The Hollywood Biopic Craze (a video essay) 

Look. I still don’t know which is the right way to say biopic. So sue me.

Winning awards for lazy Biopics is one thing.....winning awards for lazy biopics are serial killers is a whole other level.....holding an award for playing Jeffrey Dahmer is still wild

The worst part of biopics is when people take what happened in the movie as fact, when there’s usually plenty of dramatized or straight up fictional events added

Does this mean James Corden could get a biopic? God help us. James Corden plays… James Corden.

austin butler’s elvis accent will never not be funny

The irony of Benedict Cumberbatch playing Hawking years before Redmayne, getting no notice for it, then portraying Alan Turing years later and LOSING the Oscar for that performance to Redmayne, who won the Oscar portraying Hawking. I can't get over it. (I do actually love both films but L O L)

Most hilarious part of Bohemian Rhapsody (aside from the band members finger wagging and scolding Freddie for hosting a lavish do at his house) was the weird gay club scene. It was like, "OooOooOooohhhh NooooOoooOoo! Beware The Club of Gays! We can't show the debauchery. What with their bisexual lighting and leather ensembles. The censors would be scandalised!" 😂

This is why i like shows like bojack horseman because they can show an in depth look at a celebrity’s life without having a real name attached to the main character

I remember thinking Joe Anderson would be perfect as Kurt Cobain because they look so alike, plus Anderson has a similar singing voice. But then I read Cobain's su*c*de note. The fact anyone could read it bothers me. Goes to show how we already dehumanise him. Long story short, I'm glad there is not a biopic of Kurt Cobain and thanks to Courtney Love, there may never be.

I think some biopics are genuinely interesting and can have compelling stories but these days a lot of them are just exploitation of famous dead people for Oscar bait.

I think the best (and definitely most realistic) biopic I’ve ever seen, was Weird Al Yankovic’s. then again, I’ve only ever seen one biopic, so I could be wrong.

I actually really liked Rocketman. I know a lot of it was dramatized, but there were parts of the story that resonated with me. It probably helped that Elton John is alive and was involved in the production. And my parents loved telling me about their memories from when they were growing up seeing the music videos or hearing the songs. But you do bring up a good point about why biopics are made. I want to see a biopic to hear the lesser known stories of the person and what making music or becoming an actor was like for a given celebrity. A biopic should be a story about their life, insights into their highs and lows, what they learned and what the audience can learn from their experiences. Because they are people, and people have depth and complexities. When you fail to carry that over to the film, you haven't made a biopic. You made some fanfiction of a celebrity's life. Sure, slipping some references to things we've seen before is fun, but that should be an added treat, not the whole film. I find biopics interesting, and when they're done well, they can be inspiring and insightful stories about a celebrity's life. But when they're done just to use the brand and get an Oscar, they will naturally lack soul. And yeah unauthorized biopics just shouldn't be a thing. Those aren't trying to tell someone's story. Those are exploiting a famous name to get some cash and an award. If you don't have the subject of the biopic (if alive) or their family (and/or bandmates) involved in production, you are not going to tell their story in the way it should be told.

it feels like with every video your style develops more and more and I love it

I'm surprised you didn't talk about "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story", the ultimate biopic satire and probably the best biopic out there while being completely fictional.

The scourge of biopics seems to fit right into this metamodern period of IP consolidation where every film is either a remake, prequel, metaverse, biopic, or spinoff.

The biopic is the most “huh. That would be really interesting to see” and then never seeing it genre of all time.

alright hear me out: a biopic that plucks all of the biopic actors from other biopics and assembles them into an adaptation of them all working together in some kind of biopic cinematic universe. We'll call it "Supergroup"

James Corden should play Queen Elizabeth

I would actually say that Selena was the first major biopic. After that film, there was kind of a desensitization of celebrity tragedy I would say.

I love the way that movie producers and studios see ONE movie that did well and won an oscar and decides to make 50000 million movies exactly like the other movie but in different fonts so that the common people can't complain about hollywood not having original ideas anymore

One biopic that I think is really great is Love and Mercy, about the life of Brian Wilson. By focusing on two brief but important periods of his life instead of his entire life, it retains the nuance and tragedy of his real life in a way that a movie like Bohemian Rhapsody that covers almost 20 years can’t pull off

gus van sant actually made a movie inspired by kurt's life and death called last days that came out in 2005, similar to todd haynes' velvet goldmine(1998) which was supposed to be a bowie biopic but he was alive at the time and didn't like the idea so haynes just wrote like a fictional version of bowie which honestly makes for a way better movie

youre so easily my favorite video essay youtuber your comedic timing is just chefs kiss

