I felt like whenever Beautiful Boy felt emotional it was because you realize something deeper and true about the characters relationships. I felt the manipulation was successful and not forced. They didn’t use the music to make you cry and the scenes were quietly played out, and with nuance. I mean it’s a really emotional true story, and if you’re feeling manipulated it means that you’re feeling the weight of the reality that people who struggle with addiction feel. And that’s great.
i love seeing the list of movies spoiled at the beginning of the video and just having no idea how you're going to incorporate all of them, because you end up doing so seamlessly without fail
My personal feelings on Beautiful Boy are that the flashbacks served not only as being true to the book but as a way of developing the bond between a father and son. I loved the movie and it’s one of the few times I strongly disagreed with a lot of critics. It’s by no means a perfect movie but emotionally I honestly feel like it was the best of the year. Of course that’s just my opinion and anyone can disagree with me but that’s just the way I feel about it.
I liked it a lot and saw it on a airplane flight. It actually made me cry. Did it manipulate me into tears? Not really, or at least I don't feel like it did. I cried because it's a story I'm familiar with. My cousin is addicted to hard drugs and like in the story he came from a wonderful loving home that showed him eternal love. I broke my heart because it brought up all those memories of seeing my little cousin as a youngin being so innocent and realizing what he became. To this day hes out on the streets. My family have given him chance after chance after chance yet nothing has changed because he doesn't want to help himself. If you've gone through that with a person you love you understand what exactly I'm talking about.
I agree with you. Those flashbacks help to understand their relationship better and also the feelings and thoughts of David. It is by no means emotional manipulation. In fact, I think what this movie did so great was to be crude and real about addiction. They don't give you an easy solution, they show you how repetitive, tiring and stressing it is. It is an honest depiction, I really liked it.
I agree. Plus, Movies about addicts (unless they are a famous person) never do well. It's because so many ignorant people think addicts are just immature worthless loser junkies who 'took the easy way out'. When in reality they have no idea what we must endure. I am a recovering addict (clean and serene since 6/10/17😃) I endured horrific physical and sexual abuse throughout my active addiction. It's a commonality in the world of addiction particularly for women. As a woman in the world of addiction your chances of being beaten or raped more than once are huge... basically a certainty. Yet despite all we suffer through and over come everyone looks at us as lazy or spoiled or just taking the easy way out. Now that I am sober I've gotten my certification as a chemical dependency counselor assistant and am now working on becoming a chemical dependency counselor by getting my bachelor's degree in psychological science. I see so many addicts suffer and wish they had never even been born. So many of them try very hard to get clean and fail and still get back up and keep trying despite so many things knocking them down. Despite all of society rooting against them and laughing at any of their failings.... Sorry for the rant it just makes me so angry when people are so quick to criticize addicts or even movies about them. Maybe it just hits too close to home.
personally being aware of the source material for Beautiful Boy before going to see it made me experience it differently, i knew it was based on the Sheffs' autobiographies so I read the movie as a collection of memories and episodes liked by the thread of addiction and the father/son dynamic. If I thought this was an original screenplay I would've been disappointed because the storytelling would be very weak in that case.
I liked the movie, its showed how hard it is to see a person who you love so much destroy themselves and not being able to stop, its heartbreaking in an infinite way
I think sometimes films like beautiful boy or the ones with "emotional manipulation" are trying to make you empathise with the characters, their situations, their feelings... It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't need a purpose, and I really like that about cinema, it makes you think, understand, feel, have questions...
ngl the cuts to asking mitch what the greatest movies ever made are really made me laugh. I'm not sure why it's amusing to me, but yeah, overall this is another great vid, dude!
Riddled with cliches. The reason it’s good is because it’s real based off a real story. It’s relatable because those cliches are what so many young addicts and their families go through yet it’s never really been depicted in movies with such depth.
Unless the first segment connecting music and film cadences was a cleverly researched segue, I’d actually be interested in seeing a video from you focused on music theory! Dope video as always
ok I had to subscribe after watching this. The cuts to your frat boy roommate, the minion in the background, shade to a star is born. So fucking funny and relatable.
Though I also tend to mull over a film in order to reflect on the what, where and why it made me feel a particular way, I can sometimes appreciate that a film can be like an orchestral piece and inspire feelings in a more abstract and emotive way bypassing my mental considerations.
