This week on The Deep Dive: An uncomfortable conversation YouTube fans need to be having, awnings are cool (literally) and now I want them, the pixie-cut-to-cringe pipeline, Lolita isn’t real and both of its film adaptations shouldn’t exist, and let’s consider the possibility that Yoko Ono isn’t the one to blame for everything bad that ever happened to The Beatles

Let’s help Fadi AbuTaqiya and his family evacuate Gaza. We’re so close to the goal! By now, you already know about the offer. If you donate at least $10, reply to this email with your receipt and a video essay category of your choice, and I’ll send you a personalized recommendation from The Deep Dive’s archive!

INTERNET

An uncomfortable conversation about Cody Ko. by D’Angelo Wallace (14:54)

This isn’t really a video essay, but I’m including it here anyway because it’s something we should be talking about. In this video, D’Angelo Wallace calls upon YouTuber Cody Ko to address the allegations that were recently brought to light by fellow YouTuber Tana Mongeau. The fact that these exact allegations have resurfaced a number of times over the years without so much as a word from Cody is disturbing enough, but he seems to now be taking the route of ignoring the situation entirely and censoring anybody who brings it up. Worse, the commentary YouTube community, which has the ability to hold him accountable, has been notably silent, further reinforcing the idea that commentary YouTube is a “boys club” that uses vaguely feminist sentiments as a branding strategy as opposed to a personally held value. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the unearthed Gabbie Hanna clip.

DESIGN

Awnings: a simple cooling tech we apparently forgot about by Technology Connections (22:14)

I’ll never not be fascinated by the thousands of years of construction and architectural innovations we completely abandoned thanks to air conditioning. If, like me, you frequently wonder to yourself during the hot summer months how people managed to keep cool before a time when they could just turn the A/C on, the answer is lots of ways – and awnings were only one of them. In this video, Technology Connections explains what’s behind the disappearance of awnings, their benefits and drawbacks, and why we should consider bringing them back. Awnings may not be the perfect solution, but it’s not like cooling and heat-conserving alternatives recent technology has come up with are that much better. Because sometimes, the obvious solution (shade) to a persistent problem (the sun is too hot sometimes) is the best solution.

A Sneak Peek at The Rabbit Hole:

June 23, 2024: A Tale of Two Will Gluck Films

I tend to do a pretty terrible job at downloading content ahead of time before long-haul flights. The way I see it, how am I supposed to know what I’ll be in the mood to listen to or watch hours from now?

This flight was no different, so I relied on Lufthansa’s in-flight entertainment system. While scrolling through the movie options, one caught my eye: Anyone But You, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. It’s a movie that was widely regarded as either the savior of the rom-com category or a hate-watch whose hype was driven solely by the undeniable real-life chemistry of its leads. Perfect.

Despite its cringey scenes and sometimes confusing premise, by the time the movie ended and the words “Directed by Will Gluck” flashed across the screen, I found myself liking it. I made the decision that, despite its flaws, I should welcome this rom-com comeback with open arms and the naivety that allowed me to enjoy beloved mid-budget rom-coms of the past.

After feeling like I had sufficiently branched out and tried something new, I decided to revisit something tried-and-true, something predictable that I knew I already loved. I scrolled through my saved movies and selected Easy A.

During the film’s opening scene, a familiar name popped up: “A Will Gluck Film.” A sinking feeling came over me as I realized that the same Will Gluck who directed a movie I had just settled on accepting as my rom-com oasis after more than a decade of wandering in the big-budget desert directed the masterpiece that, ironically, marked the end of the genre in the early 2010s.