rowanellis

[rowanellis]

video essay: queer villains and the death of media literacy

"To simper at the feet of those who would condemn us, while pointing to our most vulnerable as collateral damage in queerness’ good name - that is what real villainy looks like."

watch the video essay here

#video essay #rowan ellis #nimona #angel dust #queer representation #helluva boss #blitzo x stolas #stolas x blitz #hazbin hotel #Youtube

[rowanellis]

the infantilised spectacle of autistic representation

"I decided to look into it, and ended up going on a deep dive that took me from the legacy of Nazi Doctors during the Second World War, to the worrying consequences of the savant genius myth. In this video we’ll be looking at characters from Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory to Raymond in Rain Man, and shows from Love on the Spectrum to Heartbreak High, as well as autistic headcanons and theories - to breakdown the state of autistic representation today..." watch the video essay on youtube here

#video essay #rowan ellis #autistic things #autistic representation #autistic headcanon #quinnie #everything's gonna be okay #neurodivergent culture #autistic characters #Youtube

[rowanellis]

The Subversive Power of the Lesbian Cheerleader

A video essay deep dive into the sapphic cheerleader trope including Santana in Glee, Cheryl in Riverdale, Jennifer's Body, But I'm A Cheerleader and many more...

#santana lopez #brittana #but i'm a cheerleader #jennifer's body #cheryl blossom #santana glee #cheerleader #video essay #lesbian cheerleader #lesbian representation #Youtube

[rowanellis]

almond moms and the cult of generational diet culture

"The “Almond Mom” is not an isolated quirk of a particular time in recent history - it is just the latest phrase to describe a behaviour, a pressure, an expectation that has been around for much longer than that - of women especially to adhere to a specific body type, to guide their daughters towards that same end - to ensure their social success as much as for reasons of “health”. " watch the video essay here

#diet culture #almond mom #video essay #rowan ellis #fatphobia #gendered products #Youtube

[rowanellis]

Gay for Pay: The Dystopian Tactics of Rainbow Capitalism

"People often believe that they have some sway over these companies, in the same way we see the later iterations of Godzilla being brought onto the side of humanity. But are they just tricking themselves into thinking they are the ones controlling godzilla.org – when, in fact, it is an uncontrollable entity from the depths of capitalism, which acts entirely in accordance with its own interests?"

Watch the video essay here!

#rainbow capitalism #pinkwashing #rainbowwashing #dylan mulvaney #video essay #rowan ellis #anti capitalism #corporate pride #Youtube

[rowanellis]

Sad Girl Vibes: The Double-Edged Aesthetics of Mental Health

From tumblr edits to TikTok trends - mental illness has always been romanticised and glamourised on the internet - but is this really always a bad thing? Let's dive into the controversial and paradoxical discourse surrounding mental health aesthetics...

#mental health #mental heath awareness #sad girl aesthetic #depression aesthetic #romanticising mental health #effy stonem #cassie skins #video essay #rowan ellis #crying makeup #internet analysis #internet aesthetic #mental illness #anxiety aesthetic #Youtube

[rowanellis]

The Controversial History of the Queer FanFic That Shut Down AO3

The story of how The Untamed actor Xiao Zhan shut down AO3 - or did he?

Let's talk parasocial relationships, the Chinese fan economy, and queer censorship in today's deep dive video essay!

#ao3 #mxtx #xiao zhan #fanfiction #video essay #chinese drama #chinese novel #ao3 down #rowan ellis #the untamed #Youtube

[rowanellis]

I think the outlier “six figure” author advance payments really skew people’s perception of how much authors make... 

In 2022 the income of professional authors (people where writing is their primary income) averaged just £7,000 in the UK - and that figure is, unsurprisingly but still depressingly, even lower for marginalised authors.  

Pirating books is an ethical issue - and you can look at your circumstances and decide where you want to draw the line - but don’t kid yourself that authors are living it large and that the pirating of their work doesn’t have an impact.

alright for the millionth time I'm seeing yet another author I admire talk about how they literally can barely afford to live & yet there are people openly admitting to pirating their books so, like

i guess it needs to be said again

pirating books is not the same as pirating your favourite Disney movie or whatever. book piracy kills author's incomes and can genuinely ruin someone's career

[rowanellis]

fuck "girl lunch" fuck "girl math" a woman is a hairy animal who sweats and grunts and excretes and hungers and gets wrinkly and dies eventually. you have to love that.

