Opulence | ContraPoints

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  • Опубліковано 25 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 13 тис.

  • @not_them
    @not_them 5 років тому +8442

    Every time she says hip hop opulence my brain immediately whispers "hip hopulence"

  • @oleksiishekhovtsov1564
    @oleksiishekhovtsov1564 5 років тому +5829

    "Call it the American dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it." - George Carlin

    • @taterpoot1
      @taterpoot1 5 років тому +143

      You mean Gorge Carlin

    • @KennethWestervelt
      @KennethWestervelt 5 років тому +40

      The greatest sin a comedian can aspire to is to imagine themselves a philosopher. Worse yet, for their fans to believe them one.
      (Bill Hicks, I'm looking at you.)

    • @russellharrell2747
      @russellharrell2747 5 років тому +14

      Kenneth Westervelt the only true comedian-philosopher was Gallagher.
      (Yes I’m kidding)

    • @blade2396
      @blade2396 5 років тому +1

      Taterpoot no it’s George Carlin

    • @oleksiishekhovtsov1564
      @oleksiishekhovtsov1564 5 років тому +15

      @@blade2396 r/wooosh

  • @greenbananaman9409
    @greenbananaman9409 3 роки тому +9491

    my mom saw me watching this and said "shes so beautiful! she dresses up to give you facts"

    • @cutiemcweirdo
      @cutiemcweirdo 3 роки тому +591

      That’s the perfect way to describe her channel 🤣🤣🤣

    • @KaritKtana
      @KaritKtana 3 роки тому +177

      ❤️ Adorable - and accurate!

    • @eirrac
      @eirrac 3 роки тому +150

      Sounds like your mom is the best 😁

    • @benedictdwyer2608
      @benedictdwyer2608 3 роки тому +35

      Yasssssssss.....

    • @kfie3731
      @kfie3731 3 роки тому +18

      Army😍

  • @goldenalpaca3881
    @goldenalpaca3881 Рік тому +1022

    Shout out to Natalie accurately predicting the rise of "backrooms" horror subgenre. Empty commercial spaces really are as haunting as she describes

    • @mooo_cow
      @mooo_cow Рік тому +1

      A proof that gays don't have delusions, only prophesies

    • @SteveAcomb
      @SteveAcomb Рік тому +34

      WAIT holy shit

    • @tandava-089
      @tandava-089 10 місяців тому +13

      @lif6737 Shes right alot more frequently than JP XD
      Ironically, her feet are much more grounded, and her head is far more level.

    • @tandava-089
      @tandava-089 10 місяців тому +2

      @lif6737 😂 it means she's much more in touch with a lifestyle which is familiar to people who live 'down here', on the street(or needing to go onto the street, like needing to go to Walmart and the like, and a bunch of other places that regular normal ordinary people go in the course of daily life and survival) 😛
      I'm sure you were giving me a hard time, and.... Fair enough 😛... But I did mean something specific and distinct by each thing I said, and I wasn't talking about actual feet 😂😛😜

    • @nawm8
      @nawm8 8 місяців тому +8

      ​@@tandava-089 They were playing around and understood exactly what you meant.

  • @Illiteratechimp
    @Illiteratechimp 4 роки тому +7589

    I saw this working in a hotel.
    The super wealthy treated us coldly but well, and tipped well.
    The poor who were there for special events were grateful, even if they didnt tip.
    The middle class were monsters. Demanded, screamed, tried to get you fired for any perceived slight.

    • @msnoodles1
      @msnoodles1 4 роки тому +1178

      I worked at a cinema and it was the same there. The poor were just grateful and tended to splurge on food because they went to a movie less often. The wealthy weren't very warm but were proficient and polite. The middle class were the bane of my existence and acted like staff were less than human.

    • @madeofcastiron
      @madeofcastiron 4 роки тому +680

      from your comments, it seems that middle-class people are the karens among the socio-economic classes. they're just wannabe-rich people

    • @Illiteratechimp
      @Illiteratechimp 4 роки тому +289

      @@madeofcastiron
      Lol, I met a few Karens in my day, and they did tend to appear to be in the middle ^^
      Unfortunately my real name is Ken, so this Karen meme came back to bight me

    • @Acidpunk101
      @Acidpunk101 4 роки тому +135

      The great billy conolly did a bit about rich and poor laughing at middle class together. Its a universal thing :)

    • @Mgdr2011
      @Mgdr2011 4 роки тому +15

      wack

  • @Ecolopa
    @Ecolopa 5 років тому +6444

    And so Gigi-Antoinette said to the masses "If they have no clean drinking water, let them drink Mountain Dew".

    • @tas713
      @tas713 5 років тому +207

      The real winner of the nobel literature prize

    • @Razuchan
      @Razuchan 5 років тому +263

      I feel like I have to write an entire thesis on that sentence

    • @chaosfreak83
      @chaosfreak83 5 років тому +95

      It's got what plants crave.

    • @el_kks_4361
      @el_kks_4361 5 років тому +47

      @@chaosfreak83 Electrolytes

    • @unluckyone1655
      @unluckyone1655 5 років тому +10

      Brawnd- er I mean Mounain dew! Because water is for toilets!

  • @senpaijecho
    @senpaijecho 5 років тому +14244

    Video is 49 minutes long. Natalie rented a DAMN MUSEUM, had 5 different costumes.... and people really focused on the 10 second extract where we hear buck angel's voice?? damn

    • @rickardkaufman3988
      @rickardkaufman3988 4 роки тому +485

      @@luanamoraes3578 In her next video, she said I have already made 5 videos against non- binary hatred and transmedicalism.

    • @uppercut147
      @uppercut147 4 роки тому +1103

      The backlash reminds of the other day when some dingus I follow on Twitter was screeching about how Bernie Sanders needs to "do something" about the corona virus crisis. When I asked her what, exactly, she thinks he should do, she replied that he could be demanding free testing for the virus AS IF HE HASN'T LITERALLY BEEN THE FACE OF UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE THE WHOLE GOTDAMN TIME. People who hate on do-gooders for Very Dumb Reasons are just THE WORST.

    • @uppercut147
      @uppercut147 4 роки тому +311

      ​@KC LOL boy if you don't sit down...

    • @TheBloodVodka
      @TheBloodVodka 4 роки тому +73

      What part was Buck Angel? I fucking missed it.

    • @LucasCandiota31
      @LucasCandiota31 4 роки тому +134

      @@TheBloodVodka 27:27 is the part when Buck Angel talks.
      He reads a John Waters' quote

  • @marcus_johnson
    @marcus_johnson 3 роки тому +3745

    Opulence has really drowned in the cancellation debacle. Can we take a minute to appreciate what a true piece of mastery this really is?

    • @annieinwonderland
      @annieinwonderland 3 роки тому +67

      Yes we can and the fact that her colleagues( I hope that is the right word) where on the ball with the topics that people weren't aware of pre covid.

    • @NindeRingeril
      @NindeRingeril 3 роки тому +68

      I like to watch this video at least once a month because its perfect and on point on everything

    • @zacharytaylor2983
      @zacharytaylor2983 3 роки тому +104

      It might be my favorite of Natalie’s videos.
      I’m an art history and architecture geek, so the references to the “white lie” of classical sculptures, McMansions, Victorian houses, and Dead Malls was just…
      *chef’s kiss*

    • @luk4aaaa
      @luk4aaaa 2 роки тому +5

      Cancellation debacle?

    • @qwertyman1511
      @qwertyman1511 2 роки тому +19

      @@luk4aaaa because misunderstanding and mischaracterizing people to fuel a feeling of hate is pleasant, comfortable and easier than the alternative.

  • @DAngeloWallace
    @DAngeloWallace 5 років тому +20061

    this video called me poor and i'm thanking it

    • @nailahhuq1238
      @nailahhuq1238 5 років тому +283

      You're here!

    • @jupiter5128
      @jupiter5128 5 років тому +288

      Father!

    • @MeganMcIntosh
      @MeganMcIntosh 5 років тому +252

      D'Angelo Wallace hey I highly enjoy your channel too! It’s fun when creators I watch watch other creators I watch!

    • @Frank-ju8qr
      @Frank-ju8qr 5 років тому +64

      Crossover time

    • @fruitygarlic3601
      @fruitygarlic3601 5 років тому +199

      Can't wait to see D'Angelo finally smile, as he holds the head of the last billionaire.
      For legal reasons, this is a joke, Susan.

  • @danw-m2974
    @danw-m2974 5 років тому +7137

    To quote Oscar Wilde "America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."

    • @gabrielcortes6369
      @gabrielcortes6369 5 років тому +142

      He really didn't knew about Chile.

    • @Javier-il1xi
      @Javier-il1xi 5 років тому +28

      @@gabrielcortes6369 a cagar que si wn

    • @KarryKarryKarry
      @KarryKarryKarry 5 років тому +61

      Chile was still in the midst of barbarism during Wilde’s hay day.

    • @TheEmpress1768
      @TheEmpress1768 5 років тому +105

      Native Americans who?

    • @joshuasutherland6692
      @joshuasutherland6692 5 років тому +109

      I guess Oscar forgot people lived here before whitey.

  • @haileywarner5109
    @haileywarner5109 5 років тому +5546

    These videos help me:
    1. Build vocabulary
    2. Hear about current events and social issues
    3. Hear varying perspectives
    4. Reflect on my own shortcomings
    Basically these are some of the best and most influential youtube videos ever.

    • @lavone5541
      @lavone5541 5 років тому +132

      I feel the same way, especially after watching Cancelling . It made me be aware of toxic behaviour that i myself am capable of doing.

    • @Alexis-wg5nx
      @Alexis-wg5nx 5 років тому +90

      Hailey Warner 5. Appreciate dope makeup, costume, set design, direction, and scoring

    • @dingdongshush
      @dingdongshush 5 років тому +13

      Absolutely nailed it.

    • @casey3889
      @casey3889 5 років тому +48

      @@Alexis-wg5nx 6. They also very much appease both my sense for aesthetics and my sense of humor.

    • @chaoticcollagen794
      @chaoticcollagen794 5 років тому +15

      chikin naget I totes realized how I see cancel culture in my other community of those with chronic illnesses. People take each other down SO FUCKIN HARD. It’s so messed up.

  • @junebuggeryy
    @junebuggeryy 3 роки тому +3372

    It is SO cool to hear her talk about a prediction of "Decaying Mall Gothic" aestheticism in 2019, when here in 2021 we're already seeing a huge rise of that in Weirdcore and Liminal Space aesthetics. Maybe I just linger in obscure "horror content" corners of the internet- but I'm definitely seeing a huge increase in people taking 80s decay for their gothic aesthetics. She's right on the money.

    • @samanthaslagel8138
      @samanthaslagel8138 3 роки тому +50

      thank you for putting my thoughts into words

    • @GuiSmith
      @GuiSmith 3 роки тому +27

      I knew there was something there

    • @MaryamofShomal
      @MaryamofShomal 3 роки тому +43

      And it’s totally messing with me as someone born in the early 80s. Ooph.

    • @junebuggeryy
      @junebuggeryy 3 роки тому +33

      @@MaryamofShomal Haha, oh jeez I can imagine! I think a lot of the "80s horror" content I've seen leans on a sense of nostalgia, so you're probably not the only one

    • @mayathepsychiic
      @mayathepsychiic 3 роки тому +44

      the liminal space thing is absolutely popular rn, not just in your corners of the internet

  • @Apollo9898LP
    @Apollo9898LP 5 років тому +2233

    "Comrades, losers, and haters," is such a powerful opener to a sentence

    • @BGcam
      @BGcam 5 років тому +56

      Apollo9898LPs it’s the “Friends, Romans, countrymen” of our time 😄
      Shakespeare would be proud.

    • @cadwelltanner7616
      @cadwelltanner7616 5 років тому +64

      the three genders

    • @puffinpatrol
      @puffinpatrol 5 років тому +10

      inclusive!

