wasn't a critique on incels behavior, Bear like any horror movie main character would have made extreme research on the internet and in the library on the origin of the company and how to reverse the wish, and maybe even search for previous victims of the wish to help, while Wish Nikki is being a threat and actively trying to stop him. Not like there isn't any lead in the movie that he could have used to try to do research, the symbol of the eye of Ra on the package of the candy, the phone guy literally having access to whatever hellish realm Real Nikki is, and being able to share it on the phone.

But we're having none of that because Bear does absolutely nothing, he is enjoying the romance, when it turns on him he doesn't wish for it to be canceled but to alter it so it can continue. Any protagonist would have realized the bad in it and try to stop it, but Bear doesn't and indulge himself on something that is so wrong, so he becomes an antagonist instead.

Even when his loved one suffers he does nothing, the cat isn't buried because it would be too much of an effort, nikki screaming on the phone and he just hang up, Nikki killing Sarah and he just close his eyes without saying or doing anything (lowkey understandable for this one since it must be traumatic and paralyzing to see, but with everything just said before it's probably him choosing to put his head in the sand, because he doesn't want to face the consequences of his actions, than his body being unable to move.)

Excellent video essay. In an era where so many videos claiming to be "analysis" are just recaps, this is a thoughtful and well crafted breath of fresh air. Loved the discussion, kudos for this

FINALLY some good freakin' food on this platform

I was a tad concerned at the thumbnail, but holy shit am I glad to have actually watched this video. This is awesome, man, please keep it up!!

I have to shamefully admit that I thought this was a hate video until I actually started to watch it
(And funny story, the Kane pixles discord calls him "Plark")

This video is a good analysis on both movies though, I came for the backrooms like a rabid fan but stayed for the obsession analysis
AND THE TRANSITION FROM OBSESSION TO THE BACKROOMS WAS SO GOOD! Along with the correlation between the backrooms and obsession, it's very well written

What I also enjoy how you as a man yourself realize how terrifying the patriarchy and tradition is , how horrible the world is for women,  it gives me hope for the men of this world and a chance for a better future for women in general

I can TELL you got a media studies degree, good lord.

Keep it up!

Hate to be that guy, but Still Lifes weren’t actually made for the movie. They were introduced in the web series, specifically “Found Footage 3.” However, to still give you some credit, the movie did give us a lot more information about Still Lifes than the web series did. Loved the vid, btw, you should make some more!!

I love the take you kept in where you break. Feels very human and like you're enjoying the art you're creating.

The story of Backrooms is 'set in the 90's' but does very little to actually make it look like the world in the 1990's. It's such a polished manifestation of that time period, not only reflecting the overall idea of The Backrooms, but also the world's obsession (haha) for nostalgia bait.
I have my issues with the writing, but feel that Kane Parsons absolutely NAILED IT with the world building. It's like how Stranger Things devolved into such a glorified image of the 80's that it completely left reality - the idea wasn't to actually reflect the time period but to show how poorly replicated it is, due to an over-reliance of pop culture to reflect the past

6:23 i think personally the flower pot covering her face is symbolic of how bear's wish for "love" aka the roses from what i understand (which have their own connotation) hide the REAL nicky and her emotions but the scream she does is a way to audibly showcase how the real Nicky doesn't just disappear during the plot. she's actively haunting the plot with her existence and want to be free from bear and her fear of being unable to control her body. while her screams throughout the movie are not only a way to scare the audience but to scare bear, a way to showcase in the most direct way possible SHE DOES NOT WANT THIS. screams are always used in situations that are mostly negative, short and simple. THAT'S whats she communicating. plus its her way of trying to take control of her life also how we as the audience learn what nicky is truely feeling through minimal dialogue (which if you wanna read deeper into that could be linked to how women were supposed to be "silent" and "submissive" like how bear wanted to cage and control nicky)