The best video essays of 2022

In the recent years, educational and argumentative video formats have seen a surge in popularity. These are part of an increasing number of social media platforms that offer explainer-based content. It’s gotten to the point where the form now constitutes an extremely wide tent covering an incredibly deep well of works — or, in the parlance of one subgenre, a gargantuan iceberg. We now see everything from wordless editing experiments to vlogs with occasional image wallpapering called “video essays.” (It’s gotten to the point where one of my favorite videos released last year waded into these definitional weeds, to thought-provoking results.)

Each year, it becomes more challenging to gather 10 examples of videos. My guiding principles when formulating this list were not just depth of insight, originality, and diversity of subject matter and creators, but also trying to find video essays that truly make the most of both parts of that name — which demand visual attention and engagement. They are listed by date of publication.

Climate Fictions. Dystopias. and Human Futures. Julia Leyda & Kathleen Loock

As the prognosis around global warming gets more urgent, pop culture has been taking notice, and “cli-fi” has emerged as its own storytelling genre. Loock and Leyd both use “cli-fi”, a new genre of storytelling. Don’t Look Up as a starting point, questioning what role — if any — films like these can hope to have in affecting actual activism and reform on climate change. How strong is the connection between art’s power to move us and tangible action?

Secret Base: Captain Ahab: Dave Stieb’s Story

Jon Bois, Alex Rubenstein and all the other Dorktown crew are making the most of documentary content. Bois is an artist who paints with data points and historical detritus, editing all this material together in a way that feels more forward-thinking than almost anyone else making films today — whether for the internet, television, or theaters. It’s absurd to imagine a four-part epic series about Dave Stieb (also an also-also) who is a legend in baseball history. But Dorktown transforms him into one the greatest characters of all time.

[Ed. note: Secret Base is part of SB Nation, which along with Polygon is part of Vox Media. This played no part in including the video.]

Total Refusal to Destruct the Bridge

This is perhaps the least “essay-like” video on this list. It’s more of a university-level lecture, but set in the least academic forum imaginable: a session of Battlefield 5 These are some of the modus operandi. of Total Refusal, a “pseudo-Marxist media guerrilla” which has used The Division to explain urban design, Red Dead Redemption 2. to teach class and other topics. You can find the Battlefield 5 Map is a recreation of the Dutch city Nijmegen which was at the heart of World War II’s decisive battle. Total Refusal guides viewers through a tour of the area, in a virtual format. It explores not only the historical context but the whole concept of wartourism and re-creations. This allows them to ask how culture recalls those events.

Panzer Dragoonsaga is Michael Saba’s greatest RPG.

If this doesn’t send the 1998 Sega Saturn game Panzer Dragoon Saga to the top of your must-play list, then I don’t know what to tell you. This video offers more than an interesting look at a game which was so far ahead of its time, and it took many years for its fans to discover its appeal. It is also a comprehensive guide on one pressing problem in gaming. If you’re interested in playing, check out this video. Panzer Dragoon Saga, It is almost certain that you will have to steal it. That might cause ethical questions in some. Saba defends piracy in a passionate defense as a method of game preservation and archival practice. Even though you might disagree with this conclusion, there are still problems within the industry.

Nice White Teachers, Bad Brown Schools: Hollywood’s Pedagogy on Urban Education by Yhara Zayd

Yhara Zayd appears for the third year consecutively on our annual video essay lists. She is not content with retreading the same ground as other creators of pop culture videos. Instead, she looks for new subjects and unique lenses. Here she scrutinizes the “inspirational” story trope of well-intentioned white teachers making a difference in urban environments, seen in the likes of Dangerous minds And Ron Clark Story. She contrasts, most incisively and shrewdly, the conventions of the genre with the harsh realities of non-white education.

Desiree Garcia, Intimate Thresholds

Less than four minutes long, this essay is nonetheless entrancing, thanks to Garcia’s continually inventive editing. Instead of a drawn-out exploration of the theme of female artistic competition in film, she contrasts two examples through visceral juxtaposition: 1940’s Dance, Girl, Dance and 2010’s Black Swan. Split screens, blurry picture-in-picture and precise cuts make the essays more intuitive than merely explaining them through lectures.

Instagram Hates Its Users, Jarvis Johnson

Instagram is constantly trying to duplicate every trend that comes down the cultural pipe, which has resulted in a shortened story. Johnson’s long tale is much better. We often forget the direct relationship between interface design and user experience, but this is a terrific deep dive into how that process works, pinned to an easy-to-grasp timeline of Instagram’s calamitous history.

Jacob Geller – Fix My Brain with Automated Therapy

Jacob Geller excels at drawing together disparate sources in order to share ideas that you may not have considered before. Here, the story of “the first chat bot,” the 2019 visual novel Eliza, App-based 2021 Game UnearthU These apps are being used to investigate the potential use of AI in therapy. Geller takes it one step further and tests several therapy apps, which, as the title implies, claim to improve mental health. His results, and what they suggest about the true intention behind these apps and the way therapy is incorporated into contemporary society, are… well, disquieting.

Parking lots are everywhere and nowhere by What’s So Great About That?

The concept of “liminal space” is currently popular in online culture discourse. Grace Lee does not always approach a topic the same way as others. Grace Lee uses a wide range of references to help her understand the topic. Seinfeld, Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” and the work of artist Guillaume Lachapelle, she discusses how parking lots appear in media, and in a wider view how they and similar urban-industrial spaces figure into our everyday lives. Lee’s essays demand your attention like few others; look away and you’re liable to miss a great little visual gag. Because of this, despite her videos seldom going longer than 15-20 minutes, they often pack in much, much more information than you’ll expect.

Andrewism: How degrowth can save the world

Andrew Sage describes himself not just as an anarchist but as “solarpunk” — focused on solutions for a sustainable future for humanity. This video shows one key feature of the capitalist system: The idea of endless economic and industrial growth. Insistence of “degrowth” practices can often elicit fears of some vague loss in one’s standard of living. Sage dispels these and other objections to degrowth while presenting a positive and inspiring vision of an egalitarian, environmentally-sound existence.