Bad Film Theories 

Dang just got an ad on my own video lol. Sorry about that! I didn’t put them there, universal copyright claimed the video.

When he says "I don't know about his personality, he seems like a cool little twink man, but he does a lot of things that are wrong, I think." I legitimately couldn't tell if he was talking about the Onceler or MatPat

"dont steal" is such a weird thing for all the characters to tell remy. like, is he supposed to go to the little grocery store for rats and buy things with his rat money??

I did not think that I would ever see someone miss the point of THE LORAX 😭😭

I love how Mat essentially says “you know they didn’t have to buy air” without realizing what he just said

Matpat insinuating that the consumer is responsible for a corporate monopoly over an essential resource is one of the most surreal things I have ever seen on this site.

I preferred it when Mat just did funny math to say "lmao Wario is actually 10 feet tall" Now he's like "mmmm vote with dollar mmmm"

I always liked Matpats more legistical videos, like where he tries to give a rough estimate of how many people Light Yagami killed In Death Note, or how profitable Pleasure Island would be from Pinocchio.

Remy stealing isn't framed as immoral, it's framed as ugly and low class. There's a reason why it's equated from the beginning with eating garbage, in a story about fine dining. Remy's arc isn't a moral one, it's an aesthetic one- he comes from a dirty family and aspires to the refinement of high society. In the beginning, that leads him to disown both his family and their way of life and try to live according to higher aesthetic principles. Then he sees the hypocrisy and ugliness of high society and goes back to his family, giving up those principles in disgust, a choice which, though it involves renouncing his own artistic satisfaction in the immediate term, allows him to later return to the world of high society as a fully developed and grounded artist, capable of swaying at least one archon of sophistication to no longer view him, his family and their ways with disgust or contempt.

“Media interpretation for kids but not done well” is the greatest way I think I ever heard modern mat pat videos described

Protagonist has a flaw: HE’S THE VILLAIN ACTUALLY Villain has a redeeming quality: HE’S NOT THE VILLAIN ALSO CAPITALISM IS GOOD

Its so weird seeing Matpat blame the consumer for buying air to live instead of the corporations. Kind of reminds me of the whole thing with insulin that's going on in the real world

From what I remember, it isn't depicted in the movie what happens to those who can't afford bottled air. The thought is horrifying. That makes O'Hare a villain.

Can’t believe he had the take “Rat stealing food bad” but “Rich man monopolizing air is entrepreneurship and consumer bad”

The original Dr. Seuss book literally says "protect [the tree/forest] from axes that hack." That's pretty clearly advocating environmental activism, not just buying more sustainable products.

Folding Ideas once made a video about the "Thermian Argument" How people tend to forget that fictional universes are indeed fictitious and are created by people, who wanted to communicate a very specific story and agenda (Which also means that they can only be as "scientifically acurate" as the author knows, or is willing to put in) It instantly reminded me of MatPat

By mattpat's logic, hired assassins aren't bad people. they're just responding to consumer demand for murder!

I cant fucking believe that MatPat's take from the lorax is that you should stop buying something that you literally cant live without

joel calling the onceler a “cool little twink man” is the funniest thing i’ve ever witnessed

This makes sense to me. He's a debate kid who gets stuck having to argue for the obviously wrong side of the debate and he's gonna try his absolute hardest to make the case anyway

25:57 aged like fine wine with Justin being kicked off Rick and morty

Mat rly said "it's not o'hare's fault the place is a wasteland... " then doesn't even blame the character WHO IS AT FAULT FOR THAT VERY THING

The point of “Us” isn’t that nobody could _tell_ the difference, the point is that there *is* no difference except for the circumstances of their upbringing.

Aloysius O'Hare isn't the bad guy because he didn't create the wasteland, he just inherited it. Also, the guy who created it is super cool

Ah yes, the underclass being allowed to eat must always be framed as a gift, not a right. How very familiar.

I love how lil capitalist has a monopoly over oxygen itself and Matt pat basically tries to say “well it’s the consumers fault for wanting to breathe”

Rats stealing food to survive is wrong, but a guy who cuts down all the trees and steals clean air from everyone, why he is just an entrepreneur.

I think matpat's theories are like when your English literature teachers ask you to write an essay on your thesis so you make something up and try to sell it as hard as you could, doesn't matter how wrong it is

It's always important that: if you see somebody stealing food, no you didn't

Someone using the term: “Consumerist Utopia where everyone is happy” completely un-ironically, seriously did psychic damage to me.

