Video Essays Aren't Essays Anymore

Everyone has come across a video essay before. There're everyone on YouTube - it says it right in the title! But even though a video may call itself an essay, doesn't that really mean it is one?

Prior to the more recent swell of "video essays" - a term I'm forced to use very liberally - YouTube was filled with rant style videos, reaction channels, loads of people doing all they could to stretch a topic out to 10 minutes to ensure they got that sweet, sweet revenue, even if said revenue was pennies. Like everything online, this sort of content began to wane. People didn't want to watch others get angry over nothing all the time, and they wanted videos that were just a little longer. Hence, the video essay.

Before I go any further, what even is a video essay? Imagine your typical essay for a moment - the kind you had to write in your high school English class. You start with a brief intro, then you present your argument, follow that with evidence to back up said argument, and finish it all off with a conclusion as to to why your argument is even important in the first place. Let me tell you, I got plenty of practice writing that kind of esssay in AP Lang and Lit. I could do it in my sleep. Now, a video essay takes that basic format and brings it over to the digital realm. You beef things up with some nice visuals, maybe an audio cue or two, and who could forget all the fancy editing.

The main different in what seperates a typical reaction-style YouTube video from a video essay is the argument part. Sure, a reaction might have the basic argument that a piece of media is good or bad, but it doesn't do the same sort of deep diving that you'll find in a video essay.

And this is the part where most video essays fumble. Because, no, just because your video is 2 hours long, doesn't mean you've made an argument.

Let's look at a couple examples and maybe you'll see what I'm getting at.

One YouTube I enjoy quite a lot is Eddy Burback. He makes all sorts of videos, covering topics ranging from eating at every Rainforest Cafe to the deceptive world of ghost kitchens. Some of them are silly, some of them are serious, and some of them are definitely closer to what I believe a video essay actually is.

One of his videos that has really stuck with me since I watched it a year ago is titled "I hate my phone so I got rid of it". In the video, Burback does exactly what the title would suggest and gets rid of his cellphone for a month. That leads to him needing to go retro for certain things like using maps, printing out movie tickets, and reading more often. At first glance, the video might seem like your run of the mill challenge video, but it's truly deeper than that. Burback puts forth a compelling arguement, through experimental evidence, as to why you should go analogue from time to time - learning how to live without a phone because it teaches us to learn who we are.

It's a really touching video, especially the final few minutes of reflection. I highly recommend checking out Burback's videos; they're a treat.

Now let's compare that with a YouTube - who I still love - but who doesn't quite fit the video essay type format even though fans say he does: Wendigoon. First, I'm not going to say that he's never made an actual video essay in all his time on YouTube, that would be unfair, but some of his more popular videos that people claim are video essays simply aren't. One video I return to time and time again for some background noise is the "The Conspiracy Theory Iceberg" not because I believe in them but because I find them interesting. While the video may be in video essay compilations or playlists, it isn't an essay. The almost ten hour video is a summary. A lot of Wendigoon's videos are mostly summary such as his video on Frankenstein.

I'm not saying that Wendigoon's videos have less merit or are less meaningful than Eddy Burback's because they aren't video essays. They're still enjoyable and interesting in their own right, but I do think that words have importance. If we keep branding every long video we see as an essay, than the concept of a video essay begins to lose its power - something I think can have detrimental effects offline.

We're already living in a literacy crisis. Kids aren't learning like they're supposed to and adults are struggling to grasp basic concepts too. If the term "essay" get's boiled down to "really long video/piece of writing" then we're losing what it means to think critically. The different aspects of our lives are intertwined whether we want them to be or not, so don't let the online world twist the life you have offline. Remember to think critically not just about the media you consume, but the media you produce.

Go ahead and make a three hour video summarizing your favorite book, but please don't call it an essay - that's for the betterment of all.