I think there is a difference between emotionally manipulative and emotionally manipulating. One is unfair, or unearned (but still successfully manipulating) while the other is fairly earned. I’ve seen the difference most in films that have (for me personally) turned sour over their runtime. A notable recent example was A Ghost Story which, at the beginning, had me feeling connected with the C and M’s plights, but as the film progressed, the poorly co-opted slow cinema style (with a distinct lack of understanding when it comes to how Tarr’s, Akerman’s, Tarkovsky’s, Angelopoulos’ films work) began showing the film’s insincerity. I guess the only slight difference in opinion I’m having is that I find many of the films that are coined “emotionally manipulative” are actually successful in the beginning, but they leave an empty feeling since their emotional heft isn’t earned.
I'm a bit confused with your distinction between the two with example you gave, my understanding of what your saying is that a emotionally manipulative film doesn't have a cohesive plot and characters that are static or square and don't have any depth or well established characterization while your examples seems to be relating a very personal gripe with your subjective experience, so maybe there's a bit of a misunderstanding b/w the two of us and I would like to clarify it.
mel on My point was that I would classify A Ghost Story and films like it as emotionally manipulative in a negative sense because they begin with me on their side but eventually never earn an emotional payoff. Of course, this is a very personal analysis-all criticism is. You may think that A Ghost Story is very genuine and therefore simply “emotionally manipulating.” I’ll throw in a few other examples that are “emotionally manipulative” for me personally (so it doesn’t seem like I’m hung up on A Ghost Story lol): Cinema Paradiso, Benjamin Button, Rain Man, Babel, Two Days One Night, Dear Zachary, Autumn Sonata, Black Mirror: Nosedive. Then on the other hand, films that I find “emotionally manipulating” rank among my favorites: Come and See, Late Spring, Secrets and Lies, Brief Encounter, Three Colors: Blue, Werckmeister Harmonies, Manchester by the Sea, Biutiful, Room, All that Heaven Allows, Landscape in the Mist, Lovers on the Bridge.
@@raymondzrike ok thanks for clearing that up for me, I had the same experience with ghost story but I can categorize that with being emotionally manipulative for your same reasons as something that didn't resonate with me doesn't mean it can't resonate with someone else, I categorize films with being emotionally manipulative if they fail to properly establish and progress characters with a cohesive plot even if they did resonate with me. (embarrassingly enough that has happened) Also not trying to provide anything constructive to the discussion here, I would personally switch rain man and button with Manchester by the sea, based upon your description though not mine, not trying to say that your wrong about your category because it is a sound argument.
I have red flag movies that make me avoid guys if it’s their favourite movies: Fight Club, Wolf of Wall Street, American History X, any Quinten T movie, American Psycho.. etc. I’ll add more if I think of any lol
In all fairness, there are legitimate reasons for these to be someone’s favorite movie, but the kind of guy you’re talking about doesn’t like these movies for those reasons and totally got the opposite messages from them than we’re intended
"I'm the kind of person who needs to explicitly understand why I feel a certain way about certain things in order to know whether or not I actually feel that way" - such a Sherlock thing to say. *sighs in adoration*
You would never understand because you have never raised a child. These flashbacks are important to understand David's perspective and feelings as a father. David tries to understand what went wrong and try to analyses the situation that his family was at that moment. This is what happens when your kid in such trouble as an addiction to drugs. You are inevitably remember all good and bad stuff, that happened and all of your efforts you put into your kid.
Great video on the topic. While everything with emotional substance, manipulates the way people feel about it, it is only manipulation when people deem it as unearned, forced, not genuine, or somehow being cynically employed. I think it's a line people disagree on, but I know for me, even a show that makes me cry my eyes out can still get a moderate or bad score, because the whole time I was crying, I was still aware of the lack of depth. Making me cry by introducing and then shooting a cute puppy, does NOT make your movie smart, or well done, it just feeds on basic empathy and hopes you will recognize your emotional response as worth praising.
Is it odd that the part I enjoyed the most about this video was when you commented about being the type of person who explicitly needs to know why you feel an emotion to validate whether or not you actually feel that emotion about certain things, forgive me for paraphrasing and possibly missing the idea, I just really liked that point. I want to see Beautiful Boy with my dad but I'll admit I can already see myself getting overemotional. Subscribed!
damn, excellent video. nice to hear about your findings with this sorta stuff, always good to learn more. watched 'i am sam' recently, and knew something was sort of irking me throughout the whole movie. doesn't mean it was necessarily bad, but like the king's speech it kind of walks that weird fine line between the topic being inherently emotionally manipulative whilst still being a fairly good movie (though due to the topics the narratives are basically laid out in front of you by the first few scenes unfortunately). i'm 16 rn and doing my media a-level course - so thanks for all these videos taylor, they're so useful and so fuckin interesting :)
I guess when you see a dog dying or dog crying or something like that you are just seeing how pathetic that attempt is and maybe dislike it....but having said that when hachi was old in that hachiko's tale movie i wept like a baby....there should not be a tendency to make audience cry and approach a scene with that narrow mind to make them cry but explore wherever scene leads or sth like that.......some movies don't make u cry but keep u up at nights....crying is not all there's to feeling.
