This is my ode to the productions that aren’t deemed sophisticated enough to be included in the conversation around ‘film’. This is my ode to YouTube, and children’s media. 

I use YouTube more than I use any other streaming service, and I am constantly amazed by what independent creators come up with. There is always something new out there on YouTube, but I’ll never turn down some tried and true Smosh or Try Guys content. I will always look forward to having my breakfast while watching the Broski Report like I’m an old man with my newspaper. There’s something about YouTube content that feels far more sincere than a lot of other media to me. People shit on YouTube for being sensational and click bait-y but all I say is I think you’re watching the wrong stuff. Truly most of my favorite content is Dan and Phil playing board games or Rachel Maksy making her house look more and more like Hobbiton. Is it the most profound thing I’ve ever watched? Not at all, but does it make me insanely happy? Fuck yeah it does.  

If you asked me what my favorite movies are, I think the first few would all be ‘Kids movies’. How to Train your Dragon, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Cars 2… In my defense, it’s genuinely a compelling character story and has no business being as funny as it is for a spy thriller about anthropomorphic cars. But in all seriousness, kids’ media is often dismissed as meaningless and fluffy but that doesn’t stop the fact that they’re often the most enjoyable movies out there. And more than that, there’s a lot of heart at the core of squishy animation and slapstick.  

So maybe it’s more than just film bro conversations that give me flashbacks to NCEA response to visual text essays. Maybe there’s more to value than exclusively depressing stories told in borderline pitch-black lighting. So, frankly, you can pry my light entertainment from my cold dead hands.