If I had to choose a constant inner monologue casually critiquing ones life, it would probably be Joseph. Thoughtful, sad, bitter, slightly disappointed, but honest as ever lmaooo

I wish there were more biopics that explore a different side of the person in question, something that views them from a different perspective that’s neglected or not as well covered in pop culture

One of the worst biopics imo is from the 90s- Patch Adams. They straight up just lied about stuff he did, and changed his real life friend that tragically lost his life into a woman and made them a love interest for Patch. Like, wtf? If you wanted to tell a story about a thieving doctor that didn't do good medicine and had a girlfriend that got shot and turned into a butterfly then just make that, don't use someone's name and life as the loosest possible story structure for clout.

yk i think it should be compulsory to put a clause in your will stating that no unauthorised biopics should be made about you but, then again, i would actually love to see a film about my neighbour greg who spends all day in bed watching youtube videos and leaving strange comments also, on a separate note: i dont think i can ever escape aydiambp help

BREAKING NEWS: Chris Pratt cast as Martin Luther King Jr.

Highly offended you didn’t include the weird Al biopic in the list of good bio pics

The one genuinely good biopic imo is Control. Ian Curtis is portrayed tragically but realistically and it shows that he was a bit of a dick, liked taking drugs and unfortunately suffered from epilepsy at a time whilst it was really poorly treated and so on (I don't want to spoil it, just watch it, it's great).

So happy to be your memberships coordinator and visual lead assistant director

You've convinced me to change my pronunciation. The two opics are clearly nowhere to be found, and I will sound like a prick no longer. Absolutely love your channel ❤.

james acaster raising some brilliant points here 👍

I remember when I was a kid and the only two biopics I remember were "La Bamba" about Richie Valens and "What's Love got to do with it" about Tina Turner. Both are brilliant movies and are good even if you don't who they're about. I certainly didn't know who Richie Valens was when I was six years old but I watched that movie sooo many times. These modern biopics, where they recreate things shot for shot.. it's just boring? Why would you not just watch a documentary with the actual person? It's weird. One of the only modern biopics I've enjoyed is Gus Van Sant's Nirvana one (can't remember what its called?), which was genuinely challenging to watch and really made me think. Also "I'm not there" where a whole heap of different actors played Bob Dylan, because it was doing something different. I do think "the Social Network" is awesome because I love David Fincher as a director, and the writing is awesome. Also I really enjoyed the beret but admittedly did think it was a tea cosy until you called it a beret. I feel a bit bad because I have a beanie that I wore when I was younger but my English teacher referred to it as a tea cosy, and I had no idea then what a tea cosy even was. So I shouldn't have made tea cosy assumptions there. Sorry mate. ETA The Gus Van Sant flick is "Last Days"! There is another fan in the comments ^_^

'walkhard' torpedoed this genre forever, cant take a single one seriously after it

recently found out that there’s a biopic on Pasolini.. that ones really baffled me because from what I’ve seen about it it’s literally just about his murder, which keep in mind is still unsolved so I find that really gross tbh and just in general focusing on someone’s death is just an odd way to remember a real person

I'd recommend the Blackberry movie. It's a weird deconstruction of the formula and doesn't take itself too seriously

"ARE THE OPICS IN THE ROOM WITH US RIGHT NOW" KAJFGAKSGFKASHGFKJASGF

gosh i never even knew how many biopics there were, and they all seem insane also love your hat

I havent watched the whole video yet, but my favorite biopic is Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. A fantastic serious movie thats 100% true

loving your videos, and totally agree on how biopics need to just stop!

i paused my game at the cumberbatch-redmayne, stephen hawking bit. thats mad, i had no idea it had already been done, takes the wind out of the whole fuckin' movie. Smashing video.

The Katya as Diana caught me so off guard T_T

This guys pretty funny, How about we make a Bi-opic about him?

Kurt Cobain is the absolute last person who would want a biopic made about them🤦🏼‍♀️ so disrespectful and obviously brad pitt doesn't have any idea who Kurt Cobain was as a person

It really bothers me that they made a biopic about David Bowie he didn't even die that long ago.

Bio-pic is the ONLY way to say the word and yes I couldn’t resist commenting, but I’m 100% right… so the is for literally spelling it out, it’s a relief you said right 😂

things that need to stop in cinema culture: multiverse brands and biopics. yet another banger sir! love your work

It's just like how so many videogames are being re-released nowadays. These companies want to make "History - Definitive Edition" and boost it to the front page of every Google search.

such an underrated channel, hope you gain more traction

The only good music biopic is Rocketman. It didn’t follow the structure of “stuff, song, stuff, song.” It used the songs TO tell the story as a jukebox musical. Even though it does end on a feel good and triumphant note, it doesn’t shy away from Elton’s shittiest moments as an addict or just being a shitty person in general. It was done creatively and compassionately, but it didn’t shy away from the flaws. Those movies should do more of that or nothing at all.