I was searching for a review for beautiful boy to find out if it had any hope of highlighting the real life issues we as male really face. I ran across your video and well the answer I got isn't important. However I did subscribe after listening to what you had to say as I'd like to hear more from you. If your not looking into psychology you should be.
I discovered you recently, and really liked the videos I watched. It was refreshing to see someone talk about this as most people don't seem to be aware of it. I was disappointed when you started using 'fight club' as an example, because it implies to me you are the kind of person who would watch a film like that and I lost interest in your viewpoint regarding anything, really.
@@SeeSebastian Wow.... Really? You think that there is some reason for you to reply to the comment I made to the OP; as if I would care? Wow. I am glad I don't know you in real life, you must be a piece of work... you are muted now.
Great video idea. I believe that Emotional Manipulation that can not work if we don’t care for the characters in the stories..... By the way I’m not a frat boy but my favourite 2 movies is fight club. Because of how that’s he first movie that made me love movies and godfather, because I’m Italian and that’s the one movie I have grown up with so yeah.
If you've watched breaking bad, you know what emotional manipulation means. Every crime that Walter White commits is morally wrong. But here we are. For a very long time, Anna Gunn (actress of Skyler White) got a fuck ton of death threats via dm's and email. They were litterly hating on the actress just for her role. Absolutely crazy that Walter White as a fictional character managed to manipulate fans and viewers from the show into hating the actress that played one of the only morally right character in the entire show.
If you want emotional manipulation, outright or not, watch Iranian movies. So freaking sad but also a tiny bit uplifting in a weird way. Some favorites: Iron Island by Mohammad Rasoulof and Father and Baran by Majid Majidi. And of course, all of Kiarostami.
but in what case i wouldn't know when a movie is manipulative? i am aware of my emotions, when a movie induces certain emotions in me im 100 percent aware of what its making me feel, therefore no movie will be manipulative. Which then leads to my question when is the viewer really manipulated?
IMO you approach art through the lens of consumerism, art is neither made to "make you" think or feel. Firstly, they presumably don't know you. Secondly, that's not how thought or emotion even work. Especially not emotions, which occur spontaneously. What art CAN DO is provide a hint of what thought or feeling the artist felt or conveying, but there is no way to know with any certainty. People often mistake the artistic process with the kinds of communication protocols the discursive mind relies upon, but symbolism is not really semantic. If the art has any depth, there will be too much ambiguity to draw direct correspondences of what it meant for its creator, versus those who consume it. Or another perspective is that the person consuming the art is actually "creating it" in terms of organizing their own senses, perceptions, and associations. The comparison with music strikes a nerve with me for the same reasons, as an audio artist who constantly has to deal with prescriptive, self-referential emotional generalizations masquerading as theory. They are simply stylistic conventions that facilitate emotional contagion/incontinence instead of formalism and critique. No, not all art works this way! Some people respect others, and prefer to help them know themselves better. To help them to better understand how they think and feel, rather than be so arrogant as to presume that they should be thinking or feeling something else. That's a complaint about media generally, not your interpretation of it.
Your doing good work here man. Criticism has gone down a bit of a strange path, and what's odd to see is that while these reviews try to paint this emotional manipulation as a bad thing, they fail to realize that they are doing just that by making a review. Often these reviews go off on tangents that are more based around reactions and emotions that the critic had instead of explaining what in the film itself made them feel that.
@Stephanie Moore I haven't read the books but I'll give it a shot. And I definitely think its true that just because someone watches a movie and understands doesn't mean that they have the capacity to make a critique without getting the full story.
The most blatant case of emotional manipulation I've watched recently has been the show This Is Us. I feel like it's so melodramatic that I can't remain attached to characters anymore. It feels like something will always go wrong and hearts will always be broken that I can't even enjoy the good moments.