    • @NelsonStJames
      @NelsonStJames 5 років тому +7

      In our present society one may as well acknowledge that the haters are going to be a part of any one who is anyone's fan club, be they royalty, politician, or youtuber.

    • @KangMinseok
      @KangMinseok 5 років тому

      It's like saying "Nazis, bad guys, and evildoers"

  • @RedtsunamiTed
    @RedtsunamiTed 5 років тому +4182

    You just accidentally destroyed the argument of "if you on welfare why did you get your nails done?" It's a taste. A small favor. It's staged 'opulence' and an escape. I grew up food insecure and neglected. But I also had my nails done once after my Mom lost her job. It was her one moment of escape in a spiral the eventually led to us being homeless. She told me, "We can't pawn everything, because I need to look like I'm not poor when I go for a job. It matters to some people what you look like" So we pawned almost everything, and sold the furniture instead.

    • @RedtsunamiTed
      @RedtsunamiTed 5 років тому +499

      Thank you for reading Natalie. I never put anything too real online for fear of being made fun of. The fact that you even read this has me crying. I'm a Mom of two girls now and sometimes, I give them pedicures and paint their nails and remember.

    • @KendrixTermina
      @KendrixTermina 5 років тому +383

      I mean the idea that you have to quit being a person until you get financial security is just nonsense.
      Then there's what in korea is called a "fuckit expense" - Splurging on a little thing that makes you happy because large expenses etc are out of reach
      It actually takes quite a lot of phones and avocados to buy a house if you'll never have a house what kind of sadistic ass would dare tell you you can't have nice nails or avocadoes.
      In the end economic justice is a question of human dignity and participating in society - it's hard to GET a job or build social connections if you look like a homeless person.
      And humans are social animals. We had posturing behavior to impress the other apes long before there were houses and cars. It's a NEED, maybe not like a potentially lethal need like food or water but certainly like sex and socialization.
      This sort of thing is actually a very rational decision when you consider what a human beings' natural priorities are.
      This "You need to suffer more before you can get help" logic is inhuman

    • @phildolan8783
      @phildolan8783 5 років тому +112

      It's a rare day when a UA-cam comment forces one to take inventory of their fortunate happenstance... I am humbled by the words of @@RedtsunamiTed.

    • @MrMindgames101
      @MrMindgames101 5 років тому +28

      Love this thread

    • @nbucwa6621
      @nbucwa6621 5 років тому +174

      Needing to not look poor when looking for a job is the real fucking truth fam

  • @petraszilagyi
    @petraszilagyi 5 років тому +1371

    Always start Natalie’s videos deeply annoyed that she’s an attractive know it all, and by the end decide we are in fact best friends.

    • @moncielvariable
      @moncielvariable 5 років тому +102

      When she releases a video, I look at the thumbnail and think "this is going to be too much". Then I click and the esthetic is pure perfection.

    • @bgreaud
      @bgreaud 5 років тому +31

      I feel like the various visuals keep you locked in. If she sat in an ordinary chair wearing jeans and a plain T shirt and ran all the same dialogue, we wouldn't know what to do...

    • @hayk3000
      @hayk3000 5 років тому +50

      This happens every time: I click the video, I get baffled by the over the top costumes and aesthetics and chuckle a bit, I sink in the actual ideas and arguments Natalie makes, I forget about the costumes, I'm totally immersed in the ideas, it then clicks that I'm thinking about philosophy or sociology by watching a woman dressed in a FUCKING FAIRY COSTUME EATING A CORN DOG with tea.
      Every. Single. Time.

    • @deplorabledixie2834
      @deplorabledixie2834 5 років тому

      attractive?...LOL

    • @coffee_eyed
      @coffee_eyed 5 років тому +43

      @@deplorabledixie2834 yes, bish, attractive.

  • @alexgilmour3907
    @alexgilmour3907 3 роки тому +777

    Every time I remember what occurred to Natalie because of a ten second voiceover from this masterpiece of filmography, I come back to this video; half from spite, half for the good time. And also so she can keep getting paid for her excellent work.

  • @autdroid6078
    @autdroid6078 5 років тому +1528

    I just realised that the Tabby voice isn't hugely purposeful and is mostly caused by fake fangs...

    • @Chipiliro613
      @Chipiliro613 5 років тому +386

      FAKE?!??

    • @anotherslice2269
      @anotherslice2269 5 років тому +41

      I don't wanna be a spreader of rumors thanks how are you but was this video basically saying Tabby is dead? Like Natalie's inner Tabby she used to argue with is dead? There's a million interpretations (outside of the fangs / goth look was coincidental...). And/or that her inner Tabby isn't just dead, she thinks the Tabby theory of change / strategy / tactics fetishized by the black-and-red colored online bullies just doesn't apply anymore. (I think all that shit still applies but just wonder.)

    • @tatehildyard5332
      @tatehildyard5332 5 років тому +71

      Another Slice I don’t think Natalie ever agreed far left internet was working. Her video, “The Left” where Tabby was introduced was about how ineffective the far left is when it comes to persuasion and political organizing.

    • @autdroid6078
      @autdroid6078 5 років тому +27

      Oh wow, senpai noticed me

    • @KeybladeSpirit
      @KeybladeSpirit 5 років тому +47

      @@anotherslice2269 Contrapoints lore truly is a vast and complex mess that's just waiting to be untangled by the theorycrafting community.

  • @TheZacharias333
    @TheZacharias333 4 роки тому +4120

    “Why does Donald Trump’s apartment look like Liberace married a Turkmenistani dictator and moved into a Cheesecake Factory” I’m literally dying her delivery is perfect.

    • @officialgritty4740
      @officialgritty4740 4 роки тому +69

      And if anyone's watched John Oliver's bit about Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, they know that that is EXACTLY the weird aesthetic he curates lol.

    • @akisok0311
      @akisok0311 4 роки тому +5

      you were at 420 likes and i ruined it :)

    • @terriersoundstudio5854
      @terriersoundstudio5854 4 роки тому +5

      @@akisok0311 I'ts 666 now, so it's allright

    • @carabiner7999
      @carabiner7999 4 роки тому +6

      She is absolutely lethal, on so many levels!

    • @Greatoraint
      @Greatoraint 4 роки тому +2

      That was the horse girl of dictators right? LOL

  • @jesstv3029
    @jesstv3029 5 років тому +4486

    Legend has it, Natalie is still finding glitter on her body.
    Edit: Well, this comment blew up.

    • @werewolf4358
      @werewolf4358 5 років тому +131

      After about her 3rd video in which she does up the aesthetics, she should have accepted the glitter as a part of her very soul, apperating from the void to fill any space in which none previously existed....
      as happens when one uses glitter more than a single time over the course of their lives.

    • @Awwscrewit
      @Awwscrewit 5 років тому +38

      I just assume she wears it all the time.

    • @Long-wd4ee
      @Long-wd4ee 5 років тому +63

      our queen,
      she *glits*

    • @jansamohyl7983
      @jansamohyl7983 5 років тому +17

      I suspect she wants to be clocked as Lady Gaga.

    • @thenetherone1597
      @thenetherone1597 5 років тому +21

      Fear not, a team of dedicated professionals
      (and this months lucky patreon subscriber)
      are hard at work locating every last particle in every last crevasse

  • @georgianichols4584
    @georgianichols4584 3 роки тому +356

    i'm sorry, no ones going to read this, but i need to talk about the music in the opening scene. oh my god. first of all, it's bach, one of the most famous and rich baroque composers. the word 'baroque' refers to a pearl that is so opulent that is is almost grotesque, like how baroque music is sometimes so ornamented with trills that it can be hard to make out the melody. also, the lyrics to the hymn: "Ach wie fluchtig, ach wie nichtig" basically means 'how fleeting and how insubstantial,' another reference to the basis of opulence. i could go on and on

    • @phoebe-gc6cu
      @phoebe-gc6cu 2 роки тому +12

      That's beautiful.

    • @inescobodiego1198
      @inescobodiego1198 2 роки тому +12

      Thank you so much, I couldn't recognise the piece and the whole comment was great

    • @memoriavetusta3908
      @memoriavetusta3908 Рік тому +5

      Bach was neither rich nor famous during his lifetime.

  • @raulalvarez5021
    @raulalvarez5021 4 роки тому +5082

    "I accept my fate" she said as she symbolicaly descended down the stairs into her own cancelation based on a single voice casting.

    • @CristianMartinez-cr1eo
      @CristianMartinez-cr1eo 4 роки тому +129

      I’m wheezing 😂😂

    • @aegis_knight
      @aegis_knight 4 роки тому +291

      It's as if the Cancel Culture video is a direct sequel right after the credits

    • @stephenwilliams163
      @stephenwilliams163 4 роки тому +46

      was just thinking this and came here to see if anyone else had said it

    • @marieoconnell6191
      @marieoconnell6191 4 роки тому +12

      Wait who did she cast?

    • @ElecTrishian924
      @ElecTrishian924 4 роки тому +141

      @@marieoconnell6191 Buck Angel, a trans masc porn star/trans activist. The reception to his advocacy has been... mixed as far as I am aware

  • @luleta1644
    @luleta1644 5 років тому +1709

    "Sksksks and I oop and I oop and I oop, that's praxis'"
    -Natalie Wynn 2019
    Truly a postmodern philosopher.

    • @benl2140
      @benl2140 5 років тому +56

      Still makes more sense than Foucault.

    • @MagiciteHeart
      @MagiciteHeart 5 років тому +7

      I fucking lost it. So fucking great. 😹

    • @LorRosengartsky
      @LorRosengartsky 5 років тому +65

      Having come this far, Natalie has transcended postmodernism itself and became the queen of metamodernism.

    • @cokedupnormies2651
      @cokedupnormies2651 5 років тому

      Gunna leave it at 666 likes

    • @cokedupnormies2651
      @cokedupnormies2651 5 років тому +6

      Who the fuck was the 667th fuck you man

  • @ceciliamoore2292
    @ceciliamoore2292 5 років тому +6134

    As a art history minor who studied a lot of Roman art when you brought up “white marble is a lie” I wanted to cry for joy, Casue I have been telling people that for years .... subscribed lol !!

    • @vasilikikakara3092
      @vasilikikakara3092 4 роки тому +234

      Mind if I join you? Me, a poor archeology major from the country that produced said totally-not-white marble statues?:')

    • @TheEmpress1768
      @TheEmpress1768 4 роки тому +94

      Omg art history squad 💅

    • @Mmm_Kay
      @Mmm_Kay 4 роки тому +52

      Spread the word...our girl needs our support❤

    • @madelcyfuentes6709
      @madelcyfuentes6709 4 роки тому +10

      sis literally SAME

    • @cathl4953
      @cathl4953 4 роки тому +77

      In the museum in athens there is a section where it showcases different stones that could have been used as colours in statues and blatantly says the statues and walls used to be coloured.
      Many people seem to forget that fact though

  • @JesseColton
    @JesseColton 2 роки тому +847

    The irony that the framing device of this video is Natalie playing someone who's about to be beheaded by a bloodthirsty mob, and people cancelled her in a bloodthirsty online mob as a result of three seconds of this video

    • @HobbylessWolf
      @HobbylessWolf 2 роки тому +46

      I have rewatched this videos countless times... and only NOW I see the irony! Damn, the World has a dark sense of humor 😶😭

    • @JesseColton
      @JesseColton 2 роки тому +3

      @@HobbylessWolf Yeah me too

    • @sayuas4293
      @sayuas4293 Рік тому +6

      How did she get cancelled and what part of the video caused it?

    • @JesseColton
      @JesseColton Рік тому +68

      @@sayuas4293 Theres a whole two hour video going into this but it was because she had Buck Angel reading the John Waters quote about "good bad taste" and "bad bad taste," and since Buck Angel is a transmedicalist, people assumed that must mean Natalie is a transmedicalist, despite her constant and repeated clarifications that she isn't.