The topics you choose for every video and the quality of your work are just magnificent ✨

Frankly I can't believe they made a biopic about the sweatshop capitalists who heroically exploited Michael Jordan rather than the actual dude and his legendary basketball skillz

dude i am already laughing so hard at this video, i have consumed so much content about biopics but the way you talk about it is so funny tysm

I wrote an essay on this for my schools paper. this is a section of it that I think is pertinent to your video. These movies tend to gross very highly in the box office as they offer an audience artificial intimacy with a real historical figure. This promise of this verisimilitude is attractive to audiences, as our celebrity culture covets the innermost secrets of public figures. While these movies can be striking and beautifully shot, I believe they hold too much weight in cinema today. They are frequently praised by critics for raw performances, despite them not requiring a profound creative vision as there is quite literally a historical rubric allowing it to be metrically judged on accuracy, and have no obligation to present an artfully crafted narrative. This of course appeals to studios, as they can capitalize on existing stories that naturally draw people in, without the responsibility of offering originality to the screen, which can often result in an artless litany of half-assed exploitation projects. The cultural imagination is, simply put, the culmination of art, theory, philosophy, and history that make up cultural paradigms, it is the tentative objectivity of the world’s intellect. A development of the cultural imagination is that of collective moral and epistemic standards rising and falling based on the growing depth of knowledge in the public sphere. Since the birth of cinema, it has been argued whether or not it was harmful to the cultural imagination. Much of this speculation came from cinema being popularized around a time when propaganda posed a great risk to the political fabric of America, and filmmakers were just realizing their ability to rewire the thoughts of an audience in their favor without expressly communicating their views on screen. Nevertheless, cinema occupies an integral space in cultural development, with people citing it for shifts in prototypical American culture, fashion, and individual behavior. The way biopics reconstruct narratives to cater to a drama seeking audience acts as an oblique threat to the universal intellect. As much as cinema is molded by our society, the same is true inversely. Cinema does not exist in a vacuum. Its appreciable grasp on audiences can be easily wielded, and so too can it be improperly used. Cinema is a mechanism for storytelling. Even the surreal, the broad, and the fantastical pieces of cinema in some way or another reflects our humanity and interrogates human limitation. Movies act as responses to specificities of our societal experience. When a historical account is executed carelessly and inaccurately in favor of the aesthetic presentation of real people, like most biopics are, they deteriorate the artistry and the creativity that movies are meant to provide and leave a collective void of informed consensus on culture.

watching this on my macbook with my iphone next to me and my airpods in, the steve jobs can personally thank me for keeping his compny afloat

Am I the *only* person who remembers the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic?

Imagine my horror whilst watching 'Don't Worry Darling' I discovered that I had been misled and it wasn't a biopic of our beloved herione Grace Darling

Wow, I never knew that about Brad Pitt and Kurt Cobain.

you have the calmest chaotic energy ever im obsessed

or man on the moon? that got even funnier with the behind the scenes released a few years ago.

Most biopics have the celebrity behind the scenes so they can give points/tips on how to protray them, the lifetime biopics are terrible but the worst one was the Michael Jackson flex Alexander one and the Nina Simone biopic starring Zoe Saldana.

The Tolkien family (who owns the Tolkien estate, and thus the “brand”) don’t even endorse the Tolkien biopic

I would much rather see a film about MJ which was a collection of some of his most iconic performances, with some interviews of him and the people who knew him. I don't need see someone pretending to be him

The way you put Katya in the Diana biopics 💀💀

The idea of a brand biopic makes me want to fold in on myself until I leave this plane of existance...

I wish more ppl talked about The Dirt.. that was a proper mental biopic. Fun to watch tho

Bi-opic is like with Steve Jobs when theres two movies coming around the same time.

can’t wait till we get a will smith biopic starting will smith as will smith where they recreate the slap frame by frame

"All of pop culture, all of the time" "woooah" Idk if its because im stoned but this line is excellent

Can’t wait to see what you do next! Great job on this 👍🏻

not the katya jumpscare while talking abt princess di😭😭

Crocheted beret is a choice, it reminds me of a used teabag. I like it. ❤️

The board looks really nice, I appreciate your hard work ❤

Goodfellas, The Aviator and Wolf of Wall St are all Scorsese biopics

Thank you for releasing this beautiful artwork. It is surely your magnum opus.

As soon as bio pics are made for fictional characters Joseph will be cast as Ron Weasley.

Also the "Bio-pics" that you wonder what is the point in it being a Bio-pic when barely anything in it actually happened. I.e. The Darkest Hour apart from Winston Chruchill was the Prime Minister and an alocholic and the speak at the end not one other thing is true.