There is such a thing as disingenuous manipulation. To explain this, compare to spoken dialogue between people. When I say “my rock is better”, I am manipulating language and my knowledge of the listener’s receptivity to shift the general opinion in my favor; but to say “my rock is better” is not necessarily a falsehood, even though manipulation was employed to propagate it. Just because I’m using more advanced vocabulary in keeping with the style of the uploader does not mean I’m lying. My point being, manipulation is the primary purpose of all language, spoken or cinematic. So why do we call some speakers manipulative but others are treated as honest? In a word, truth. If the statement supports reality and is proven thereof, it is a valid statement even despite manipulation taking place to some degree. But if a statement is untrue, or even if it IS true but it’s used to lead the listener to an untrue conclusion, then it’s value as a relayed truth is moot, leaving manipulation as the statement’s only value. It could be said that a manipulative statement is not bad because it has manipulation; it’s bad because it’s not grounded in truth, and so manipulation is the only remaining factor by which we can describe it. How does this relate to film? In Godfather the sad music and Diane Keaton’s sad face are pulling at our heart telling us to be sad. But this manipulation is supported by the events leading up to it, and is necessary to make the audience notice the moral conundrum presented; a conundrum, that, by the audience answering within themselves, can pose benefit to the audience in their waking life. However; a movie can also attempt to manipulate when the desired reaction is not in keeping with the course of events; “sad music swelling when Hitler stubs his toe, in the hopes of making us agree with Hitler”, for instance. In that case, the desired emotional outcome that “Hitler is the victim here” does not accurately reflect the reality within the film’s context. Note that the more a film directly relates to the real world, the more dangerous cinematic manipulation can be. Respect for the truth is critical to making a strong case responsibly; and respect for the audience’s intelligence is critical for communicating that truth effectively.
I really hate when people look down on Pulp Fiction, Fight Club or Dark Knight as “frat boys favorite films” as you say. Those are all great movies. Just because they appeal to a lot of people doesn’t discredit them. So goddamn pretentious.
when it's bad, it's manipulative. when it's good, it's evocative. when it's weird, it's provocative. see also: forced drama, unearned pathos.
lowkey forgot the movie Beautiful Boy and thought you were gonna talk about how beautiful boys are emotionally manipulative AHAHA
SAME. I thought it was going to be about utilising certain types of actors in order to appeal to an audience, instead of being true to the content.
Trishformer SAME ngl i was a little disappointed
IMAGINE WATCHING VIDEO ESSAYS
baulko eng 4u reppin 💯💯💯
@@JoshuaChoiboy i hate u
1) Fight Club
2) The Godfather
3) The Dark Knight
4) Pulp Fiction
5) Minions
5) -Minions- The Emoji Movie
I love it when one of my favorite UA-camrs leaves a comment for a video of another one of my favorite UA-camrs.
Imagine those movies no sounds, brutal scenes or dialog. What shits
"Emotional manipulation": That brings back memories.
Number 1: the sigh
TheQuery oh noooooo I’m having war flashbacks
Number 2: sad music in the background
@@SamiJo2402 Number 3: Talking as if you just ran a marathon
Lmao
empty sky back in nam there were no allies, only enemies....that sighed and emotionally manipulated everyone.
I felt like whenever Beautiful Boy felt emotional it was because you realize something deeper and true about the characters relationships. I felt the manipulation was successful and not forced. They didn’t use the music to make you cry and the scenes were quietly played out, and with nuance. I mean it’s a really emotional true story, and if you’re feeling manipulated it means that you’re feeling the weight of the reality that people who struggle with addiction feel. And that’s great.
i love seeing the list of movies spoiled at the beginning of the video and just having no idea how you're going to incorporate all of them, because you end up doing so seamlessly without fail
My personal feelings on Beautiful Boy are that the flashbacks served not only as being true to the book but as a way of developing the bond between a father and son. I loved the movie and it’s one of the few times I strongly disagreed with a lot of critics. It’s by no means a perfect movie but emotionally I honestly feel like it was the best of the year. Of course that’s just my opinion and anyone can disagree with me but that’s just the way I feel about it.
i honestly agree with you.
Oh no, critics didn't like it?? I haven't seen it yet but I loved the books and I love the actors :(
I liked it a lot and saw it on a airplane flight. It actually made me cry. Did it manipulate me into tears? Not really, or at least I don't feel like it did. I cried because it's a story I'm familiar with. My cousin is addicted to hard drugs and like in the story he came from a wonderful loving home that showed him eternal love. I broke my heart because it brought up all those memories of seeing my little cousin as a youngin being so innocent and realizing what he became. To this day hes out on the streets. My family have given him chance after chance after chance yet nothing has changed because he doesn't want to help himself. If you've gone through that with a person you love you understand what exactly I'm talking about.
I agree with you. Those flashbacks help to understand their relationship better and also the feelings and thoughts of David. It is by no means emotional manipulation. In fact, I think what this movie did so great was to be crude and real about addiction. They don't give you an easy solution, they show you how repetitive, tiring and stressing it is. It is an honest depiction, I really liked it.