    • @catherinemccormick3184
      @catherinemccormick3184 Рік тому +2

      Yeah it hits different now

  • @rejh3030
    @rejh3030 5 років тому +2063

    You can see the whole “decaying mall” aesthetic in vaporwave. Like it’s basically sad, slowed down 80s music played over commercials

    • @chrisc185
      @chrisc185 5 років тому +153

      That's exactly what I thought, though vaporwave is more of a retro-style "pretending the 80's never died" than it is artsyfying the death and progressing rot of said time period

    • @cjaquilino
      @cjaquilino 5 років тому +65

      Rufus Harman I’d call that aesthetic “mallsoft”. It’s an old subgenre of vaporwave from 2013 or so.

    • @danielsantiago4490
      @danielsantiago4490 5 років тому +42

      I agree with Chris. Vaporwave glorifies the 80's. It fondly longs and remembers those times (nostalgia). We need the representation of the "ghost" of said times. What would a person living in those decaying hallways look like?

    • @smittywerbenjagermanjensen99
      @smittywerbenjagermanjensen99 5 років тому +20

      @@danielsantiago4490 there's actually a lot of vaporwave that portrays that decaying 80s aesthetic like this album for example: ua-cam.com/video/sGHVE7BTW-o/v-deo.html

    • @nukiradio
      @nukiradio 5 років тому +2

      We are living in the 80's houses the 80's being the house of our dead uncle

  • @erickdavid4257
    @erickdavid4257 5 років тому +2724

    ContraPoints is on a whole other level. I could literally pay $10 to see this video in theaters.

    • @ugo7354
      @ugo7354 5 років тому +20

      THAT! 😱

    • @Electro_Katarina
      @Electro_Katarina 5 років тому +47

      Ikr it's a whole experience.

    • @aidaflores613
      @aidaflores613 5 років тому +4

      Agreed!

    • @Fraggle-h7o
      @Fraggle-h7o 5 років тому +16

      @@keylon3 have a better strategy:i just watch each video like 20times

    • @hens0w
      @hens0w 5 років тому +1

      Greatest apology video in the world

  • @Jaqhnun
    @Jaqhnun 5 років тому +2100

    "Why does Donald Trump’s apartment look like Liberace married a Turkmenistani dictator and moved into a Cheesecake Factory?" boy I sure love shrieking with laughter alone in my apartment and making my neighbors wonder what kind of insane person lives next door. Thanx Natalie

    • @DanCicala
      @DanCicala 5 років тому +8

      This video's been out for almost two weeks and still no Rule 34 🙄

    • @Seydlitz338
      @Seydlitz338 5 років тому

      Just remember that some people like this consider themselves male.

  • @danielmichael3610
    @danielmichael3610 3 роки тому +731

    Who the fuck infused Natalie with this kind of talent. I just keep watching these videos and I can't stop. The depth, the story-telling, the ambience, the details, everything. Seriously. I don't even understand what's happening to me as I watch this.

    • @theregalproletariat
      @theregalproletariat 2 роки тому +38

      She's figured out how to transport people into her mind

    • @SassafrasTee7366
      @SassafrasTee7366 2 роки тому +19

      I love the artistic direction of her sets and looks are directly inspired by the video’s topic.

    • @arancinostravagante1314
      @arancinostravagante1314 2 роки тому +8

      Your intelligence increase, that's what's happening to you.

    • @smeazy41
      @smeazy41 2 роки тому +8

      She went to college for philosophy so i imagine they helped bit lol

    • @MaryamofShomal
      @MaryamofShomal Рік тому

      I’m convinced she was born with this ability. Her ability to peer into each and every human soul is only surpassed by her beauty, inside and out.

  • @jaegermeistersfriend
    @jaegermeistersfriend 5 років тому +2154

    do i have the time to watch a 50 minute video about opulence? absolutely not. am i here watching for the third time anyways? absolutely.

    • @massy6453
      @massy6453 5 років тому +18

      literally same. i‘ve watched this so many times but each time i understand more and more

    • @susannahb2723
      @susannahb2723 4 роки тому +3

      4th time and it's still so stunning I want to play it again

    • @rgng
      @rgng 4 роки тому

      @@massy6453 yessss

    • @jasonwren1124
      @jasonwren1124 4 роки тому

      same I'm using it as a reference for my university coursework hahaha

    • @MinkytheMinkY
      @MinkytheMinkY 4 роки тому +1

      1.5x 😌 Thank me later.

  • @lalalillymo4
    @lalalillymo4 5 років тому +3098

    THE SILENT MAJORITY GENUINELY LOVE YOU NATALIE. WE TALK ABOUT YOU OFF LINE WITH GRATITUDE FOR YOUR WORK AND YOUR ART

    • @seanp3302
      @seanp3302 5 років тому +13

      you’re the loud minority smh.

    • @noahwallace8015
      @noahwallace8015 5 років тому

      ULGROTHA ohh shiiiii- 😱

    • @angelbarajas9180
      @angelbarajas9180 5 років тому +3

      @ULGROTHA Marxism is a political philosophy made by Karl's Marx and it is the idea where the government owns the means of productions to achieve economic equality.
      Isn't that what the left believes?

    • @angelbarajas9180
      @angelbarajas9180 5 років тому +19

      @x x Both are loud minorities but Contra fans are usually nice most of her haters are pretty annoying. And I say this as a Conservative Rebuplican but I still like Contra although I don't agree with her on much lol

    • @angelbarajas9180
      @angelbarajas9180 5 років тому

      @ULGROTHA As a Conservative Rebuplican I obviously don't know what goes on in the left but I do know you guys praise Stain on many occasions and hold up signs with the hammer and sickle on it

  • @ContraPoints
    @ContraPoints  5 років тому +838

    Hey gorg heyhowareyou gorg?
    y'all better like comment and subscribe cause I spent all my money on this

  • @feelshowdy
    @feelshowdy 3 роки тому +1547

    An interesting thing I've observed is in contrast to the "Trump aesthetic" you describe - old rich who act like new rich, money without class - there is the direct opposite of that: "class" without money.
    I was raised in what was basically a poor branch of a distant, larger rich clan. My mom grew up middle class, but her taste and style were heavily informed by rich relatives in her childhood, and then the rich clients she went on to work for as an adult banker.
    She would scoff and roll her eyes at "nouveau riche" aesthetics: anything showy, ostentatious, excessive, "tacky." She loved pointing out when newly upper class people were insecure of their wealth and status, explained how you could tell they were lesser than the old rich, inferior compared to the people bred with class and etiquette as priority. She could always smugly point out which people were "poors getting a little taste of the good life" and subsequently turn her nose up at them.
    But even as she looked down on everyone who wasn't as assured and muted and "classy" as the old rich, she didn't venerate these supposedly superior people either. To her, being classy was never about the money, but the mindset: assurance, quiet confidence, simple but clean aesthetics in everything. She used to tell me, "The way you dress with class is not to wear things that make you look like you're rich, but to always have pristine hygiene for your body and clothes, and never be seen wearing or using damaged things."
    This was how she still considered herself classy and continued gladly ragging on the poor, middle class, and the new rich - even after three decades of retiring from her bank job and being stuck as the housewife of a family living in a slum. She taught me all the possible tricks to wash and maintain the few hand-me-down clothes I had so they'd always look new, how to haggle with smugglers of foreign overruns so I could buy original products at the price of fakes, how to cook like mothers in provincial haciendas and never like cheap urban canteens.
    She's a complicated woman I haven't talked to in a long time, and when I was living with her we always clashed, but this aspect of her has always stood out to me.

    • @melaniey.5596
      @melaniey.5596 3 роки тому +167

      God damn, that’s one hell of a story. Thanks for sharing it.
      it’s interesting the contrast of what’s appreciated. While reading this I couldn’t help being reminded of the more modern fashion of “used” things. Like in jeans with washed up colors and holes. But I can see how a clean and “well maintained” look can be used to flex class, as those give te impression of “new”. (Thou what I find more intriguing is the attitude part, the self confidence)

    • @yeraysv9529
      @yeraysv9529 3 роки тому +70

      @@juno3234 probably because of fabric quality. If your clothes gets ruined after the first wash either you are doing atrocious things to them, or they were gonna rip apart the very second you stop looking at them anyways.

    • @katybee3891
      @katybee3891 3 роки тому +12

      @@juno3234 maybe you wash at a high temperature. Just look at the instructions on the sewn in tags

    • @phastinemoon
      @phastinemoon 3 роки тому +112

      I have a similar experience: My father came from old money, whilst my mother is from a firmly working class family (my granddad supported a wife and 8 kids on driving a bus) and the stark contrast between visiting the two always struck me - how we dressed, the food we’d eat, the kind of homes my two different grandparents lived in and how they were decorated/furnished, how not only me and my siblings were expected to behave but how all our aunts and uncles (and cousins) behaved, the things and the way the grownups talked. I remember my father’s side hosting quiet, somber, almost funereal Christmas dinners, with dim lighting, sparse decor, maybe some quiet music by the fireplace… and my mother’s side would always be bustling, loud, the kitchen the hub of activity, everyone in jeans or ugly sweaters, tinsel and big, candy-like lightbulbs, and kitschy ornaments hung on any and every surface, food would usually be tons of chips and crackers and cookies and soda… my dad even outright admitted that he experienced serious culture shock, the first time he came to one of my mother’s Christmas dinners.

    • @catty7457
      @catty7457 3 роки тому +41

      hey, just wanna thank you, that fourth paragraph about clothes always looking new and pristine just made me realize why i always felt poorer compared to my friends when we’d wear the same things. their clothes just always looked new. thank you.

  • @Ark15964
    @Ark15964 5 років тому +828

    “I used to get laughed out of restaurants” made me tear up. People are so awful.

    • @zucchinitime
      @zucchinitime 5 років тому +23

      Ark1 fuck, me too

    • @Ark15964
      @Ark15964 5 років тому +117

      @Aryan The Sage I do believe her because I've worked in places where I've seen with my own eyes trans women get openly harassed, and because there is a mountain of empirical evidence from within the social sciences that shows this is the case. I'm not even going to argue with you because you've clearly got an agenda lol. Sorry you're stuck, man.

    • @punkisdead2662
      @punkisdead2662 5 років тому +60

      @Aryan The Sage what perfect world do you live in where people never get harassed?

    • @SpecialBlanket
      @SpecialBlanket 4 роки тому +2

      When I was 16 I was dating a 24yo trans woman who was like 1 year on HRT I think (I was so young and had never even known a trans person before so I didn't even think to ask her anything about her transition or like... anything. her being trans rarely came up except indirectly with stuff like her abusive dad or certain intimacy issues). In retrospect it seemed like she passed most of the time in public. anyway one day we were eating at a restaurant in the "window seat" and these 4 teenage boys started like, paparazzi'ing her through the window? I had NO idea what was going on and thought it was just some kind of catcalling type of thing or because we were lesbians. in retrospect i should have kicked their ass. i feel really bad that i didn't know it was because they could tell she was trans.
      also disclaimer, definitely don't date a 16yo if you're 24, in this case it was fine but the reason it's wrong is that it's likely enough to turn out not fine that you're rolling the dice w someone else's future. please no comments about her having done that though that isn't what this comment is about, it's just to contextualize why I was so oblivious

  • @brassen
    @brassen 5 років тому +1394

    "When education is not liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to become the oppressor" - Paulo Freire

    • @probablyprocrastinating59
      @probablyprocrastinating59 5 років тому +155

      The first time I saw this quote it was under an image of Yoshi riding a horse in Super Mario Sports Superstars.

    • @johnsinclair4621
      @johnsinclair4621 5 років тому +37

      Probably Procrastinating This comment is precious

    • @whatabouttheearth
      @whatabouttheearth 5 років тому +4

      WOW!

    • @TheKrock106
      @TheKrock106 5 років тому +8

      where can I find this said image

    • @luizag123
      @luizag123 5 років тому +17

      someone's finna get killed under the Bolsonaro regime I see

  • @motherbat8344
    @motherbat8344 5 років тому +2183

    Dead malls really should be turned into homeless shelters. I've seen so many replaced with an empty lot.