"It's the consumers' faults." What are the residents of Thneedville supposed to do...NOT BUY AIR?!

I also want to add the Harry Potter one, in which the whole theory was about how "Neville could have been the chosen one!" and going in-depth on all of the evidence for something like 15 minutes, then finally mentioning at the very end that they literally mentioned that in *both the books and the movies.*

“Justin, if you ever don’t want to play Morty I can do it” oof this aged perfectly

O’Hare is the most cartoonish villain imaginable, literally selling people air to breath, yet people like matpat still defend him like 💀💀💀💀💀💀

i choose to believe that the background is a real window and that joel just exists in an unmoving, unfeeling, serene plain and is projecting his videos to us

Matpat saying the thneed is a revolutionary product everyone needs is so fun. It’s clearly useless.

Matthew Patrick Game Theory is the kind of guy to see Aladdin give the bread he stole to starving orphan children and think that it's a moral failure of the starving orphan children to eat that stolen bread instead of intuiting that the bread must be stolen and returning it to wherever it was stolen from

Matt blaming consumers for *wanting air* is straight up sad and hilarious simultaneously.

"Vote with your dollar" is basically saying "consumerism is terrible and broken, we can fix it by consumerism!"

My favorite part about the Lorax movie is that the two villains (who are effectively eco-villains) are so obviously the bad guys not just in the movie, but also because the movie LITERALLY released on earth day. They are meant to be the bad guys not just from the movie but also from the movies RELEASE DATE

A thing that’s really important to note about the “vote with your wallets” point about the Oncler. He blatantly says “the PR people are lying and the lawyers are denying” in one of his songs. Basically admitting to false advertising and circumventing any regulation there may be. And it’s also implied that he sets up a fake charity to “donate” a portion of proceeds to so anyone that buys a thneed thinks they’re giving some money to charity in that same song. The people think they’re voting for a completely different thing to what they actually are voting for. If he was completely open and honest about it and they still bought it, there’s an argument that both the consumer and the Oncler are to blame but that’s just not the case.

I like MatPat theories when science is involved, like using the pixel scale character to measure weight to do wild calculations. Thats the theory that i subscribed to. But when it comes to socio economic theories i dont take too much stock on Mats opinion. He has the same takes as a silicon valley tech bro libertarian.

For a guy who pieces together entire lore and universes from incredibly minute details and Easter eggs, he tends to get a lot of main plot points wrong

Did you ever think about how you singlehandedly debased his whole career with this absolute hit piece. He saw this, Matpat, Matthew Patthew, and was like "in two years' time I'm going to retire." His blood, your hands.

"In fact I kind of respect you" is the most perfectly crafted passive aggressive shade I have ever heard therefore I liked and subscribed.

I’ve always been bothered by how extreme Ratatouille is about its anti-stealing moral as like, the worst thing a person can do. It is really dogmatic about the underclass following every rule of the people who hate them, no matter how absurd or unfair. And this is a movie that has very light-hearted jokes of kidnapping and murder attempts, but a poor person stealing is framed as them becoming the vermin that society sees you as, be damned if you’re starving.

I've always been frustrated with "main character of film is bad actually" takes. Because the reasons they give, like showing bad actions that the character took, pretend that the film itself isn't also saying their actions are bad. Like yes the actions are bad, but it doesn't make them a bad person. Also that's why they're in a movie that's teaching them a lesson.

Matpat made a whole ass movie review to say he thinks company towns are actually great. Wild

I think MatPat's biggest weakness has always been confirmation bias. He consumes media and attempts to brainstorm theories, and when he comes up with one, he combs through it looking for things to support his theory without taking into account or choosing not to address things that go against that theory

the things matpat said about the onceler are basicly the excuses the onceler uses to avoid responsability IN THE MOVIE

I went off him after he said the dragons of how to train your dragons don't actually like their humans because lizard brains can't love, when those dragons CLEARLY have cat brains

TBH, I've always viewed MatPat as a conspiracy training camp for kids. Probably unintentionally, but it has that vibe.

