This week on The Deep Dive: Barbie’s makeover movie B-plot, Spiderman’s swings and a happy medium between man and machine, how Forrest Gump accidentally became a conservative icon, a quick reminder that Chappell Roan is a character (but also a person), and the moral panic that quietly took over social media.

FILM

Why We Can’t Fix the Makeover Movie by verilybitchie (18:18)

In the film industry’s spectrum of womanhood, it’s all about running toward the ends before finally meeting in the middle. In this video, verilybitchie makes the convincing case that every popular movie is, in some way, a makeover movie. And no, I’m not just talking about She’s All That or The Devil Wears Prada or Miss Congeniality, but also the ones we may not have realized were makeover movies at all – like Barbie. Behind America Ferrera’s Feminism 101 monologue and the film’s surface-level commentary about how the patriarchy does, in fact, hurt everyone, one character was quietly being girl-ified and robbed of her blossoming activism in the background. And it all traces back to Audrey Hepburn and a little movie called My Fair Lady.

TECHNOLOGY

How Spider-Man's Web Swinging Changed by Alex Boucher (19:02)

I just love it when people love things and then tell me all about them. I’m not one for superhero movies, but after watching this video, I’m officially forever fascinated by the nuances of the evolution of Spiderman’s swings and how innovations in computer animation made them so much better…before making them worse. In this video, Alex Boucher takes us through history marked by Spiderman eras – from inventive and dangerous real-life stunts to Kirsten Dunst swinging with a mannequin to peak CGI and human collaboration in the 2010s. But somewhere along the way, as we got closer to modern day, we started to have a liiiitle too much faith in computer graphics. Once a hallmark of each new film, why did the Spiderman franchise start putting less effort into its iconic swings?

CULTURE

The Strange Conservatism of Forrest Gump by Broey Deschanel (37:37)

It’s 1994, the year Forrest Gump (the movie) and I were born. Conservative politics is having a rebirth after a 40-year-long flop era. Meanwhile, in Liberal Hollywood, a director known for using technology in ways ranging from impressive for the time to uncanny valley takes on a risky project based on a book with a premise he’s afraid will alienate a large portion of his target audience. So he waters it down, markets it for the masses, and accidentally creates a movie that deeply resonates with a rising breed of new-age conservatives. Oops. In this video, Broey Deschanel, who has now created so many of my all-time favorite video essays in a row that I literally don’t know what to do with myself, explains how Forrest Gump (the movie) was flattened so much that it pushed out all the cultural criticism and satire that Forrest Gump (the book) wanted to communicate. A box of chocolates trampled into oblivion if you will. Still a great movie, though!

POP CULTURE

The Chappell Roan Paradox by Friendly Space Ninja (51:21)

They say that you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain, but for Chappell Roan, that cycle all took place over the course of just a few months, immediately on the heels of a stratospheric rise to fame that is unparalleled to anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes. However, in recent weeks, seemingly one after the other, pop music’s newest darling made a series of decisions and social media rants that were not so well received. Some appreciated her nuanced approach to today’s political climate, and others swore that she may as well have admitted to being a Trump supporter. Then came the canceled performances. In this video, Friendly Space Ninja identifies a pattern in Chappell Roan’s poorly timed social media rants, and all the evidence points to one conclusion: Chappell Roan needs a minute…and maybe even a publicist – not to censor her, but to help her say what she actually means.

INTERNET

The Narcissist Scare by Sarah Z (57:43)

Spend any amount of time on the internet and you may notice how much you’ll hear about narcissism. One TikTok will show you how to identify the so-called narcissists in your life based on little to no evaluation from a professional. Another will justify any behavior toward anyone deemed a narcissist based on the hardly rock-solid evidence presented in the previous sentence. And while some social media users try to show a more realistic side, it’s no surprise that scaring people into believing that there’s at least one cartoonishly devious narcissist everywhere they turn gets a lot more eyeballs for the algorithm. In this video, Sarah Z analyzes the moral panic around narcissism that was born and bred in online circles. Worried you might be a narcissist? Don’t worry, the internet has also found a foolproof way to absolve anyone who even considers self-reflection, because everyone knows a true narcissist could never be so empathetic.

The Deep Dive’s Bonus Video of the Week

If it weren’t for Lynn, the subscriber who recommended this video, I would’ve never known about the themes of creative expression hiding in plain sight within the pages of the Captain Underpants books. At first glance, the series may seem like little more than silly illustrations, dialogue that encourages misspelling, and inappropriate potty jokes to adults, but for the countless kids who have read Captain Underpants for years, it’s served as an outlet where their imaginations can run wild in a world that may not understand them. The series is also at risk of being banned in schools and libraries nationwide for its anti-establishment themes. I’m sorry I ever doubted you, Captain Underpants.

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