The problem with Blonde is that it was "sold" as a biopic, when in reality is based on another work of fiction.

I think the reason biopics like I,Tonya or Joy still work really well is because they aren’t trying to tackle this hugely heavy content matter rather they’re just providing deeper insight into a cultural moment that most people don’t about.

And I'm not spending that much on printer ink😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 GOLDEN!! I love that I never know when the next vid is gunna drop, and love even more that it's a half hour long piece of comedy gold with an actual point. Thank you sir... Thank you

I SAW KATYA AS LADY DI LMAO love your videos dude, every one knocks it out of the park. keep up the excellent content!!!

Lmao got my like at "where ARE the two pics? Can you see them now?" 😂

Interesting account from Courtney Love. Gus Van Sant went ahead and made Last Days anyway, starring Michael Pitt, as a fictionalised account of Cobain's last days. Seems lacking in taste now.

Blackberry was a good biopic because we didn’t know shit about it and it was a compelling story with a purpose. And because they lost, I hate mid ass biopics where nobody fucking loses really. It’s just a boring predictable story. Blackberry was compelling because it all went to shit and it went to shit behind closed doors so it’s still kinda original and not that popular of a story told before. Would love a hate biopic of the Disney ceo race and Bob Iger and all that in the form of succession, but I’d rather a documentary

Theres gonna be a BioPic of a BioPic one day

I personally can't wait for "The Bird that Flapped Too Hard", the hard-hitting biopic about the life of Dong Nguyen with Zendaya playing the love interest.

ive been binging ur videos an havin a giggle mate I love your stuff sm

joseph fisher x rpdr memes is something i didn't expect lol keep it up!

oh- my heart broke when that stick broke :(

Great vid man, really enjoyed it

Criminally underrated channel!

4:22 That's Katya Zamolodchikova as Diana on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 2, you can't fool me!

What's sickening is using dead people as money grab, playing into the grief of the fans to get Fast Money. Most of these biopics do horrendously, if they artist is already gone and not on earth, but what I notice if the artist is alive? It does VERY GOOD. Because they are getting tips from said ARTIST they are making the Biopic about. (This include Selena, since her Brother and Sister and FATHER where part of her group/Manager and were still alive to help contribute to the Selena Biopic.) Vs Aaliyah where we already seen BEFORE the Biopic how greedy people can be and were just using her to get more money. Wendy (Not shade to her since she is ill atm.) did not take the time to get everything precicely right. 1. Missy Elliot was not skinny, she was chubbier around the time with a Finger wave hairstyle. 2. The Moneygrab of have a R&B since that is usually compared to aaliyah in looks(I don't see how she looks like Aaliyah other than the hair) and dancing, isnt enough because her singing wasn''t versatile. Aaliyah can hit High and Low Notes to which the Main Actress for Aaliyah could only show High Notes. 3. Disney Vocal Styling instead of Old School R&B way of singing...??? 4. They do not have the rights to Aaliyah's Music, so they had her singing songs that didn't even fit her....they could of had her singing songs of other R&B artists like SWV, Xscape, or something... Their best bet is to fight for the rights to the song...but Wendy sadly had no patience to do so which is number 5: 5. Patience! This is literally for everything, Everything takes patience. That movie felt rushed, time skipping everything but not going anywhere because the movie started in the early 90s and stayed in 95 for the longest time. We didn't get to see her in the 2000's or after 95....instead they went straight to her demise and ended it there. It was a slap in the face, and disrespectful to most Aaliyah fans. While some were grateful we even had a Biopic finally....it....god it was done atrociously. So if Usher wanna do something, he better the Michael Jackson move of making that shit now while he is ALIVE. We have seen how people can make things without Artist input, (Michael was alive for this one too, I forgot the name and I won't be saying it if I did remember; but they didn't bother taking input because this Biopic was to tarnish Michael's Image and it did poorly.) Vs The American Dream with Michael Jackson's Input, Hell all of the Jackson's had a say in that and that Biopic MOVIE was FANTASTIC and still is. The title is something that literally ALL minorities of that time strived for, The Biopic of Selena can vouch for that. ^~^ Then came The Temptations, and New Edition (Which was hailed fantastic too)....The people were around to help for that. If Those people aren't there then we will have atrocities like Aaliyah or Tupac's Biopic (I think his mother was definitely not around and rappers are not to be trusted).

We're gonna need a bigger board, ladies and gentlemen

love the crochet hat you have on. i think i'll make myself one heheh

Ayeee, I'm glad I found your channel!

genuinely the fastest ive ever subscribed to someone

You’re giving off “Jez from Peep Show in his life coaching stage” vibes in this video

I love that stick you hold