    • @prime3106
      @prime3106 5 років тому +92

      In my city the abandoned mall is used as a movie set... films such as evolution, Tokyo drift, the green hornet and a couple of other shows have been filmed there... a part of it was actually repurposed for a small store and the school welcome center... but it's pretty much used as a parking lot for Northrop Grumman's workers to park and get shuttled to make more tiered models of airplanes like the new 747 Eddie Bauer edition with actual safety features that the 3rd world won't be able to afford.

    • @cjboyo
      @cjboyo 5 років тому +194

      Malls would make amazing community centers.

    • @murmea_meoi
      @murmea_meoi 5 років тому +42

      No one's gonna pay for it and they'll turn into ghettos

    • @mo3870
      @mo3870 5 років тому +12

      An abandoned mall back home has part of the city's police department and part of a school in it. Most of it is still unused though.

    • @abandonedchannel281
      @abandonedchannel281 5 років тому

      Jorge Lazarini wtf is a 747 Eddie Bauer

  • @enderwiggins8248
    @enderwiggins8248 3 роки тому +379

    I hope Natalie rents out another museum because the set and photography is stunning

    • @MashaRitvinsky
      @MashaRitvinsky 3 роки тому +25

      the set isn't a museum lmao, it's one of the buildings at my art school

    • @blutygar
      @blutygar 2 роки тому +23

      @@MashaRitvinsky Wow, then it's a very nice art school lol

  • @johnnyjoestar356
    @johnnyjoestar356 4 роки тому +2234

    As a nerdy kid with no athletic talent that was encouraged to pursue science, the way contra describes aesthetic pleasure for gems is the feeling I've been calling "curiosity" the all my life, starting to think the scientific community is a bunch of rational fetishists

    • @ordinarytree4678
      @ordinarytree4678 4 роки тому +212

      There is an addictive quality to solving a complex mathematical formula.

    • @CamembertDave
      @CamembertDave 4 роки тому +159

      That's a very good observation! Aesthetic pleasure is definitely a big appeal of mathematics for me.

    • @classicalsrock
      @classicalsrock 4 роки тому +109

      I study sociology and I feel this, an amazing sense of pleasure when theory connects with observation

    • @johnnyjoestar356
      @johnnyjoestar356 4 роки тому +71

      @@CamembertDave oh yeah, math is beautiful, all mathematicians refer to it more as art and language than science

    • @johnnyjoestar356
      @johnnyjoestar356 4 роки тому +126

      To all the people replying. I didn't mean the pleasure of solving shit. I meant the genuine fascination for something people in scientific circles call "curiosity" romanticising this feeling as "wanting knowledge" and "the desire to solve a problem" while as a failed botanist I can confirm flowers are just pretty

  • @Verdigris5348
    @Verdigris5348 5 років тому +2173

    The positive effect Natalie brings to this world shouldn't be understated.

  • @justatinyhalfling
    @justatinyhalfling 5 років тому +1180

    Shame on you, people who scream at her for a 10sec voice over so loudly that it hurts her more than the praise for the rest of this gem and all her previous work is able to build her up. You have so much to appreciate here, and if you can't see it, you don't deserve it either. Shame on you, you bullies.

    • @ShakespearsCyst
      @ShakespearsCyst 4 роки тому +45

      That is the perfect word for these people. Bullies.

    • @rojanrjeugenio1879
      @rojanrjeugenio1879 4 роки тому +29

      Isn't ironic with the guillotine ending? (Not a hater, I swear!)

    • @Khannea
      @Khannea 4 роки тому +26

      It's all fake protest about sexually traumatized lesbians pretending to be something else, and vindictive alt righters and reactionary racists who are also pretending to be something else. They try to appear as if there's this woke lib (retches) uprising against her, and there is not. But alas, she is indeed a modern madam Curie.

    • @itsiwhatitsi
      @itsiwhatitsi 4 роки тому +5

      This is the best example of how a YT video must be done

    • @durnsidh6483
      @durnsidh6483 4 роки тому +4

      And it's one of the least memorable quotes from the video.

  • @Jansforreal
    @Jansforreal 3 роки тому +311

    In case anyone was wandering, the intro is sung in German and translates to:
    Oh, how futile, how fleeting is the human
    So yeah, points for that

    • @LMvdB02
      @LMvdB02 2 роки тому +13

      What's funny is that a 'nicht' in Dutch is a 'fag' or 'queer' so nichtig means faggy or queer as adjective.

    • @moonsugar8938
      @moonsugar8938 2 роки тому +2

      Whats the name of it

    • @seyspectra
      @seyspectra Рік тому

      @@moonsugar8938 ua-cam.com/video/v65Y-s24sEY/v-deo.htmlsi=i7yd4UDUEdXKLvsj

  • @eoincampbell1584
    @eoincampbell1584 4 роки тому +1198

    The fact that this has so few dislikes shows that the majority of people that got angry over the voice clip in this didn't even bother coming to the video to dislike it let alone watch it.

    • @Flowtail
      @Flowtail 4 роки тому +96

      hey, let's not assume--maybe all of them _did_ come and dislike it!
      1.8K isn't a whole lot, but hey apparently it's enough to make a fantastic artist depressed for weeks

    • @Flowtail
      @Flowtail 4 роки тому +6

      @@Pinko-Diamond ah, i see you noticed the joke! :D

    • @silentj624
      @silentj624 4 роки тому +9

      I noticed that as well. I thought it'd have way more dislikes.

    • @silentj624
      @silentj624 4 роки тому +4

      Hell, I thought it have more views as well.

  • @Linkarcus
    @Linkarcus 5 років тому +1279

    Me seeing Natalie dressing Goth:
    I have graduated from "Step on me, mommy" to "Bite me, mommy."

  • @nonexistent6632
    @nonexistent6632 5 років тому +1689

    “I like stuff” Contra points is actually goblin core

    • @theamici
      @theamici 5 років тому +5

      Was that a LitRPG reference?

    • @weston8400
      @weston8400 4 роки тому +149

      It's a reference to a tumblr concept called Goblin Core; an aesthetic which encourages you to get in touch with the more primal and materialist aspects of your personality in a simplistic and unselfish way. Like collecting small amounts jewelry, shiny stones, pretty shells, colorful rocks; really anything nice looking and easy(ish) to get your hands on, so you can indulge in the feeling of having your own little hoard of wealth.

    • @seandra82
      @seandra82 4 роки тому +13

      I’d say more of a Kobold

    • @William_Porter
      @William_Porter 4 роки тому +22

      Damn I'm a goblin too I collect rocks, trinkets i found on the ground, glass pieces.

    • @dumpsockpuppet5619
      @dumpsockpuppet5619 4 роки тому +19

      Nah, she's obviously a Dragonkin, she likes to hoard all the loot

  • @emily-crawford-soprano9181
    @emily-crawford-soprano9181 2 роки тому +1100

    Just an offering to the algorithm deities. Who else watches Natalie's work over and over again?

    • @elisabethmontegna5412
      @elisabethmontegna5412 2 роки тому +32

      🙋‍♀️ I can’t possibly get everything out of them the first time through. Or the second.

    • @isntitabeautifulday1648
      @isntitabeautifulday1648 2 роки тому +25

      I just can't stop.

    • @VulpineVee
      @VulpineVee 2 роки тому +23

      I have all of her videos downloaded on my phone to watch or listen to whenever my phone is having connectivity issues

    • @rottengrapes8605
      @rottengrapes8605 2 роки тому +13

      same here. every contrapoints vid is a work of art

    • @hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195
      @hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 2 роки тому +5

      pretty sure at this point i know her videos better than her 😅

  • @trissylegs
    @trissylegs 4 роки тому +2116

    "rAp muSIc es thE reEson for prOBlems wIth the blAcks". Is the my faviore Ben Shapiro impersonation.

    • @kittykittybangbang9367
      @kittykittybangbang9367 3 роки тому +2

      ua-cam.com/video/7Yp9zMJ_KqM/v-deo.html

    • @legrandliseurtri7495
      @legrandliseurtri7495 3 роки тому +21

      Wait, he really said that? Sadly I'm not surprised.

    • @bcreel83
      @bcreel83 3 роки тому +10

      then you haven't really listened. his phrase is "the problem has nothing to do with race and everything to do with culture, and the governments' push to devalue the nuclear family (father in the family to especially guide their young sons and show better decision making) with a focus on education as an expectation, and modeling proper ways to deal with conflict and fear, and to show all of the opportunities available to their children, that especially grown with education, learning social niceties, and schools should be teaching real skills. like how to pay bills, what rent is. what gpa is. what happens to your future available choices, and why they become fewer and fewer, if they don't pick up on these expectations that society will expect you to know, and won't give you a pass, just because you weren't taught. it sucks to start in that situation, but thats where it needs to start. at home

    • @bcreel83
      @bcreel83 3 роки тому +7

      he also goes over " do these 3 things and you'll never be poor: graduate high school, get a full time job, and don't have children before you get married".
      and if you try and say "why is that important?" you know youre not being honest to yourself. that rings true for any human with a pulse any 10 year old would agree.

    • @legrandliseurtri7495
      @legrandliseurtri7495 3 роки тому +112

      @@bcreel83 Yeah, whatever. Shapiro is a fascist.

  • @lobrundell4264
    @lobrundell4264 4 роки тому +2546

    Oh yeah you like Contrapoints? Name five of her gemstones.

    • @lostotter1956
      @lostotter1956 4 роки тому +108

      Countrapoints is Thanos confirmed

    • @rebix6848
      @rebix6848 4 роки тому +72

      Obsidian, amethyst, uuuhhh... jade?

    • @kingkitty4248
      @kingkitty4248 4 роки тому +67

      Trashade, Campereye, subsidian, stranggeleigh, Falsewood.

    • @lobrundell4264
      @lobrundell4264 4 роки тому +13

      @@kingkitty4248 subsidian😄

    • @lolitaras22
      @lolitaras22 4 роки тому +36

      Baruch Spinoza, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Bo Burnham, John Waters.

  • @ccalvac18
    @ccalvac18 5 років тому +1682

    "A Gothic aesthetic for the 21st century- this decaying opulence that is the carcass of 20th century consumerism"
    V A P O R W A V E

  • @emmawalter5433
    @emmawalter5433 3 роки тому +981

    Now that Abigail Thorn is out of the closet between Abby and Natalie a new genre of youtube video has arrived: "Leftist transwoman in glamorous makeup and gorgeous costume pretend to be in their natural environment in fantastical places and wax philisophical." And as a leftist neurodivergent transwoman ex-theatre kid who likes facts and shiny things I have no choice but to stan hard.

    • @apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868
      @apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 3 роки тому +61

      I mean to be fair, even before Abby came out, she was still doing essentially the same thing

    • @johndododoe1411
      @johndododoe1411 2 роки тому +14

      @@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 Yeah, I started watching before Thorn switched to presenting as Abigail.

    • @freetousebyjtc
      @freetousebyjtc 2 роки тому +5

      too bad the two of them don't get along no more rip

    • @emmawalter5433
      @emmawalter5433 2 роки тому +5

      @@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 @John Dodo Doe I am aware she was doing it before she came out publicly, I also watched her before her coming out video, but we didn't know she was trans before that point.

    • @josephosullivan9891
      @josephosullivan9891 2 роки тому +2

      @@freetousebyjtc what is this based on?

  • @immunity_berry
    @immunity_berry 5 років тому +936

    “They won’t actually cut your heads off, but you’ll have to deploy militarized police. It’ll be a whole thing. Bad for profits. Nosy humanitarians will get involved.”

    • @mikelmontoya2965
      @mikelmontoya2965 5 років тому +77

      Do you also feel like this is kinda What's Wrong With Capitalism Part 3?

