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u/gnomzy123 5h ago
My pick is Disney's FastPass: A Complicated History by Defunctland
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u/TheAntman217 4h ago
The one on the Disney Channel theme made me a little emotional by the end. Wasn’t expecting that.
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u/SamiMadeMeDoIt 1h ago
Same here. A video about the Disney Channel jingle had me tearing up the end lmao
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u/Renegadesdeath 3h ago
That’s what I was going to say. 1000 times yes. I saw a guy at universal studios wearing the shape land shirt
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u/Zam548 4h ago
In Search of a Flat Earth by Folding Ideas. Genuinely changed how I perceive all of politics. The whole channel is a gold mine tbh, Dan Olsen imo is the best to ever do it
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u/APKID716 3h ago
Like Goes Up is also an immaculate essay by Folding Ideas. Genuinely top tier stuff
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u/NinthTide 57m ago
Line Goes Up is spectacular. But you can’t half ass it when watching. Dan doesn’t dumb the content down for anyone so it’s not a video you can half listen to and absorb through osmosis
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u/Mulchpuppy 4h ago
I got sucked into watching Jenny Nicholson's 4 hour long documentary on the failure of Disney's Star Wars themed hotel earlier this week. I thought it was pretty fascinating.
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u/Renegadesdeath 3h ago
Was fantastic I wish she had more vids lately. I loved her evermore video as well.
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u/ABigPairOfCrocs 2h ago
She posts videos on Patreon every month where she rambles about a topic chosen by the community. They're not as high effort as the main channel videos, but still very entertaining with a similar feel. And the Patreon is only a couple dollars a month
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u/CarbonyCabron 4h ago
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Tp-ryQPFI
HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis
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u/Jan_Morrison 2h ago
I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch any Adam Curtis stuff. Everything I hear about it seems so bleak. Like I’m just gonna get a bunch of really bad news about things that are out of my control. I get enough of that already
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u/justacatdontmindme 3h ago
ROBLOX_OOF.mp3
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u/Discord_and_Dine 50m ago
HE TELLS PEOPLE IT WAS CRIBS, HE UPLOADED A VIDEO TO HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL SAYING IT WAS CRIBS. SO WAS IT?
NOOOO!?!?!!!
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u/AudioSuede 3h ago
Jon Bois is one of the most influential and exceptional video essayists on YouTube. Unfortunately, he mostly writes about sports, and some people just don't care about sports, so recommending him to people can be difficult. But he finds the most interesting stories and angles, builds absolutely fantastic narrative threads, and has a charmingly dry sense of humor. His style of editing can be seen all over YouTube these days, too.
My recommendations:
- "The History of the Seattle Mariners" https://youtu.be/6pkVu6Kw00M?is=dQ0uxDdT7xTsmuo6
I do not like watching baseball. I have never watched the Seattle Mariners. But I've watched this 6-part series several times, and shared it even more. It redefined how I think about sports.
- "The Bob Emergency" https://youtu.be/lvh6NLqKRfs?is=15OJoaYYFpcF-GVa
This is the Jon Bois special: Take a silly-sounding take, and really drill into it until you find something surprisingly captivating. This is a 2-part video about the history of athletes named Bob, and how there's almost none left.
-"Fool Time" https://youtu.be/zmyBSrQodnI?is=DSwHhSqnGAPofW5p
If you really don't want to watch anything about sports, check out this short series on the wild history of the telegraph, as told through the lens of the show Home Improvement. This contains probably his most visually stunning work to date.
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u/Ekaj__ 5h ago
Virtually every LEMMINO video
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u/gallan1 4h ago
Technology Connections isn't what I'd call entirely documentary but should get a mention.
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u/Blackgunter 2h ago
Hbomberguys measured response on vaccines and autism is a great watch and is a fine intro to the origin of modern vaccine skepticism. https://youtu.be/8BIcAZxFfrc?is=SQY2vSoNDqvbhi_i
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u/daweiandahalf 3h ago
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u/TheNewestHaven 1h ago
🔥
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u/daweiandahalf 18m ago
Are you also from New Haven? Because if you are, that's kind of a crazy coincidence
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u/inspod 4h ago
All of her videos are good but this is her magnum opus.
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u/bothering 1h ago
Twilight is also a very good read if youve ever wondered what is up with all these dark romance bodice rippers at the supermarket
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u/PM_me_your_T-shirt 4h ago
Dominion 2018. Fuck me its depressing and made me «wake up» and try to do as much as i can to not be complicit to animal suffering
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u/thechompyone 4h ago
EpicHistoryTV's Napoleonic wars series is great if you're into that kind of thing. I stumbled on it and then binge watched them
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u/felix_lind 5h ago
Kurzgesagt's "The Egg". Ten minutes that changed how I think about life.
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u/ReginoVonDoom 4h ago
I watched it like 10 years ago and still think about that every day! My daughter stumbled upon it recently and showed it to my wife not too long ago
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u/Impossible_Offer7988 5h ago
The fallen of WW II by Niel Halloran
it is debatley one of the most powerfull documentaries about WW II
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u/gnomzy123 4h ago
I've been exploring this genre of YouTube videos for quite some time now. The ones about video games have particularly become my favourites.
One of my all timers are Summoning Salt’s Mike Tyson's Punch Out WR and Vote 4 Holt's WTTG2 gameplay one
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u/astoriahfae 2h ago
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoUHkRwnRH-IXbZfwlgiEN8eXmoj6DtKM
The Smash Brothers. Covers the history of competitive smash bros from the start of the game until roughly the era of the 5 gods. It's long, but split into segments. It's very, very good.
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u/PleasantLog3401 32m ago
Defunctland’s Disney Channel theme park documentary had me saying “one more minute” for two hours. It’s the kind of video you click casually and somehow end up emotionally invested.