I agree. Plus, Movies about addicts (unless they are a famous person) never do well. It's because so many ignorant people think addicts are just immature worthless loser junkies who 'took the easy way out'. When in reality they have no idea what we must endure. I am a recovering addict (clean and serene since 6/10/17😃) I endured horrific physical and sexual abuse throughout my active addiction. It's a commonality in the world of addiction particularly for women. As a woman in the world of addiction your chances of being beaten or raped more than once are huge... basically a certainty. Yet despite all we suffer through and over come everyone looks at us as lazy or spoiled or just taking the easy way out. Now that I am sober I've gotten my certification as a chemical dependency counselor assistant and am now working on becoming a chemical dependency counselor by getting my bachelor's degree in psychological science. I see so many addicts suffer and wish they had never even been born. So many of them try very hard to get clean and fail and still get back up and keep trying despite so many things knocking them down. Despite all of society rooting against them and laughing at any of their failings.... Sorry for the rant it just makes me so angry when people are so quick to criticize addicts or even movies about them. Maybe it just hits too close to home.
SO EXCITED
Edit: barely a minute in and you’re using music theory to explain your points, I love it!
personally being aware of the source material for Beautiful Boy before going to see it made me experience it differently, i knew it was based on the Sheffs' autobiographies so I read the movie as a collection of memories and episodes liked by the thread of addiction and the father/son dynamic. If I thought this was an original screenplay I would've been disappointed because the storytelling would be very weak in that case.
Thanks, Taylor. Now 'manipulative' doesn't sound like a real word.
Semantic satiation
you are very pretty
Thanks
he’s manipulating us
I liked the movie, its showed how hard it is to see a person who you love so much destroy themselves and not being able to stop, its heartbreaking in an infinite way
HAHAHH. THAT A STAR IS BORN SHADE AT 4:24.
I think sometimes films like beautiful boy or the ones with "emotional manipulation" are trying to make you empathise with the characters, their situations, their feelings... It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't need a purpose, and I really like that about cinema, it makes you think, understand, feel, have questions...
ngl the cuts to asking mitch what the greatest movies ever made are really made me laugh. I'm not sure why it's amusing to me, but yeah, overall this is another great vid, dude!
"This is blatant emotional manipulation.
It worked."
- Tom Cruise, Vanilla Sky
Riddled with cliches. The reason it’s good is because it’s real based off a real story. It’s relatable because those cliches are what so many young addicts and their families go through yet it’s never really been depicted in movies with such depth.
Unless the first segment connecting music and film cadences was a cleverly researched segue, I’d actually be interested in seeing a video from you focused on music theory! Dope video as always
Jules he is actually a musician! i’d love to see him talk about that more as well
Let me just say from personal exprience and abuse of meth how Timothy acted and how they depicted meth addiction and use was increadibly accurate
great video and all but why is there a minion in the background
whitewitch12 why is there NOT a minion in your background?
Was meant to emotionally manipulate you... 🤭
It's the 0th greatest movie ever made.
The minion is the beautiful boy in question.
When your roommate is actually dope.
are you secretly his roommate?
@@snoozieuzi4245 at this point I almost wish I was.
you're voice is so calming
ok I had to subscribe after watching this. The cuts to your frat boy roommate, the minion in the background, shade to a star is born. So fucking funny and relatable.
Though I also tend to mull over a film in order to reflect on the what, where and why it made me feel a particular way, I can sometimes appreciate that a film can be like an orchestral piece and inspire feelings in a more abstract and emotive way bypassing my mental considerations.
very obvious media literacy - was hoping for more.
I think there is a difference between emotionally manipulative and emotionally manipulating. One is unfair, or unearned (but still successfully manipulating) while the other is fairly earned. I’ve seen the difference most in films that have (for me personally) turned sour over their runtime. A notable recent example was A Ghost Story which, at the beginning, had me feeling connected with the C and M’s plights, but as the film progressed, the poorly co-opted slow cinema style (with a distinct lack of understanding when it comes to how Tarr’s, Akerman’s, Tarkovsky’s, Angelopoulos’ films work) began showing the film’s insincerity. I guess the only slight difference in opinion I’m having is that I find many of the films that are coined “emotionally manipulative” are actually successful in the beginning, but they leave an empty feeling since their emotional heft isn’t earned.