    • @femmefuntime
      @femmefuntime 5 років тому +8

      They’ll cut your heads off. They’ll break into your house guerrilla style and do it in front of your family. Sure they’ll deploy the pigs to the front lines, but you can bet a couple hundred will sneak around back and take em out

    • @himesilva
      @himesilva 5 років тому

      What's that quote from?

    • @RyanStorey1231
      @RyanStorey1231 5 років тому +9

      Anna Castro - "What's Wrong With Capitalism", either part 1 or part 2.

    • @mikelmontoya2965
      @mikelmontoya2965 5 років тому +3

      @@RyanStorey1231 it's from Part 1

  • @jesslesinski
    @jesslesinski 5 років тому +1779

    “Glamour associated with witchcraft, paganism and sexual deviancy.”
    Hey how are you? 🧙🏻‍♀️💋

    • @RoxanneJ81
      @RoxanneJ81 5 років тому +49

      We need to bring that definition of glamour back. I want to see that in a Vogue spread.

    • @salenebrom6476
      @salenebrom6476 5 років тому +1

      jesslesinski 🤔

    • @idigamstudios7463
      @idigamstudios7463 4 роки тому +3

      @@RoxanneJ81 As someone into all of those things, agreed Gorge.

    • @donnydarko47
      @donnydarko47 4 роки тому

      my life explained

  • @rinamine
    @rinamine 5 років тому +435

    When Natalie said, "We live in a society," I felt that. 😔😔😔

  • @maxscene7
    @maxscene7 3 роки тому +2106

    The Philippines canonically had a homosexual GOD couple, a trans GOD and trans communities, BEFORE WE WERE COLONIZED 😭

    • @malum9478
      @malum9478 3 роки тому +376

      many parts of the planet had equal or almost equal rights for women, open homosexuality, and multiple genders until hwite people showed up...

    • @soaribb32
      @soaribb32 3 роки тому +58

      @@malum9478 that's the case for most places, as far as I know.

    • @kertchu
      @kertchu 3 роки тому +252

      And then everything changed when the “Judeo-Christians” attacked

    • @taureansun1501
      @taureansun1501 3 роки тому +16

      Please who are these gods

    • @milk5815
      @milk5815 3 роки тому +10

      @@maxscene7 Nice a fellow based filipino

  • @AnDi-js8oy
    @AnDi-js8oy 5 років тому +675

    Vaporwave is literally the aesthetic of abandoned malls and eerie nostalgia... vaporwave is to the 80s what goth is to the victorian era

    • @disasterarea9341
      @disasterarea9341 5 років тому +63

      on top of that there is a specific subgenre of vaporwave known as Mallsoft which is specifically for that mall vibe, with 猫 シ Corp.'s Palm Mall being arguably the seminal album of the genre

    • @arturhours
      @arturhours 5 років тому +52

      there's a vaporwave album called "news at 11" where slowed down 80s music is undercut with footage from the moment before 9/11

    • @Minam0
      @Minam0 5 років тому +19

      Also the reoccurring imagery of white marble sculptures for that extra level of ruin

    • @GenkiGanbare
      @GenkiGanbare 5 років тому +24

      I'm amazed that Natalie nailed why I spend so much time watching those videos with a picture of the interior of an abandoned mall with muffled 90s pop music in the background. I couldn't even puts words to it myself, but now I have the words. I love the ghosts of the past and the loneliness of ruins.

    • @Steven-by5oq
      @Steven-by5oq 5 років тому +13

      I was thinking exactly this. *wave might be the goth for the 21st century kids

  • @muticere
    @muticere 4 роки тому +7250

    In hindsight the only thing that hasn’t aged great about this is the idea that Jeffrey Star is sympathetic lol

    • @phoebe.aur0ra
      @phoebe.aur0ra 4 роки тому +485

      LMAOOOOO we all really got fooled by shane and jeffree for a sec there

    • @umangmalik
      @umangmalik 4 роки тому +258

      the stanning has stopped

    • @Ricardo-fv2qi
      @Ricardo-fv2qi 4 роки тому +341

      Well, he had to be sympathetic to get away with all that shady behavior all along.

    • @averyplaysguitar
      @averyplaysguitar 4 роки тому +145

      I never knew that anyone has ever seriously liked Jeffrey Star

    • @phoebe.aur0ra
      @phoebe.aur0ra 4 роки тому +128

      @@averyplaysguitar I really wanted to like him, especially because his makeup products really are good. But I never liked his personality, and kinda realized that he hasn't changed most of the behavior that he apologized for. So I think a lot of people are really just there for the eyeshadow formula tbh

  • @Pigeonstatue4232
    @Pigeonstatue4232 5 років тому +515

    This is why you should never feel guilty for taking time and delaying a video if it needs it. This was amazing.

  • @phastinemoon
    @phastinemoon 3 роки тому +705

    0:00 - Intro
    3:00 - Opulence Main Titles
    3:19 - 1) Success
    7:28 - 2) Fantasy
    13:47 - 3) Class
    19:11 - 4) Taste
    28:18 - 5) Glamour
    34:20 - 6) Envy
    41:39 - 7) Ruin
    46:35 - End

    • @ksdtsubfil6840
      @ksdtsubfil6840 3 роки тому +9

      A like and a comment to elevate this

    • @lil_archive
      @lil_archive 3 роки тому +9

      gorgeous~ i love you for this

    • @random23287
      @random23287 3 роки тому +4

      She made an entire video on Envy, which is interesting...

    • @phastinemoon
      @phastinemoon 3 роки тому +3

      @@random23287 I tried to go through that one and do the same thing… harder to do, since that one, Natalie herself didn’t break into sections and define them with a single-word summation.

    • @incertis_itineribus
      @incertis_itineribus 3 роки тому +1

      thanks

  • @lizbethbarnes
    @lizbethbarnes 5 років тому +213

    "A gothic aesthetic for the 21st century; this this decaying opulence that is the carcass of 20th century consumerism" I'm SHAKING

    • @heliopolitan444
      @heliopolitan444 5 років тому +1

      QUICK! Get on this and cash out before it's too late!

    • @lvl99paint
      @lvl99paint 5 років тому +7

      Cyberpunk sorta fits I think? Contrasting the high tech fantasies of the 20th century with the low life, underground reality

    • @jlewwis1995
      @jlewwis1995 5 років тому +2

      I wonder how vaporwave fits into this

  • @kittyess
    @kittyess 5 років тому +562

    “F. Scott Sparknotes” I’m dead

  • @nevenagavric29
    @nevenagavric29 5 років тому +1890

    “We live in a society”
    -Natalie Wynn, 2019

    • @utahraptor4729874
      @utahraptor4729874 5 років тому +6

      Nevena funny I actually know who started the meme. It was Gang weed Antarctica on Facebook...

    • @EmperorKagato
      @EmperorKagato 5 років тому +1

      Here's your comment gold 🏅

    • @angeldeviltears
      @angeldeviltears 5 років тому +3

      natalie: in a society
      * zooms *
      me: * leaves video a like *

    • @mkmnll7456
      @mkmnll7456 5 років тому +3

      wow, it gets unexpectedly serious and deep doesn't it

    • @anoptforout
      @anoptforout 5 років тому +1

      "society", but pronounced like Chappelle's Rick James saying "UNITYYYYYY"

  • @felipevitorino7745
    @felipevitorino7745 Рік тому +48

    “My earliest memories are of aesthetic bliss.” Such a great line
    Natalie writes so well

  • @michaellacipriani6012
    @michaellacipriani6012 4 роки тому +2094

    I really appreciate the use of Baroque music in a video about opulence, taste, and class. Baroque music-especially Baroque opera-- occupies such a weird space in modern American culture. It's often used as an emblem of high class, yet it’s so at odds with the contemporary WASP notion of good taste. Baroque music is... well... tacky.
    Baroque music is sensual. It’s full of dance rhythms that constantly bring the music out of the head and into the body: the gavotte, chaconne, courante, gigue etc. Musicians like Monteverdi who we now think of as the pioneers of Baroque style introduced dissonant new harmonies that dramatize text by eliciting physical tension and release. These harmonies were disparaged at the time by conservative musicians as harsh and physically painful to listen to.
    Baroque music is show-off-y. The A-B-A da-capo aria form, popularized in the Baroque period, basically only existed so virtuosic singers could amaze audiences with technical fireworks in improvised runs and trills in a repeated A-section. Musicians in the subsequent classical period mostly did away with da-capo arias in their efforts to cull the excesses of the Baroque.
    And then there’s the visual design: Plenty of Baroque period costumes would look over-the-top on a drag stage! The word “Baroque” itself disparages the period’s aesthetic extra-ness. The term comes from the French word meaning “misshapen” and was originally used to describe lumpy pearls. By 1767, Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française defined the word as “irregular, bizarre or unequal”.
    Baroque concerts were rowdy. Audience etiquette in that era’s operas was really more like a modern football game than a modern classical music performance: People leaving the theater and coming back for the famous singers’ arias, talking, eating, drinking, having a good time with their friends.
    And Baroque opera is pretty darn queer. So many of the plots feature men disguising themselves as women, women disguising themselves as men, sometimes “accidentally” falling in love with someone of their same gender… Then there’s the convention of female mezzo-sopranos playing young men, of male tenors playing old women, of soprano and mezzo castrati playing masculine romantic heroes...
    It always makes me laugh to hear conservatives holding up Baroque music as exemplary of restraint or good taste. Especially when they're using it to bash contemporary music's perceived harshness, sensuality, aesthetic excess, or lack of respect for tradition.
    “It is my belief that there is nothing but smoke in the heads of such composers and that they are so enamored of themselves as to think it within their power to corrupt, spoil, and ruin the good old rules handed down in former times by so many theorists and most excellent musicians, the very men from whom these moderns have learned to string together a few notes with little grace.”
    (“Of the Imperfections of Modern Music” by Giovanni Maria Artusi. Written in criticism of Claudio Monteverdi in the year 1600.)

    • @johnwalker1058
      @johnwalker1058 3 роки тому +108

      So older generation people being like "the youngster's music of this generation sucks, my generation had real sh*t" sentiments basically run back through human history. Got it.

    • @StarberryGAME
      @StarberryGAME 3 роки тому +55

      Wow, thank you for this observation. Another brilliant layer to the video that I'm sure went over a lot of people's heads (I know it went over mine)

    • @klisterklister2367
      @klisterklister2367 3 роки тому +41

      i feel this in my soul, baroque music slaps

    • @elenamora1150
      @elenamora1150 3 роки тому +23

      Okay, I need to state: I love you - or at least I love, how your mind works. Now I'll have to listen to more baroque music. Thanks for your analysis and interpretation

    • @r.taylor8836
      @r.taylor8836 3 роки тому +10

      So, if its not Baroque, do fix it? Nothing is truly as classy as anyone likes to think of it as.

  • @hannahbevan7055
    @hannahbevan7055 5 років тому +1606

    “English gentleman Oscar Wilde” this hurts my Irish heart

    • @michaellevesley3578
      @michaellevesley3578 5 років тому +68

      I was just about to comment saying that oscar wilde was irish

    • @h0wnr681
      @h0wnr681 5 років тому +29

      @@michaellevesley3578 I had no idea, he's always shown in media with an english accent

    • @cfmorrow1
      @cfmorrow1 5 років тому +98

      That's not contra points fault. I mean, shes not wrong in a way. Wilde was Anglo Saxon or anglo irish and our country hasn't a very good history of acknowledging people of different religions, and also hated people who had any UK ancestry and treated them like they had no place here. Also he lived abroad and his acceptance into the irish cannon is only very recently because of his whole court case and the state of homophobia at the time.

    • @ONeill01
      @ONeill01 5 років тому +1

      Ughh 😞

    • @michellejean11
      @michellejean11 5 років тому +22

      We can forgive Natalie for this little slip mostly we Irish know who Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was.

