Since Hyperallergic first began periodic roundups of video essays in May 2019, a lot has changed in the field. Some of the video creators featured in the column have ceased working, while many new ones have emerged. The form has become so expansive that it’s spawned its own sub-genres and filmmaking cliques. With so many to sort through, here are some recommendations for the best recent video essays to check out.
“The History of the Minnesota Vikings” by Dorktown
Even if you don’t care about sports, you should watch the latest from Jon Bois, Alex Rubenstein, and the rest of the crew at Dorktown, a division of the sports website SBNation. A multi-part epic that runs 10 hours in total might seem daunting, but don’t let that dissuade you. Hyperallergic has previously delved into what makes Bois so fascinating as a filmmaker, and he’s only refined his technique and deepened his storytelling sophistication since then. This isn’t just a history of Minneapolis’s football team; it’s the past few decades of US culture filtered through its obsession with football.
“The Four horse_ebooks of the Apocalypse” by What’s So Great About That?
The only negative thing I’ll say about Grace Lee is that I wish they posted more than once or twice a year. Their inimitable, dense, layered visuals and editing enable them to explore wide topics at length in videos that seldom last more than 20 minutes. Here Lee looks at pop culture’s fixation with the end of the world — in particular, the shift in recent years from fantastical apocalypse stories to a sense of resignation about an inevitable climate apocalypse.
“Art in the Pre-Apocalypse” by Jacob Geller
Staying on theme, this is the latest from one of the best video essayists in the game. Geller concentrates specifically on films, video games, and other works set in the lead-up to seemingly inescapable catastrophes, from the 1950s novel and film On the Beach to the independent protest photography game Umurangi Generation. Can art about staring into the abyss help us process the calamity we see before us in our own lives?
“How languages steal words from each other” by Tom Scott
Tom Scott specializes in bite-sized videos that often emphasize travel to interesting and unusual places, but occasionally he dives into social phenomena and the particularities of language. This is a great primer on the innumerable intersections between different languages formed by thousands of years of loanwords, calques, and other transmissions of words and ideas.
“Weaponizing Aaliyah & the Culture of Female Rivalry” by Yhara Zayd
Where many people might notice an annoying internet trend and simply tweet about it, Yhara Zayd seriously considers it. Here, irked by constant unflattering (often unwarranted) comparisons between Beyoncé and the late, great Aaliyah, she explores how celebrity discourse in journalism and fan communities loves to artificially pit women against one another.
If you have a recommendation for a video essay to feature in this series, or want to submit your own video for consideration, reach out to danschindel@gmail.com.