Can't believe Big Joel made Matpat quit and made Justin Roiland beat his wife just so he could take over their projects. Looking forward to your future Rick and Morty theories tho

I respect the way MatPat’s ability to keep up with the way RU-vid ticks, but it does lead to some really strange takes. sometimes it feels like he picks the end first almost as a challenge for himself to see if he can prove that wild idea

"This point isn't just silly, it feels like it's attacking the very concept of paying attention to shows" This is an amazing quote

using silly science to back up a silly theory is fun and you can turn your brain off for a minute and enjoy something silly but matpat's apparent lack of media literacy and weird moral rants aren't fun and there's a definite line between those two. i used to watch matpat theories like religiously and videos like these fucked up the way i interpreted stories for a looong while

I liked older matpat, like doing the math on how fast chun li had to spin to do the spinning bird kick. Or even if the thing could be done, or if you’d just die. Like the leap of faith from AC. These newer theories are more boring and just try to analyze movies or games in sometimes weird ways. Or look super deep into lore of video games.

Film Theory: Is Big Joel REALLY That Big???

"Vote with your dollar" is such a privileged take. I'd love to be able to afford a $50 shirt that was made by unionized workers in good conditions but the big box sweat shop $10 shirt is what's in my budget. Not to mention things like being in a food desert means that you don't really have a choice even with what products you buy because you need to eat, so of course half of what you buy is going to be wrapped in a thousand layers of plastic and not sustainably sourced. The message of the Lorax wasn't "consumer bad." It was stand up for your rights and needs anyway you can. Vote. Protest. Start a union. Spread awareness. Care

"justin if you ever don't want to be morty, I'll take it from there" this aged well

i love the implication that its more moral to starve to death than to put a restaurant out of business...

"It's the consumer's fault" has been the excuse of big corporations for decades, and a convenient way to avoid their responsibilities. It's playing their game to spread this idea. Being a more conscious consumer is a good start but it will never be enough to tackle pollution and climate issues.

I'd say the only Film Theory that ever rubbed me the wrong way was his theory on How to Train Your Dragon claiming that dragons have the brains of reptiles when they're literally mythical creatures based around dogs and cats 😂

matpat: the point of (Us) was that she was replaced and no one could tell the difference me: yeah, i agree with that, because the tethered are human like us and deserve empathy. i dont see what joel meant by bad- matpat: because our society is so shallow we wouldn't even notice if a nice normal person got replaced with soulless evil me: he had us in the first half not gonna lie

The onceler just girlbossed a bit too hard. Can't blame him for that

When Matpat said they didn't have Soul he was actually saying Saul Remember kids, Better Call Saul!

"But what about the profit margins of the Ratatouille restaurant?!"

Matt's worst mistake was talking about the Lorax, he has awakened the beast.

Joel holds their mic like they're holding a goblet filled with liquid truth

Okay glad you brought up “Us” because by the time you wrapped up the Lorax bit, I was thinking that it’s possible the “Us” analysis is complete projection. I think there’s something about Matpat that makes him thoughtless as a consumer or as a seller, to avoid thinking about it critically, it only makes sense to think that everyone else around him would think the same or act as thoughtlessly. I think he does great with game theories because most of the time there is no you’re playing that isn’t a blank face stand in for almost anyone. Most of the time facts/lore are thrown at him in video games so there’s just the work of putting puzzle pieces together. Movies, to develop unique theories upon have to be watched in entirety and critically think about them, which I don’t think Matpat knows how to do. Sources: Pope Undertale

The way I like to see MatPat and his theory channels are as thought experiments, not theories. He isn’t trying to dissect or critique movies or games, he’s just trying to make an entertaining episode giving a different point of view from a certain topic

I always found it weird when people interpreted "Us" as a film where you were rooting for the bad guy the whole time... Adelaide being a tethered doesn't make her a bad person, and Red being from the surface doesn't automatically make her good. At the end of the day, Adelaide is still a woman fighting to protect her family. I also can't really blame a child for taking the opportunity to escape the underground tunnels at the expense of another.

"This produces a deep contradiction within the ideology of Ratatouille" this is the most Big Joel quote I have ever heard

Still can't believe Joel kicked matpat off of the internet with this one video

26:00 Now's your chance Big Joel

Honestly, the way Matt refers to the Onceler, you'd think he was projecting himself unto him.

I love the idea that MatPat thinks the people can just *not buy air.* It's almost like O'Hare lives off of controlling the whole supply of something that everybody needs.

My favorite theory of his was when he made an entire theory about Neville Longbottom being the chosen one, along with Harry Potter.. he said it as if it was a totally new and crazy idea even though thats LITERALLY canon. Dumbledore literally told Harry that the prophecy applied equally to Harry and Neville, but when Voldemort tried to kill Harry he was marked his equal and the prophecy could no longer apply to Neville. Dumbledore said it was interesting that Voldemort chose Harry, a half-blood like himself, rather than Neville who was pure blood. Anyways I haven't read the books in 10 years but that was something I very clearly remembered from the books and after hearing MatPat's theory about it I thought "maybe my brain is tricking me, maybe it's not canon" so I went back and confirmed it. My memory was not tricking me, it's literally right there in the books. Anyways I'm not a potterhead but it was pretty crazy to me to hear someone making a theory that's literally canon and acting like it's a novel idea. I think I saw him say later in another video that he didn't know it was canon because he didn't read the books.