  • @jennybrockartist
    @jennybrockartist 5 років тому +495

    "The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Sparknotes"
    That made me spit out my tea

    • @user-yz9kz6vt9y
      @user-yz9kz6vt9y 5 років тому +7

      That kind of surprised me that she made a Sparknotes joke about this book, because the Great Gatsby is such a short little novel. Sparknotes is typically used only for the long, tedious ones.

    • @anny8720
      @anny8720 5 років тому +31

      @@user-yz9kz6vt9y You'd be surprised at the level of procrastination and laziness most high schoolers possess.

    • @qaisellkurdi962
      @qaisellkurdi962 5 років тому +7

      Former lazy high schooler here. Yeah I found the book super tedious even as short as it is. I can barely remember what the book was about now that I think of it.

    • @harry_ord
      @harry_ord 5 років тому

      @Androva J. why?

    • @tfh5575
      @tfh5575 5 років тому +1

      Whoever didn’t crack up at that didn’t attend american high school 2005-2009ish

  • @mrnonsense1031
    @mrnonsense1031 3 роки тому +440

    "They call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."
    -George Carlin

  • @JudyBarazi13
    @JudyBarazi13 5 років тому +1984

    I believe it was John Mulaney who said “Donald Trump is what a poor person thinks a rich person is”

    • @arnaudlangenais-desmarais3230
      @arnaudlangenais-desmarais3230 5 років тому +31

      IT IS!

    • @MediaOnMute
      @MediaOnMute 5 років тому +21

      Many, many people have made this banal observation.

    • @Horadrius
      @Horadrius 5 років тому +73

      A poor man’s idea of a rich man, a stupid man’s idea of a smart man, and a weak man’s idea of a strong man.

    • @justalostlocal
      @justalostlocal 5 років тому +16

      @@Horadrius Nailed it.
      He has to show off his money, he has to look down on people, he has to bully to get his way.
      All of these point to the opposites of what Trump said he is.

    • @angelbarajas9180
      @angelbarajas9180 5 років тому +2

      Trump 2020

  • @faustoxylopysche3449
    @faustoxylopysche3449 5 років тому +528

    "Oh, Kingsley. It looks mexican!" LMAO

    • @iluan_
      @iluan_ 5 років тому +44

      Fuck yea! Our culture is full of color and I wouldn't want it any other way.
      Also, I just noticed that many of the words that we use as slang for "Tacky" here in Mexico tend to imply something like "indigenous/very Mexican"... Crap

    • @skellagyook
      @skellagyook 5 років тому +10

      Or one could also say it looks Greek/Italian/Mediterranean. Those cultures still tend to like color. It's not really surprising that their ancient ancestors did too.

    • @skellagyook
      @skellagyook 5 років тому +9

      If you think about it, even many Northern European cultures (both East and West European) like(d) color (or have in their history), including the ancestors of the "WASPS" (the Ango-Saxons/Germanic tribes, Celts including the Insular Celts, etc. - based on their their art: jewelry, surviving textiles, some sculpture , etc. -, and that was often true in Norther Europe later periods, e.g. into the Elizabethan era). I'm not sure why they're less associated with that now (that is, in Northwest Europe), perhaps the influence of Calvinism (and similar sects) is part of the reason.

    • @MascaraMorada
      @MascaraMorada 5 років тому

      I wonder what that means for quinceañeras then?

    • @spacepopeXIV
      @spacepopeXIV 5 років тому +6

      @@iluan_ Yeah, Mexicans tend to be very self-humiliating in regards to their own culture, anything, or almost anything that is not of fair to white skin, American-like, or European-like, is seen as ghetto and like you said "tacky." My family from my dad's side is pretty much full of racists who look down upon the indigenous cultures and immigrants coming from Central and South America. My dad's family are also completely swoon over and highly admiring of American, white culture and white Western brands like Gap, Banana Republic, Chanel, so on and so forth. My mom also talks about how Mexicans are very ashamed of their Mexican features, and how when she was young, Mexican society very much only cared about fair-skinned and white-skinned people, or at least gave them a lot of attention, if not, the only attention. They still do of course when you look at all the telenovelas and the actors, they very fair and white skin.

  • @madmady8278
    @madmady8278 5 років тому +615

    I think the fact that the 80s has decayed so much is very emblematic of why so many movies and shows want to recreate it. My generation has never really seen the true 80s. So like with ancient Greeks or the Victorians we adore seeing this forgotten era of financial and social prosperity unfold in a highly dramatised representation. Even though it's rarely a historically accurate depiction of the time itself.
    But similarly theres a growing distance between us and that era. Though it belonged to my parents theres a growing air of divide, as my generation sees less and less of a future and our parents care less and less about trying to save one for us.
    In that way the 80s are haunted to us. They represent a time of unhindered growth and opportunity for the generation that came before us. But to us they represent the final reaping of our resources, a garish race to take the last with little consideration for all the children yet to come.
    The mall IS the vampires nest, and theres a morbid satisfaction for youth in watching it die.

    • @leahheim1923
      @leahheim1923 5 років тому +31

      LOVE THIS

    • @jumpoutatree
      @jumpoutatree 5 років тому +28

      Speaking as someone who lived through the 80s, the striving and avarice of that decade was nothing compared to that of 2004-2007. I've never lived through a blingier era than that.

    • @angelaslittlebit
      @angelaslittlebit 5 років тому +33

      To me, the 80s is the era that set the course for the world we live in today. In it, there was a significant shift to the right politically (Regan, Thatcher, etc). This increased wealth for some, but at the expense of those with less. The yuppies of those days were the winners, and the rust belts were for the rest. Since then, the disparity has spread, creeping over a larger and larger proportion of society.
      I remember many voices during the 80s decrying the growing divide between those in society with a future and those without. The only real change has been one of proportion.

    • @nerveagent1905
      @nerveagent1905 5 років тому +1

      There's something satisfying about it, certainly

    • @Shaigorath
      @Shaigorath 5 років тому +4

      The joke is on this generation because the malls died and were replaced by cheap crap from Walmart and Amazon.

  • @greycat1246
    @greycat1246 7 місяців тому +18

    going back to this video years later I'm struck by how Natalie predicted the boom of liminal spaces as a horror aesthetic
    as much as they've become a bit trite now, I can't help but love them, they do evoke this sense of decay in the 21st century, clean artificial rot

  • @linseyspolidoro5122
    @linseyspolidoro5122 5 років тому +512

    That Jo Weldon line: “Tacky, like hell, is always other people.” 👌🏻
    Spot on.

    • @chubbybee2
      @chubbybee2 5 років тому +9

      Personally, I fully enjoy being tacky on purpose. Decora is fun and it fuels my soul

    • @seanaaron7888
      @seanaaron7888 5 років тому

      I'm now confused about the definition of tacky. I'm surprised poor/poverty was left out of the description because that's how I always thought of it. I grew up in a trailer park and my parent always called things like exposed wood, blankets in windows, people outside in pjs, etc., as tacky..

  • @blueheartsystem1502
    @blueheartsystem1502 4 роки тому +1372

    never realized so many philosophers were gay until you mentioned it.
    wow.
    how long as the gay agenda existed?

    • @delen4386
      @delen4386 4 роки тому +127

      idk ask the sumerians they were into trans women and nonbinary folks were assigned magic powers, these greek only copied pasted itt

    • @not_obsidian
      @not_obsidian 4 роки тому +56

      delen y kore gacha so the gay agenda has existed for as long as civilization has...wait until some folks realize that lol

    • @aecides3203
      @aecides3203 4 роки тому +95

      @@not_obsidian Yeah, around since the dawn of civilisation with our agenda and we still haven't collapsed it into an orgy of deviant behaviour. We really need to step up our game or nobody's going to take us seriously.
      Soon my pretties, soon.

    • @henryanderson6752
      @henryanderson6752 4 роки тому +10

      How old is thinking?

    • @i_snort_bathsalts8388
      @i_snort_bathsalts8388 4 роки тому +20

      You: we're gay?
      Everyone else: always has been
      Click

  • @EyeLean5280
    @EyeLean5280 5 років тому +2470

    Natalie, I'm very sorry about the blowback you've been getting for this. It's a masterpiece. Please remember that this too shall pass, and that the beautiful job you did on this video will long outlive the negativity. We love you.

    • @KellyanneKashaS
      @KellyanneKashaS 5 років тому +26

      I've not seen anything what is going on?

    • @EyeLean5280
      @EyeLean5280 5 років тому +262

      @@KellyanneKashaS Some people got upset because one of the voiceovers was done by Buck Angel, whose opinions are considered anti-non-binary. Natalie says she wasn't aware of those opinions and that seems very likely, since finding his old quotes wasn't easy when this video dropped.
      A portion of Natalie's fan base basically started calling for blood. They called her ugly names, sent her threats, sent death threats to her friends, such as Ollie. It's revolting.

    • @Xondar11223344
      @Xondar11223344 5 років тому +180

      @@EyeLean5280 It was a disgusting display by a certain portion of the leftist community egged on by right-wing provocateurs.

    • @EyeLean5280
      @EyeLean5280 5 років тому +32

      @@Xondar11223344 Agreed.

    • @Argacyan
      @Argacyan 5 років тому +42

      To be fair Contra has not gotten flak "for this", she got it for collabing with Buckangel for like 16 seconds or whatever in this. Also Buckangel isn't just "considered anti-non-binary" there is overt NBphobia and I don't believe she didn't know about this because she also has said that Buck was an idol for her (which seems to be true).

  • @highclass_lady
    @highclass_lady Рік тому +42

    "For the wealthy and powerful, opulence is a flex, a demonstration of their wealth and power; but for the marginalized and impoverished, opulence is a simulacrum of the wealth and power they’ve been denied." -Natalie Wynn
    saving this quote 💓

  • @heroicfool8541
    @heroicfool8541 5 років тому +255

    "This decaying opulence that is the carcass of 20th century consumerism." Thank you for inspiring my next horror story aesthetic.

    • @Talmonis42
      @Talmonis42 5 років тому +6

      Yeah, it's the background I've been working with of late as well. Few things are more disturbing to me than the empty halls and boarded up houses of American decay. We spent two centuries killing all of the predators that could threaten our cities and towns, pushing them further and further into the wilderness, when we didn't exterminate them entirely. One wonders what kind of things will prosper in empty towns of fewer and fewer "sane" people.

    • @HammarHeart
      @HammarHeart 5 років тому

      Soooo, Dawn of the Dead?

  • @phodilus2141
    @phodilus2141 4 роки тому +845

    Dan Howell as Oscar Wilde? we have no choice but to stan

    • @olivercetus6956
      @olivercetus6956 4 роки тому +26

      I was so happy to hear his voice again that I couldn’t believe it was him at first TwT

    • @anomienormie8126
      @anomienormie8126 4 роки тому +13

      I didn't recognise his voice!! Never expected to see him Here. Does anyone have a time stamp? I'm trying to find it again but I can't.
      Edit: Oh nvm I found it. 21:00

    • @smileyface702
      @smileyface702 3 роки тому +4

      I hope she was joking about oscar wilde being English

    • @noodlez9825
      @noodlez9825 3 роки тому +1

      i can't tell if this is a call to action to stan oscar wilde, dan howell, or natalie. so i'm just gonna stan all three. 😌💅🏽

  • @EikokuSama
    @EikokuSama 5 років тому +383

    "oh kingsley....it looks...it looks mexican!"
    added to my list of criminally underrated contrapoints lines

    • @rawhamburgerjoe
      @rawhamburgerjoe 5 років тому +1

      My brother is a classics professor and his advisor's first name was Kingsley.