[rowanellis]

✨ NEW VIDEO ✨

💅🏻 This Girlboss is eating Girl Dinner because she's tired of Adulting 💅🏻 Let's talk about infantilisation, millennials, and queer time theory...

Let's talk about infantilisation, millennials, and queer time theory...

#girl dinner #infantilisation #adulting #that girl #millennials #video essay #infantilised #tiktok video essay #rental crisis #housing crisis #disability rights #capitalism #Youtube

[rowanellis]

"I hope the V&A will be able to answer these questions and reassure their visitors that their commitment to LGBTQIA+, and specifically trans, inclusion is not open to compromise. I am sharing this statement because I believe it is important to share my concerns publicly, and that the V&A responds publicly, in order to reaffirm their commitment to trans youth."

Here is the link to the full statement.

Here is the link to the tweet to signal boost.

#v&a museum #young v&a #rowan ellis #here and queer #transphobia #queer books #sapphic books #transmisogyny #trans rights #stonewall

[rowanellis]

Can we define "good" and "bad" LBGTQ+ representation? 🤔

"Ladies and Gentlemen and those who are not members of the aristocracy, I’m a video essayist standing in front of a wall of red string, I think you know what that means - it’s chaotic conspiracy deep dive time!"

Well, I'm certainly going to try in this unhinged deep dive!

#video essay #youtube #rowan ellis #deep dive #ted lasso #keeley jones #ted lasso colin #trent crimm #ted lasso analysis #gay representation #queer representation #y: the last man #bill and frank #ltou #Youtube

[rowanellis]

me, when the person i’m dining with tells the waiter we don’t want a dessert menu

*me, literally sick with want* whatever

[rowanellis]

a deep dive about ai, capitalism, dystopia and... hope?

"Writing, painting, playing music, drawing - art - is something human beings do to relax, to express themselves, to bring joy and catharsis to those around them - the fact so many people are working so hard to ensure machines, that feel none of those things, can replace humans in that process - that feels instinctively soulless to me."

watch the full video essay

[rowanellis]

some audience reactions to *that moment* 👀

a deep dive about ai, capitalism, dystopia and... hope?

"Writing, painting, playing music, drawing - art - is something human beings do to relax, to express themselves, to bring joy and catharsis to those around them - the fact so many people are working so hard to ensure machines, that feel none of those things, can replace humans in that process - that feels instinctively soulless to me."

watch the full video essay

[rowanellis]

a deep dive about ai, capitalism, dystopia and... hope?

"Writing, painting, playing music, drawing - art - is something human beings do to relax, to express themselves, to bring joy and catharsis to those around them - the fact so many people are working so hard to ensure machines, that feel none of those things, can replace humans in that process - that feels instinctively soulless to me."

watch the full video essay

#ai art is not art #ai #chatgpt #midjourney #capitalism #anti capitalist #video essay #rowan ellis #artificial intelligence #ai writing #deep dive #Youtube

[rowanellis]

Call for Interviewees: Fanfic Edition

Hello! I am a queer video essayist, currently in the research process of a video on FANFICTION!

I’m looking to interview:

- Writers of Big Name TM/popular fics

- Big Bang/similar community fic event organisers

 - Old school readers (e.g. 70s kirk/spock shippers)

- Anyone else with a particularly interesting/unique viewpoint of fanfic

If that’s you - please reach out at [email protected] with “FanFic Interview” in the subject line!

FAQ: Will this just be a video that sensationalises/demonises fanfic and makes it out to be a “weird internet thing”? 

Absolutely not.

I have been reading fanfic since I was about 12, I picked my literary agent partly because of her love and respect of fanfic, have made some amazing friends bonding over our favourite fic writers... this video is not going to be an outsider perspective looking in at a “weird internet thing”, but instead a deep dive based on the idea this is interesting and complex enough to analyse and study. 

I previously made an hour long video about the omegaverse, which hopefully shows the vibes - you can check it out here.

Here are some of the top comments:

#fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic recs #fandom #fandom studies #video essay #rowan ellis #Kirk/Spock #big bang fic