This week on The Deep Dive: Taylor Swift is a filmmaker and if that makes you mad you can cry me a river, the Microsoft wallpaper with a crazy backstory, kids TV can be depressing but at least we have Mr. Rogers, Watergate taught us that the people who are most concerned about “law and order” don’t count the crimes they commit, and why life-threatening BBLs are now being reversed.

Don't forget to check out all the newsletter-recommended video essays to date in The Deep Dive’s YouTube playlist!

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Now, onto this week’s recommendations…

FILM

Taylor Swift Is Directing Movies Now. Here’s Why You Should Care. by Patrick (H) Willems (54:16)

If you’ve been paying attention, what I’m about to say won’t surprise you: Taylor Swift is a filmmaker, and a solid one too. And if you haven’t been paying attention, you’ll definitely need to watch this one. In this video, Patrick (H) Willems explores Taylor Swift’s filmmaking career, from being interested in the process in the TS1 era, to making her solo directorial debut with The Man, and beyond. How has it evolved? Who are her influences and what do they say about her storytelling mantra, courtesy of Nora Ephron? And with Taylor Swift’s incredible ability to craft a long-term narrative, how would a move to filmmaking not make sense? BRB, taking a break from video essays to watch All Too Well: The Short Film for the 1000th time.

DESIGN

Autumn | Windows XP’s Greatest Mystery by NationSquid (17:33)

When was the last time you thought about your classic Windows XP wallpaper of choice? Was it the rolling hills of the default Bliss? Did you dream of visiting a tiny island surrounded by clear blue water like Azul? Or were you captivated by Autumn, which felt like a departure from the others? Wherever your loyalties lie, this is the story of one of the internet’s earliest mysteries, at a time when uncredited digital art was a dime a dozen. In this video, NationSquid revisits the 16-year-long mystery behind Windows’ Autumn wallpaper. Who took the photo? Where did they take it? And, unlike its counterparts, why did we know so little about it for so long?

TV

The Ugly Side of Kids TV by Paper Will (1:18:00)

How much do you know about your favorite childhood TV shows? In this video, Paper Will takes us behind the curtain of beloved properties over the years, from Pokemon to The Muppets to Nickelodeon’s golden years and beyond. Between mass hysterias, horrifying allegations of abuse, and PSAs about drunk driving that maybe didn’t need to be so dark, while watching this video, you might just wish you stayed oblivious. And just when it starts to feel a little too sad, Mr. Rogers does what he does best and saves the day (by saving PBS from a senator who was getting a little too high on government spending cuts).

POLITICS

How Watergate Ruined Everything by Leeja Miller (22:54)

How did a distracted watchman and an attentive security guard help bring one of the most significant political scandals of all time to light? We’re talking about Watergate, which, in many ways, kicked off a domino effect of government distrust that led to today’s contentious political climate. What actually happened during Watergate? What was the fallout and how did it impact American politics in the decades to come? In what ways is Trump more like Nixon than we may realize? And are we really surprised that the people who were most concerned about “law and order” and being “tough on crime” were at the center of it all?

INTERNET

90s thinness, the 2010s BBL body, & pale grunge tumblr by Jordan Theresa (36:45)

If you were counting down the minutes, waiting for the moment the trend cycle would inevitably move away from the slim-thick body back to the waif thinness it always seems to return to, you’re not alone. In this video, Jordan Theresa takes a look back at the BBL body that defined the 2010s and why women’s bodies are even classified as trends in the first place (hint: it’s capitalism). Who wins when we constantly set a new bar for women’s beauty standards every few years? Can thin be back in if it never truly left? And did we at least learn from the shameless fatphobia that defined body trends in the 1990s and 2000s?

Thanks for reading and happy watching! See you next Wednesday 💭