    • @maxrubin4001
      @maxrubin4001 5 років тому

      My favorite underrated Contrapoints line is "Good banter, well done" from her video "The Aesthetic"

  • @Dekubud
    @Dekubud 2 роки тому +140

    As a trans guy from a dirt poor family, I think this video really helped me understand my "gaudy" tastes, how they both conflict and go along with my desire to pass as well as how I came to accept those gaudy tastes at the same time I accepted my transness.
    I think people have associated gaudiness with feminity so much they don't consider that leather jackets completely covered in spikes, huge motorcycles, being covered in tattoos or owning a huge offroad truck as a city dweller are, in essence, just as gaudy is a any example you gave in your video. To me, they all are gaudy and I say that while unironically loving those things.
    I wonder if my bad taste should be considered naive or not. Because I don't like tacky things or dress in a tacky way ironically. I sincerely love those things but I also know they fall outside of what is considered classy and am completely capable of dressing in a classy way.

    • @nikk6435
      @nikk6435 Рік тому +7

      interesting. I'm transmasculine as well and my guilty gaudy thing is this country hip-hop white boy aesthetic. I'm quite in a conflict with this, as someone who is not related to it culturally and also who holds progressive left views, while I associate that aesthetic with conservatism. I think for me it is a manifestation of being an immigrant who grew up liking American things and a way gender dysphoria messed with me. It's like I cringe and love it at the same time. Have never reflected on it before, and now I did!

    • @tortis6342
      @tortis6342 Рік тому +2

      Oof yeah. I love the exuberant flamboyance of 90s grunge, even though I’m too pragmatic to wear bright colors.

    • @maximumslap2687
      @maximumslap2687 6 місяців тому

      What a cool take. Now that I think about it, what is the crass, playful exuberance of 1960’s Kustom Kulture if not “masculine” camp. Or the modern bosozoku subculture.
      I honestly don’t know much about these subcultures or their histories, but I’ve noticed in photos from earlier 1950’s hot rodder meetups girls posing with boys and styling themselves exactly the same, in the same cut of jeans and custom leather jackets. Curiously, in sharp contrast with the fiction of some 1960’s underground *biker* comics I’d once read (and at least one movie) that place heavy emphasis on strict separation of gender roles - only men are the bikers, hypermasculine, unkempt, violent, criminal; whereas women are always roadside bar dwellers, promiscuous, hyperfeminine, often disposable partners for the male characters, even if that itself is portrayed as tragic.

  • @tonycampbell1424
    @tonycampbell1424 5 років тому +800

    "When I was young, in the 1970's"
    "When I was young, in the 1940's"
    Oh come now, girl. We all know better.
    You were never young; you're just a force of nature in corporeal form, a timeless muse with lungs and teeth and fabulous legs.

    • @jungoo3486
      @jungoo3486 5 років тому +5

      I was born in the 1902 lol am still alive you mere mortals!

    • @dalegribble4308
      @dalegribble4308 5 років тому +3

      Anonymous Human9999 mr burns?

    • @dalegribble4308
      @dalegribble4308 5 років тому +1

      Tony Campbell she was an Atlantean priestess. Check out atlantean ball pictures online

    • @rhyderrek6155
      @rhyderrek6155 5 років тому +6

      I maintain that she is an avatar of Dionysus.

    • @Plant_Parenthood
      @Plant_Parenthood 5 років тому +3

      Most people dont know this but when you change genders, you have to start ageing again from 0

  • @DocBree13
    @DocBree13 4 роки тому +757

    Damn, I love this woman. I feel like I should get university fine arts credit for watching some of these videos.

  • @Nuvizzle
    @Nuvizzle 5 років тому +301

    This video was actually secretly about the Joker movie the whole time. We truly do live in a society.

  • @danielconradie191
    @danielconradie191 2 роки тому +126

    I come back to this video from time to time, absolutely love it. I'm at the section now where you talk about marble statues and how they were originally painted, and it reminded me of a recent experience I had.
    Our art collective recently completed a mural in a small rural town in South Africa. Very conservative, the legacy of Apartheid still very much palpable: white people live in the desirable town centre, whereas the labour force (predominantly mixed race) are housed on the outskirts. It was actually startling (but admittedly somewhat entertaining also) to witness how inflammatory our presence was. A young queer child who grew up in a conservative small town, now given the opportunity to disrupt another conservative small town? How tantalizing a prospect is that!?
    Our work tends to be very bright, colourful, and geometric in nature, and it was fascinating to see how the two social classes received the work. On one side, we had a literal mob of townspeople (and the local pastor) who came to object, threatening us with legal action, and rather bluntly implying that the use of bright colours are reserved for the lower class (read non-whites). "Go paint the shacks in the township, there's no place for colour here," one woman screamed at us. Their main complaint was that they did not feel included in the design of the mural, even though the artwork was created following a pattern making workshop that we hosted with the local community, with an open invitation to all. Then after the fact insisted that we include all kinds of naive iconography predominantly revolving around the agricultural sector - some of which we incorporated, but after their little pitchforkless mob decided to blatantly ignore.
    And the rest of the community? They absolutely loved it, immediately made it their own, helped us paint, and even took shifts guarding it at night to make sure that nobody came to deface it.
    It was fascinating to see how something as benign as colour can have such a powerful effect on people.

  • @RevolutionUtena
    @RevolutionUtena 5 років тому +514

    I’m just going to pretentiously note that my ancient Roman art obsessed self is really happy that you’re spreading the gospel of painted statues.

    • @ArgoIo
      @ArgoIo 5 років тому +29

      Considering how expensive and hard to get by bright and vivid pigments where in ancient times, seeing a sculpture or building in it's original painted state can be breathtaking.

    • @d3nza482
      @d3nza482 5 років тому +7

      @@ArgoIo It's about as original as the white marble look was. Actually, it's more like a cheap Chinese knockoff.
      Originals were painted to achieve life-like authenticity. Recreations were painted to achieve sensationalism.
      That is why they are painted as if by a small child, slapping a flat coat of paint over various parts of the statue while leaving most of its marble unpainted - they were going for the shock effect of paint on chalk.
      "OMG! They were NOT white?! Well, I say..."
      Romans left quite a few paintings and mosaics showing that they understood the use of paint to achieve shades, tones and texture of human skin and garments.
      Assuming that those same artists were painting their VERY HARD to make and VERY EXPENSIVE statues as children would paint their wooden dolls only reveals the inbred superiority and disdain of the folks doing the painting of those replicas.
      Both over the "Roman pagans" and of the general unwashed public.
      "So... You think that you know something about Romans, you poor peasant? Do you have even a mere masters?"
      Same as with talk of "whitewashing".
      As if renaissance artists, whose esthetic it is that ended up being copied through later centuries, were busy with setting a racial agenda. Must be why they used bronze for blonds.
      apollo.imgix.net/content/uploads/2019/01/WebImage_FebDiary_closeup.jpg

    • @yltraviole
      @yltraviole 5 років тому +31

      @@d3nza482 I don't think it was just sensationalism. Scientific methods can deduce that these marble statues were painted red, or blue or whatever, but subtler shades than that can't be found by just checking the chemicals left behind on marble. Maybe it can be assumed by comparing the statues to the mosaics and frescoes of the ancients, but the people making the reconstructions could have reasoned that, since it can't be proven with absolute certainty, we shouldn't base them on those assumptions.
      That said, I suspect that the next wave of scientific discourse is going to argue that the original colors were actually subtler and not as flat. But I don't think it's fair to assume that the current reconstructions are the result of sensationalism instead of the lack of nuance of an archeologic discovery in process.

    • @Cythil
      @Cythil 5 років тому +4

      @@yltraviole I think the problem is that we sometime assume something to be the norm without exploring the other options. We assumed that the marble statues where not painted so we always presented it as that. Not to extreme assumption I will admit. But now we know they where painted. We do however assume a bit to much sometimes in what techniques where used and often assume just the simplest techniques where used. It a good base start but I think we should also explore (And especially look) for other possibilities. We can see this in other fields to. Like sometimes certain species of dinosaurs appears unfeathered in reconstructions just because we have not found any traces of feathers yet on those parts. But every related species do have feathers on those parts. I think in some cases it would make more sense for us to actually explore alternatives since it might inspire us to look for signs of those potential alternatives.
      And of course. Do not assume that people (or nature, when we talk about palaeontology) needs to conform to our sense of aesthetics today. I quite like white marble. But I understand that while I might find a white temple to look aetheticaly pleasing people in the past wanted something more colourful. And I have actually come to appreciate my self more rich colours and feathered dinos. Leaving me in a situation where I like both the old and the new old old. Both the artificial and the real. ;)

    • @tommier5210
      @tommier5210 5 років тому +1

      I like your username.

  • @amaravazquez8591
    @amaravazquez8591 4 роки тому +799

    "A gothic aesthetic for the 21st century". Could this be why Vaporwave became so popular? It started off as a joke but then the meaning behind it became more genuine and intriguing. A nostalgic admiration and ridicule for the heydays of grand shopping malls and yuppie corporate America.

    • @shanegrele
      @shanegrele 4 роки тому +17

      I think "Neon Palm Mall" actually uses footage from the dead malls series, maybe even of the Owings Mills mall.

    • @celeri6497
      @celeri6497 4 роки тому +14

      i have to agree. i thought immediately of vaporwave when i heard "dead malls"

    • @domimera
      @domimera 4 роки тому +24

      Wasn't it the opposite? It started very clearly with a meaning but turned into a joke/meme as it became more popular. I think only recently have people started thinking about vaporwave again as some form of commentary rather that hihi a e s t h e t i c

    • @becks_r
      @becks_r 4 роки тому +6

      Dominik Maleš I think the subconscious desire to look at the 80-90s for inspiration can actually still have that meaning OP said, even if it was just a “meme” at its genesis.

    • @janetmarlena6815
      @janetmarlena6815 4 роки тому +5

      That's what I was thinking, It's kinda a broken utopian feeling.

  • @katieprescott4944
    @katieprescott4944 5 років тому +530

    Natalie laughing at her own jokes makes me all warm inside.

    • @Fireprincess161
      @Fireprincess161 5 років тому +7

      I'm super glad I stayed after the lecture. The outtakes were great, although it's hard not to see her as trying to add relatability after everything she said. I still appreciate it.

  • @highclass_lady
    @highclass_lady 2 роки тому +41

    I love the illuision of "untouchable" "safety" & "security" that a "comfortable" life suggests. A fantasy of being unbothered by, or at least more equipped to deal with, a lot of the worries, precarity, danger & instability that makes the underprivileged particularly vulnerable. Seeking out 'simulacrums' & escapism reminds me of a *Breakfast At Tiffany's* quote (alluding to anxiety & PTSD) *"Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there"*

  • @mxrush76
    @mxrush76 5 років тому +886

    I'm grateful with you, I'm a simple heterosexual guy that has understood a lot of things about trans and LGBT community that help me to reach a healthy masculinity.

    • @leoleyva4719
      @leoleyva4719 4 роки тому +88

      we love that for you self aware king

    • @Wesker10000
      @Wesker10000 4 роки тому +1

      What does that even look like? We're still privileged as fuck. How is that healthy?

    • @Flowtail
      @Flowtail 4 роки тому +43

      @@Wesker10000 my dude, your comment kinda implies that all the cis, het, able-bodied, white men gotta go give themselves a disability and marry a trans PoC, otherwise they Cannot Exist due to their Privilege
      power isn't in itself a moral good or ill, rather it comes in how that power is wielded

    • @Wesker10000
      @Wesker10000 4 роки тому

      @Kimmy I wanna know what healthy masculinity looks like. I don't want to be toxic but I don't know how It is possible.

    • @Wesker10000
      @Wesker10000 4 роки тому

      @@Flowtail Marrying wouldn't fix anything. Being discriminated against would. Or not existing/excluding ourselves from the public sphere.
      Yeah. But how it is gotten is also important. We got it unjustly.

  • @thepresence365
    @thepresence365 5 років тому +474

    As an English teacher, I stand behind Natalie's synopsis of F. Scott Sparknotes' work 👍

  • @m.h2247
    @m.h2247 4 роки тому +6248

    This is what Shane Dawson thinks he is

    • @soaribb32
      @soaribb32 4 роки тому +436

      Without the "I'm poor" BS

    • @discodirk48
      @discodirk48 4 роки тому +19

      LOL

    • @m00nrac00n
      @m00nrac00n 4 роки тому +263

      Sadly he became more of a Gigi than a ContraPoints.