I'm a bit confused with your distinction between the two with example you gave, my understanding of what your saying is that a emotionally manipulative film doesn't have a cohesive plot and characters that are static or square and don't have any depth or well established characterization while your examples seems to be relating a very personal gripe with your subjective experience, so maybe there's a bit of a misunderstanding b/w the two of us and I would like to clarify it.
mel on My point was that I would classify A Ghost Story and films like it as emotionally manipulative in a negative sense because they begin with me on their side but eventually never earn an emotional payoff. Of course, this is a very personal analysis-all criticism is. You may think that A Ghost Story is very genuine and therefore simply “emotionally manipulating.” I’ll throw in a few other examples that are “emotionally manipulative” for me personally (so it doesn’t seem like I’m hung up on A Ghost Story lol): Cinema Paradiso, Benjamin Button, Rain Man, Babel, Two Days One Night, Dear Zachary, Autumn Sonata, Black Mirror: Nosedive. Then on the other hand, films that I find “emotionally manipulating” rank among my favorites: Come and See, Late Spring, Secrets and Lies, Brief Encounter, Three Colors: Blue, Werckmeister Harmonies, Manchester by the Sea, Biutiful, Room, All that Heaven Allows, Landscape in the Mist, Lovers on the Bridge.
@@raymondzrike ok thanks for clearing that up for me, I had the same experience with ghost story but I can categorize that with being emotionally manipulative for your same reasons as something that didn't resonate with me doesn't mean it can't resonate with someone else, I categorize films with being emotionally manipulative if they fail to properly establish and progress characters with a cohesive plot even if they did resonate with me. (embarrassingly enough that has happened)
Also not trying to provide anything constructive to the discussion here, I would personally switch rain man and button with Manchester by the sea, based upon your description though not mine, not trying to say that your wrong about your category because it is a sound argument.
I have red flag movies that make me avoid guys if it’s their favourite movies: Fight Club, Wolf of Wall Street, American History X, any Quinten T movie, American Psycho.. etc. I’ll add more if I think of any lol
In all fairness, there are legitimate reasons for these to be someone’s favorite movie, but the kind of guy you’re talking about doesn’t like these movies for those reasons and totally got the opposite messages from them than we’re intended
Taylor J. Williams Nah you’re just pretentious bros.
I really enjoy the vernacular in which you speak.
Thanks, Taylor! Somehow I missed this one when you posted it. It’s one of my favorites so far!
"I'm the kind of person who needs to explicitly understand why I feel a certain way about certain things in order to know whether or not I actually feel that way" - such a Sherlock thing to say. *sighs in adoration*
I got a beautiful boy ad before this lol
Now i'm gonna spend the rest of my night searching google for that movie you tipped your air spectacles to.
Z T W L R i haven't seen it but going off of spoilers my best guess is A Star Is Born
You would never understand because you have never raised a child. These flashbacks are important to understand David's perspective and feelings as a father. David tries to understand what went wrong and try to analyses the situation that his family was at that moment. This is what happens when your kid in such trouble as an addiction to drugs. You are inevitably remember all good and bad stuff, that happened and all of your efforts you put into your kid.
Beautiful boy made me cry like a baby. Consider me manipulated!
same
Oh wow, I loved the music theory you tied into your anecdote at the the beginning of the video. I didn’t realize you were that knowledgeable.
I will go watch that movie and tell you if those flashbacks are good, bad, ugly and or emotionally manipulative or not.
Hey um it’s emotionally manipulative to me, a music major, to use music theory to explain your point. I have no choice but to like this video now.
not sure what you said but I whole heartedly agree
Great video on the topic. While everything with emotional substance, manipulates the way people feel about it, it is only manipulation when people deem it as unearned, forced, not genuine, or somehow being cynically employed. I think it's a line people disagree on, but I know for me, even a show that makes me cry my eyes out can still get a moderate or bad score, because the whole time I was crying, I was still aware of the lack of depth. Making me cry by introducing and then shooting a cute puppy, does NOT make your movie smart, or well done, it just feeds on basic empathy and hopes you will recognize your emotional response as worth praising.
Is it odd that the part I enjoyed the most about this video was when you commented about being the type of person who explicitly needs to know why you feel an emotion to validate whether or not you actually feel that emotion about certain things, forgive me for paraphrasing and possibly missing the idea, I just really liked that point. I want to see Beautiful Boy with my dad but I'll admit I can already see myself getting overemotional. Subscribed!
Sorry I couldn’t stop staring at that minion in the background. Is it wearing a cape or smth?
damn, excellent video. nice to hear about your findings with this sorta stuff, always good to learn more. watched 'i am sam' recently, and knew something was sort of irking me throughout the whole movie. doesn't mean it was necessarily bad, but like the king's speech it kind of walks that weird fine line between the topic being inherently emotionally manipulative whilst still being a fairly good movie (though due to the topics the narratives are basically laid out in front of you by the first few scenes unfortunately). i'm 16 rn and doing my media a-level course - so thanks for all these videos taylor, they're so useful and so fuckin interesting :)
I guess when you see a dog dying or dog crying or something like that you are just seeing how pathetic that attempt is and maybe dislike it....but having said that when hachi was old in that hachiko's tale movie i wept like a baby....there should not be a tendency to make audience cry and approach a scene with that narrow mind to make them cry but explore wherever scene leads or sth like that.......some movies don't make u cry but keep u up at nights....crying is not all there's to feeling.