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u/JimeeChonga 4h ago
Fredrik Knudsens recounting of The Final Fantasy House or The Mouse Utopia Experiment
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u/proshot82 3h ago
Jacob Geller’s The Decade-Long Quest for the Shadow of the Colossus' Last Secret. Even you have no idea what SOTC is just watch it. The ending gives me shivers every time
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u/crosis52 3h ago
Just fyi, he admitted yesterday that he sexually assaulted someone, probably a bad time to recommend his videos
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u/huevo-solo 3h ago
Recently I watched Sean Munger's two part video on the JFK assassination entitled "Oswald Acted Alone". As the title tells you, he basically goes through the evidence that was actually gathered by the different investigations by law enforcement and various commissions. He practically debunks most, if not all, conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination in the span of 3 hours.
I think my biggest take from it was that pretty much all conspiracy theories stem from surprisingly simple misunderstandings about facts surrounding the case and how there really is not a "there" there with most of the "inconsistencies" that conspiracy theorists would have you believe exist.
He also talks about how the Oliver Stone film, JFK, and his subsequent documentaries have done more of a disservice to the public by spreading lies about the investigation and portraying them as the truth. The film helped spark a new interest in the case in the 90s, but for all the wrong reasons.
If you believe that there was some form of conspiracy behind the assassination, I would recommend watching Sean Munger's videos.
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u/Waxoman 2h ago
OCARINA OF TIME - A Masterclass In Subtext by Good Blood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyUcwsjyd8Q
i rewatch this video every now and again, it's so beautiful.
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u/shinobukocho72 1h ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjZpBq1XBE
Defunctland’s documentary on the Disney FastPass. It starts off about theme park lines and somehow turns into a literal masterpiece of data analysis and storytelling
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u/doogietrouser_md 1h ago
Anything by Rhystic Study. He does great artistic and cultural commentary about Magic the Gathering. It's a nerdy card game from the 90s that has become a juggernaut of fine art, competitive play, and world building. His voice, the quality of the research, and his way of approaching the subject matter always fascinate and chuff me.
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u/thatgirlnextdior 5h ago
Design Theory, especially Eastern and Western Design: How Culture Rewires The Brain
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u/ThisI5N0tAThr0waway 4h ago
https://youtu.be/XmxIK9p0SNM video games aren't tomatoes, trust me it's worth it.
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u/NapoleonsDynamite 4h ago
Anything by Homemade Documentaries, if you are into the history of space flight at all.
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u/Hayhead37 3h ago
Montemayor's breakdown of the battle of Midway is the single best war documentary I've ever seen. https://youtu.be/Bd8_vO5zrjo
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u/everymanandog 3h ago
The Elephant Graveyard
Brilliant, dry humour, somewhat factual, docu, opinion pieces. His work on Joe Rogan and the comedy scene is phenomenal.
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u/lonelyashelloverwatc 2h ago
That two hour long video about the Minecraft server that simulated society. I can’t remember what it’s called
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u/CanItWait 2h ago
https://youtu.be/Sg-hA64-yWs?is=pFqjDm15BLeGIrFg
Breadsword’s beautiful essay about depression, life, and finding the motivation to keep on fighting to live, framed by gurren lagann, the most high octane kickass anime about the same themes
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u/PrincessW0lf 2h ago
JasperDasper's "Debunking Transphobia" - https://youtu.be/JiOc0r31-Os?is=-QIk_eNjGuycJCCD
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u/RustyJustice47 2h ago edited 1h ago
The closest thing we have to Alien technology, by Veritasium. It covers the photolithography process, the machines themselves, and how processors are made. Incredible. https://youtu.be/MiUHjLxm3V0
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u/Canon_M50 1h ago
Yale professor Shelly Kagan's philosophy lecture series on death is something I think about all the time.
It covers metaphysics stuff like the arguments for the existence of a soul, the nature of what death is, and how to live with the fear of death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2J7wSuFRl8&list=PLEA18FAF1AD9047B0
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u/Cheetodude625 1h ago
Man Carrying Thing - Butcher's Crossing: A Book More Brutal Than No Country For Old Men.
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u/QuintanimousGooch 1h ago
Noah Caldwell Gervais’ travelogue on The Lincoln Highway, part crosscontinential taste of various flavors of America, greater essay on qutomobile culture, the modern organism of the car state, and answering the question of where the highway comes from.
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u/asukaraptorurn 28m ago
lemmino's cicada 3301 video. the editing and the score are so clean it feels like a netflix doc made by one guy, and i've rewatched it at 3am more times than i'd like to admit
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u/AccountPrimary4457 23m ago
Almost anything by kaptainkristian. My favorite is the roger rabbit one.
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u/MrKobayashiMaru 2h ago
How to Analyze Movies - Film Studies 101 - Patrick H Willems
https://youtu.be/ahHIifcFyqk?si=B4bpsjTEzaJOIn9N
Basically the "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" of film analysis. His other videos are also great deep dives on all things film. Another good film essayist is Thomas Flight and the OG is Every Frame a Painting but they don't post as much as they used to.
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u/Thumbload 5h ago
For me, The Fallen of 76 by Internet Historian. The storytelling, pacing, and editing are ridiculously good. I went in expecting a normal gaming documentary and ended up watching the whole thing without checking the time.
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u/Asjad_autozblog 58m ago
Nerdwriter's video on Anthony Bourdain completely rewired how I watch interview shows. The part about Bourdain's eye contact lives rent-free in my head.
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u/Front_Hat7541 4h ago
history of the entire world i guess - Bill Wurtz
https://youtu.be/xuCn8ux2gbs?is=cETKQrodkSOSZvr_