    • @ahhh4117
      @ahhh4117 4 роки тому +353

      He lacks the know of how to create a non-biased informative video essay. He gets too caught up by his own sympathy to report facts and harsh analysis. It's a wonderful quality in a friend, but an awful one to have in a journalist

    • @atomnous
      @atomnous 4 роки тому +3

      they should make a video together

  • @timetotalktitanic7381
    @timetotalktitanic7381 3 роки тому +62

    The occasional “hey how are you?” are so hilarious! I dunno why, they just kill me hahaha gotta love Natalie

  • @aidenb1304
    @aidenb1304 5 років тому +2291

    My only problem with this video is that you never said "hip-hopulence"

    • @sudevsen
      @sudevsen 5 років тому +4

      Rap Glamour

    • @JHVH
      @JHVH 5 років тому +7

      I thought this same thing during the hip-hop segment!!

    • @dipp1511
      @dipp1511 5 років тому +3

      @PrettyNeckslashes have sex

    • @andie1508
      @andie1508 5 років тому +1

      I love that. Hip-hopulance!

    • @DanCicala
      @DanCicala 5 років тому +1

      That's why Pitchfork gave this video a 9.9.

  • @DylanGeick
    @DylanGeick 5 років тому +2150

    Born in 1998, I can say the 20th century was still kicking until probably around the recession of 2007. I can remember when my local mall was a paradise, my parents were not worried about their credit, and class ascension seemed almost expected. Now the mall is dying, losing money renovating itself bit by bit; Frankenstein’s monster sewing on a new limb after each decays. Even that can’t hide the fact that three of the five department stores have closed and the average lifespan of a store isn’t even six months, with more empty retail space each year. The large suburb snaked through with a golf course that stopped construction 3/4 of the way through when the recession hit is now full of house poor families clinging to their property or empty homes abandoned underwater by tenants who now rent and have nothing to pass on to their children. I feel like I’m painting a bleak picture, but I think maybe that’s the spirit of the millennial age. Next video please: Millennial YOLO culture and financial recklessness inspired by the age of hopelessness in the face of a burdened global economy, looming climate crisis, and seemingly more chaotic global conflicts.
    On another note, this video was amazingly done and kudos to everyone who worked on it. Each video is better and better. 👍

    • @Theomite
      @Theomite 5 років тому +79

      I was out of high school when you were born and I can tell you that mall culture was really not as great by then. You want peak mall culture, you gotta go with early '80s and early '90s. That's when going to the mall was a serious social outing for young people and wasn't marred by need (shit, I gotta go to the mall and get something) or the rising awareness of corporate pandering. By the late 90s, being a mallrat was more stigmatized than in the early 90s when they were really sold to gullible young people as the place to be. Also, by the late 90s movies like CLERKS had really shown the downside of service industry work to people who weren't old enough yet and the mall was nothing but service industry so the allure was largely gone. It was also the time of the $18 CD and that really didn't help.

    • @ninjacats1647
      @ninjacats1647 5 років тому +26

      It's only a matter of time before malls are obsolete. Brick and mortar institutions are slowly being replaced by the internet. Give it a few decades before Colleges start closing en masse, when they figure out how to make college classes easily accessible online. Most of the information in Colleges can be found on youtube already anyways. It's only a matter of time before even well established institutions start to crumble at the advance of the digital age. And I hope it does too, the digital age is more efficient than the industrial era.

    • @l-y-d-s
      @l-y-d-s 5 років тому +39

      The 20th Century ended with 9/11. Malls were in decline prior to the financial crisis. 9/11 kicked off a global war on terror to and numerous wars to reshape the Middle East in order to control oil and gas reserves which continues to this day. This resource scramble In the face of scarcity marks the beginning of the current century where even water will become a scarce commodity for the global south.

    • @autumnwindwalker
      @autumnwindwalker 5 років тому +8

      @@Theomite I second this. I'm Gen X and I was a mall rat in the 1980s. That was the mall heyday.

    • @bradpeterson6259
      @bradpeterson6259 5 років тому +5

      r/wallstreetbets is literally millenial yolo culture concentrate

  • @alextheasparagus6675
    @alextheasparagus6675 5 років тому +481

    This perfectly describes why I hate the “bright and fresh” interior aesthetic that everyone who wants to look classy has. You know the style with only a few ornaments, everything is white, white, white. And also the gothic segment hit me so hard and I could relate it a lot to my own fascination for 80s goth culture and my love for the ruins (as in not just literal ruins, but ruins as in a concept). As always your videos really makes me Think a lot!

    • @msjkramey
      @msjkramey 5 років тому +14

      Does that mean I'm basic? Lol. I love mid century modern, with all white and light wood and minimalists pops of color
      I also love Victorian houses, which made me feel hella called out when she compared them to mcmansions because I've always looked down on those mass produced, ugly houses lol

    • @jenm1
      @jenm1 5 років тому +2

      cringeee

    • @Udontkno7
      @Udontkno7 5 років тому

      I like that look, it's simple and clean. But I prefer warm clean colors. Browns and blacks.

    • @zw6201pppnp
      @zw6201pppnp 5 років тому

      Hot Topic has a bright and fresh interior aesthetic

    • @ayanna6327
      @ayanna6327 5 років тому +9

      I also hate the white-on-white aesthetic. It reminds me of hospitals.

  • @nathanphillips6911
    @nathanphillips6911 Рік тому +21

    I think this is my favorite of all of Natalie's work. This really is a masterpiece.

    • @felipevitorino7745
      @felipevitorino7745 Рік тому

      This was her Magnum Opus.
      Deep reflections, dead on predictions, delivery on point, music crisp, ART!
      AAAARRRRRTTTTT

  • @Cote-de-Boeuf
    @Cote-de-Boeuf 5 років тому +305

    I laughed harder than I have in a while at you referring to Anita Sarkeesian as the most notorious art critic of the 21st century, mostly because it's 100% true.

    • @ViolentVegan
      @ViolentVegan 5 років тому +16

      Oh my god you're actually right... This just blew my mind.

    • @notrod5341
      @notrod5341 5 років тому +5

      @dise ryusa
      BOTTOM TEXT

    • @WindspriteM
      @WindspriteM 5 років тому

      Hah yeah it IS true

  • @slimkt
    @slimkt 5 років тому +799

    My dad once referred to Natalie as ‘the smart half-naked woman that looks like she stepped out of a fancy painting.’ I see it now.
    Also, can we praise Natalie for getting other loveable YTers to do voiceover for the quotes? Great touch!

    • @landonpowell6296
      @landonpowell6296 5 років тому +59

      Adam Neely's cameo was dope, but tbh Buck Angel is a shithead, lol.

    • @clarkrogers7789
      @clarkrogers7789 5 років тому +38

      Buck Angel is a shithead AND his voice acting was really bad.

    • @charcoalangel7536
      @charcoalangel7536 5 років тому +100

      @Brittany Gail-Regula Please don't be a d*ck about things.

    • @leolin8956
      @leolin8956 5 років тому +60

      @Brittany Gail-Regula This may be one of the most unintelligent responses I've seen on youtube in a while. What was I expecting anyways? Especially from a person who refers to themselves as an adult while possessing the maturity of a toddler and the intelligence of a common jellyfish

    • @doogusbroogus1079
      @doogusbroogus1079 5 років тому +21

      okaaayyyyy........anyways, yeah screw Buck Angel.

  • @dunadan1995
    @dunadan1995 5 років тому +351

    It's so weird how these videos are a lot of the time on a topic that I genuinely don't care about(not a lot of glamour and opulence going on where I'm from), and then Natalie just comes through with a 50 minute video and I feel like I absolutely have to watch it and then she just makes it so absurdly fun and interesting and visually stunning that I can't help but get into the topic that I had no prior experiences with or a strong opinion on. Goddamnit, this is art.

  • @robinswampangel
    @robinswampangel Рік тому +28

    I'm cis and your body looks like mine and I used to be so self conscious and insecure about being skinny with "no boobs" (as I saw it) but when I see you, I don't think about you the way I thought about myself so.... Through seeing your self love, I've gained more for myself. We're both valid, shapely, pretty women 👍

  • @adaremalke2948
    @adaremalke2948 4 роки тому +489

    The thing I find funny is that I've always loved Natalie's aesthetic. I genuinely find it timeless and visually pleasing. To hear people think its tacky is surprising to me. Is it a bit extra? Yes. But not in a way that I find busy or visually confusing

  • @eruditeidiot
    @eruditeidiot 5 років тому +410

    "Honey, you'd better start a revolution" should be on some kind of merch. Made me laugh so hard I had to rewind.

    • @isntitabeautifulday1648
      @isntitabeautifulday1648 5 років тому +37

      We have kind of already did that : we have printed Che Guevara's face on a lot of cheap t-shirts manufactured in China by now. Capitalism is very efficient at reclaiming pretty much everything, and especially ideas, expressions and symbols which were supposed to fight it.

    • @Guy-m8m
      @Guy-m8m 5 років тому +4

      'Chicks with Bricks'

    • @jauxro
      @jauxro 5 років тому +1

      The phrase "Chicks with Bricks" really resonated with me lol

  • @JensPlaner
    @JensPlaner 4 роки тому +595

    I just love the music choice of "Ach wie Nichtig - ach wie Flüchtig" by Telemann. Roughly translated it means "Oh how futile, oh how vapid" and it contemplates how inane and vapid material goods are in the face of god. It just perfectly contradicts the message of the video. And to top it all of the music ist composed in Counterpoint! *chefs kiss*

    • @sandraranchon1784
      @sandraranchon1784 4 роки тому +8

      this is the best comment of all

    • @estherbosbach377
      @estherbosbach377 4 роки тому +4

      OMG If you listen to Telemann long enough, you might die of abjection

    • @cogitorium1089
      @cogitorium1089 4 роки тому +17

      But it is the kind of music that, when we hear it, makes us imagine a baroque concert hall with an opera singer in a golden coat, and a bourjois crowd looking through binoculars. Therefore, it confirms through contradicting. (We imagine the taste of baroque as lavish and opulent, but we also imagine it, still, as classy, as proven by its use for super-intellinent psychopats in cinema).

    • @Kaloapoele
      @Kaloapoele 4 роки тому

    • @anomienormie8126
      @anomienormie8126 4 роки тому +1

      ooh nice. good shit.

  • @Jvich
    @Jvich 3 роки тому +361

    I am a fresh out of the womb new fan of contrapoints. I’m watching all of her vids Newest to oldest and I am finally at this video - a video in which she was apparently canceled for, for a hot minute. And out of all the countless risky, controversial topics she has spoken on, she was sacrificed to the internet over a video about - pretty gem stones.
    ( yes yes, I know that’s not what the entire video is about and the content isn’t even related to what she was canceled over, but god dammit that’s called hyperbole kids and all the cool kids are using it.)

    • @ksdtsubfil6840
      @ksdtsubfil6840 3 роки тому +25

      Welcome to the Queendom of Nyatalie

    • @maira.azzara
      @maira.azzara 3 роки тому +1

      why was she canceled

    • @celestestellatram1467
      @celestestellatram1467 3 роки тому +15

      @@maira.azzara She cast a notorious trans actor, Buck Angel, to voice over the John Waters quote.

    • @Kyrielsh1
      @Kyrielsh1 3 роки тому +28

      @@celestestellatram1467 A controversial, it seems, trans actor. Supposedly "truscum" but I don't know yet what that exactly means... Anyway, guilt by association => canceling.
      Really, Twitter may have given "a voice" to many marginalised people, but it also brings the worst out of people...

    • @ImpudentInfidel
      @ImpudentInfidel 3 роки тому +8

      Ironically having Buck Angel on would be a MUCH bigger deal these days. Putting his name on "Trans Men Fight Back" basically burned every bridge.