Frat boy college dorms should have its own video, so many interesting things in the background emotionally manipulating me to subscribe
High art also makes you go through the cleansing aka catarthis!!!!
So surreal seeing my name at the end of the video, anyway great video. Made me realise some things that were right in front of me the whole time.
Oh, me enjoying that music theory bit at the start. Finally, my grade 5 theory knowledge is relevant in some capacity.
what a thoughtful video :) *subscribes* you emotionally manipulated me to do that!
Yeah I disagreed with the critics of Beautiful Boy. I felt like most of the parts were actually good especially the flashbacks.
frat bro's favourite films i choked
Wow this guy is a genius. Thanks a lot man
I was searching for a review for beautiful boy to find out if it had any hope of highlighting the real life issues we as male really face. I ran across your video and well the answer I got isn't important. However I did subscribe after listening to what you had to say as I'd like to hear more from you. If your not looking into psychology you should be.
Brilliant Taylor, I always love learning something new.
First minute in you got me as a new sub. You're very insightful with a voice for this kind of work. I hope the rest of your videos are like this one?
I keep feeling that emotional manipulation isn't the right word for this
I saw that picture of him in the background, but a minion in the foreground seems like he had a picture of his arm around a minion
When you tipped your spectacles I actually thought of two movies that are out right now and a third that just left theatres that used that method.
People who dislike are just jealous of the kingly beard!
Great analysis and example, totally agree
If a film wasn’t manipulative it’d just be .... happy and that’s boring
Mitch has a really good taste in Movies
Yes. Yes he does
I agree
Love from Wales guys 🏴
Yes. But there's gotta be Forrest Gump in there, somewhere
Mitch likes the 5 movies everybody likes
I discovered you recently, and really liked the videos I watched.
It was refreshing to see someone talk about this as most people don't seem to be aware of it.
I was disappointed when you started using 'fight club' as an example, because it implies to me you are the kind of person who would watch a film like that and I lost interest in your viewpoint regarding anything, really.
Love Fight Club
@@SeeSebastian Wow.... Really? You think that there is some reason for you to reply to the comment I made to the OP; as if I would care?
Wow.
I am glad I don't know you in real life, you must be a piece of work... you are muted now.
When they don't cast you in a movie
Great video idea. I believe that Emotional Manipulation that can not work if we don’t care for the characters in the stories..... By the way I’m not a frat boy but my favourite 2 movies is fight club. Because of how that’s he first movie that made me love movies and godfather, because I’m Italian and that’s the one movie I have grown up with so yeah.
Yeah, I mean those four are the stereotypical frat movies, but they’re all undeniably amazing
would you be willing to do a video on Stay(2004 with Ewan Mcgregor)?@Taylor J. Williams
The King's speech for me was masterfully subtle..
I very like the series that Mich is reading from at 1:30, 'Sociology for a New Century'.
GRAVE OF FIREFLIES!! so manipulative
i don’t know if i can trust you on this taylor you have a minion figurine in your shelf in the background
The Dark Knight is massively overrated.
ur mom was overrated , ur point is?
I’m surprised you didn’t mention A Dog’s Purpose in this video. Or does anyone even remember that movie?
Great job as always
If you've watched breaking bad, you know what emotional manipulation means. Every crime that Walter White commits is morally wrong. But here we are. For a very long time, Anna Gunn (actress of Skyler White) got a fuck ton of death threats via dm's and email. They were litterly hating on the actress just for her role. Absolutely crazy that Walter White as a fictional character managed to manipulate fans and viewers from the show into hating the actress that played one of the only morally right character in the entire show.
Aye back at it again
If you want emotional manipulation, outright or not, watch Iranian movies. So freaking sad but also a tiny bit uplifting in a weird way. Some favorites: Iron Island by Mohammad Rasoulof and Father and Baran by Majid Majidi. And of course, all of Kiarostami.
i love the part where taylor dismantles greek life
but in what case i wouldn't know when a movie is manipulative? i am aware of my emotions, when a movie induces certain emotions in me im 100 percent aware of what its making me feel, therefore no movie will be manipulative. Which then leads to my question when is the viewer really manipulated?
great work love it
*breathes in* BOIIII
this was so painful
love that sweater buddy
ur spectacle nod was about a star is born right?
Bohemian Rhapsody?