26:03 that justin not being morty line really aged well

The “onceler isn’t too bad actually” take aged me like a million years

I like that you put "evil morty" in the tags someone on youtube searchin' for evil morty content, and gets served this

You saying "Does he watch the show?" is so hilarious because, in a game theory, he theorizes about a character being another being but that fact is revealed at the end of the game itself.

25:57 Now that Justin Roiland has been ousted I assume Joel is going to be the new Voice Actor for Morty. Congrats Joel!

25:16 my biggest argument against Matpat’s argument about Morty not being consistent is that he’s 14. I would hardly say that 14 year olds are known for being consistent with their behavior and beliefs, y’know since they’re still in their formative years where they’re learning about the world and who they are

My favorite "film theory" of his is when for Harry Potter he says Nevile could have been the chosen one of the prophecy where he goes through the prophecy says all the things that could make him applicable to be the chosen one and then at the end of the video was like yeah they also said it directly in the book on this page. Which I had known since I read the book and was sitting there the entire time thinking wait a fucking second this isn't a theory they fucking said it in the book.

I just watched this video last night and now MatPat is retiring!

“Jeff bezos is just a hard working man who made something that everyone wanted. He’s not the bad guy”

One thing that bothers me about the Lorax theory is how quickly mattpat is to point at the consumer. It's just like IRL ; where to resolve climate change people need to stop using straws... And like sure, we should stop using plastic straws. But also, it's not because we stop that the climate crisis will be averted. Big companies LOVE to point fingers at US for being bad and consuming badly but they don't like when we're the one calling out their gigantic corporations and shitty actions, and they sure as hell don't wanna change. Mattpat is just doing the same as politicians and giga corporations. It's not their fault, it's ours. And that's not a really good message to send. We shouldn't have to protest and boycott to literally survive for the next 30 years because people decided that money is better and more valuable than any life on earth.

matpats goofy theories go hand in hand with his good ones and are still interesting to watch imo

A shame that the "The Empire was right!" video didn't make it in. Where Matt argues that the Empire is actually nice, because the Imperial who was about to sacrifice a baby for power, before participating and dying in the annual Empire Backstab Olympics, said so. In the same conversation where he also mentioned how the Empire committed genocide on Mandalore, because they dared to be an independent government.

How did MatPat misinterpret a movie/book meant to be understood by literal children so badly

"The Onceler seems like a cool little twink man" Big Joel, you do not want to go down that path.

26:00 BIG JOEL FOR NEW RICK AND MORTY VOICE ACTOR

idk why I'm just now rewatching and just now noticing that GT says "company, town" and then moves on like this is all okay lmao

"The onceler isn't bad because he made a product that everyone wanted" the entire point of the thneed is that it is literally a useless nothing item, it's existence is meant to represent consumerism and the products you are convinced that you must have, but don't actually need. Everyone wanted it, but only because they were artificially convinced.

"MatPat picks an angle and rolls with it, come hell or high water." That's true of pretty much all of his theories. He obviously goes into things with his theory already in mind, and ignores anything that would contest it.

“Justin if you don’t want to be morty anymore, I’ll take it from here”. I think the position is open now Joel

I won't lie, this was tough to watch. I don't watch him as much anymore, but I really liked MatPat when I was smaller. I might be overreacting over a parasocial relationship, but strangely, it really hurts to see someone I remember fondly and looked up to be rightly criticized like this, especially because the criticism is completely valid. I just feel so . . . defeated.

If Remy's stealing in Ratatouille is a sign of being the bad guy, then I guess we gotta conclude the story of Les MIserables is about a noble police inspector chasing down an evil thief criminal.

A film theory that kinda pissed me off was the How to Train your Dragon one. It seems MatPat both didn’t really pay attention to details in the movie, and didn’t know about the canon holiday short where Hiccup gives toothless his freedom. Toothless’ connection to Hiccup is by choice, we *see* that many times in the film series, and “Dragons are reptiles and reptiles don’t love you” is kind of moot, considering birds are derived reptiles and can be very social and loving. Who’s to say dragons aren’t an outlier, like dinosaurs?