This week on The Deep Dive: The deceptive existence of glitter, how Black Mirror avoided aging poorly, Tommy Wiseau isn’t the man you think he is (he’s worse), how Good Charlotte bribed its way into early-2000s radio plays, and your favorite artist may or may not have dated a teenager at some point in their career.

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

BUSINESS

The End of the Glitter Conspiracy by CHUPPL (27:06)

Some time ago, one question became the center of internet curiosity: which industry is the biggest purchaser of glitter? For months, this question stumped everyone from investigative journalists to armchair detectives to podcasters, with no solid answer ever coming to light (no, it’s not boat paint). Until now. In this video, CHUPPL takes on the mystery, going as far as tracking down the inventor of the sparkly stuff, and even interviewing his son. What is glitter? Why was it created? How is it used? And if glitter’s biggest purchaser is shrouded in so much mystery, can there only be one right answer?

TV

Why Black Mirror Had to Change by Skip Intro (25:46)

To know Black Mirror is to be entranced by the dystopian stories it tells in each episode, but why does season 6 feel so…different? And by different, I mean light on the technology that once defined the show. In this video, Skip Intro covers why the groundbreaking show’s most recent season isn’t as much of a departure from previous episodes as we’d like to think, and why this change needed to happen as the show grew into the institution it is today. Which stories did 2013-2019 Black Mirror often fail to tell? What are the risks of portraying a purely fatalistic view of technology? And did we miss the entire point of the show throughout the first five seasons of its existence?

FILM

The Disaster Artist ~ Lost in Adaptation by Dominic Noble (26:46)

If you watched The Room, the famously so-bad-it’s-good cult classic, or The Disaster Artist, the critically acclaimed film based on the memoir of the same name, you probably think you have a solid idea of what Tommy Wiseau is like. Key word here is think. In this video, Dominic Noble analyzes both the book and film versions of The Disaster Artist – what was changed, what remained the same, and what was glossed over to keep us laughing. Who is the real Tommy Wiseau? Why is he the way he is, and why is The Room the way it is? And considering Greg Sestero’s (A.K.A. “Mark”) accounts of what it’s like to be in Tommy’s sphere of influence, it probably makes sense that a trash human being like James Franco was able to play him so accurately.

MUSIC

The 2005 Radio Scandal Was a Glorious Mess by Bandsplaining (18:03)

This is the story of a bribery scandal you’ve probably never heard of, and some artists, like Franz Ferdinand, Pearl Jam, Ludacris, Norah Jones, and many more, would prefer to keep it that way. Unlucky for them, the internet never forgets. In this video, Bandsplaining takes us back to 2005, when record companies were caught in an embarrassing pay-to-play scheme with a goal to get their artists playing on the radio as much as possible – whether or not the music was actually good. Did we miss out on early-2000s up-and-comers thanks to payola? Was there really a time when Eliot Spitzer was heralded as a hero? And what does this scandal tell us about music industry bribery today?

CELEBRITY

predatory relationships in hollywood: a deep dive 🧠🎥🤨 by ModernGurlz (1:05:39)

*CONTENT WARNING: Underage abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault*

Predatory relationships have run rampant in Hollywood since the industry was a thing, with each decade marked by a number of high-profile relationships that were swept under the rug and reduced to nothing more than a punchline. In this video, ModernGurlz dives deep into the disturbing and endless instances of adult celebrities pursuing relationships with people well below their own age (and many times even the age of consent). When you think of these examples, who comes to mind? Leonardo DiCaprio? John Mayer? Wilmer Valderrama? What about beloved stars like Jerry Seinfeld, Madonna, Elvis, and David Bowie?

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