IMO you approach art through the lens of consumerism, art is neither made to "make you" think or feel. Firstly, they presumably don't know you. Secondly, that's not how thought or emotion even work. Especially not emotions, which occur spontaneously. What art CAN DO is provide a hint of what thought or feeling the artist felt or conveying, but there is no way to know with any certainty. People often mistake the artistic process with the kinds of communication protocols the discursive mind relies upon, but symbolism is not really semantic. If the art has any depth, there will be too much ambiguity to draw direct correspondences of what it meant for its creator, versus those who consume it. Or another perspective is that the person consuming the art is actually "creating it" in terms of organizing their own senses, perceptions, and associations.
The comparison with music strikes a nerve with me for the same reasons, as an audio artist who constantly has to deal with prescriptive, self-referential emotional generalizations masquerading as theory. They are simply stylistic conventions that facilitate emotional contagion/incontinence instead of formalism and critique.
No, not all art works this way! Some people respect others, and prefer to help them know themselves better. To help them to better understand how they think and feel, rather than be so arrogant as to presume that they should be thinking or feeling something else.
That's a complaint about media generally, not your interpretation of it.
lmao those were such stereotypical 'pretentious male film student' answers to "what are the best films ever made?" that I couldn't help but laugh.
Was that shade at A Star is Born? Lol nice
Your doing good work here man. Criticism has gone down a bit of a strange path, and what's odd to see is that while these reviews try to paint this emotional manipulation as a bad thing, they fail to realize that they are doing just that by making a review. Often these reviews go off on tangents that are more based around reactions and emotions that the critic had instead of explaining what in the film itself made them feel that.
@Stephanie Moore I haven't read the books but I'll give it a shot. And I definitely think its true that just because someone watches a movie and understands doesn't mean that they have the capacity to make a critique without getting the full story.
The most blatant case of emotional manipulation I've watched recently has been the show This Is Us. I feel like it's so melodramatic that I can't remain attached to characters anymore. It feels like something will always go wrong and hearts will always be broken that I can't even enjoy the good moments.
The early scenes of Up.
Batman didn't let Rachel.die, Joker lied about the addresses. Kinda beside the point, but you know.
My top three favourite movies are Pulp Fiction, Fight Club and A Clockwork Orange.
I just thought off if those three movies were mixed togheter.
This was great. Subscribing
There is such a thing as disingenuous manipulation. To explain this, compare to spoken dialogue between people. When I say “my rock is better”, I am manipulating language and my knowledge of the listener’s receptivity to shift the general opinion in my favor; but to say “my rock is better” is not necessarily a falsehood, even though manipulation was employed to propagate it. Just because I’m using more advanced vocabulary in keeping with the style of the uploader does not mean I’m lying. My point being, manipulation is the primary purpose of all language, spoken or cinematic. So why do we call some speakers manipulative but others are treated as honest? In a word, truth. If the statement supports reality and is proven thereof, it is a valid statement even despite manipulation taking place to some degree. But if a statement is untrue, or even if it IS true but it’s used to lead the listener to an untrue conclusion, then it’s value as a relayed truth is moot, leaving manipulation as the statement’s only value.
It could be said that a manipulative statement is not bad because it has manipulation; it’s bad because it’s not grounded in truth, and so manipulation is the only remaining factor by which we can describe it.
How does this relate to film? In Godfather the sad music and Diane Keaton’s sad face are pulling at our heart telling us to be sad. But this manipulation is supported by the events leading up to it, and is necessary to make the audience notice the moral conundrum presented; a conundrum, that, by the audience answering within themselves, can pose benefit to the audience in their waking life.
However; a movie can also attempt to manipulate when the desired reaction is not in keeping with the course of events; “sad music swelling when Hitler stubs his toe, in the hopes of making us agree with Hitler”, for instance. In that case, the desired emotional outcome that “Hitler is the victim here” does not accurately reflect the reality within the film’s context. Note that the more a film directly relates to the real world, the more dangerous cinematic manipulation can be. Respect for the truth is critical to making a strong case responsibly; and respect for the audience’s intelligence is critical for communicating that truth effectively.
I like your sweater
Im sry but beautiful boy was incredible
the greatest showman is the worst "manipulativ" movie. the movie is so bad but all of my friends still really like it
Best movie!!!
Seeing a dramatized movie about a kid who’s addicted to drugs sounds cringy asf
*spectacles* STAR IS BORN
I really hate when people look down on Pulp Fiction, Fight Club or Dark Knight as “frat boys favorite films” as you say. Those are all great movies. Just because they appeal to a lot of people doesn’t discredit them. So goddamn pretentious.
Were you trying to make your friend seem like a cliche dude-bro?
sTOP SAYING MANIPULATION IM CRYING
You excited for that Orion movie with the weird kid? I'm really hoping it's good, cuz it looks really interesting