Anyway if you all are sick of watching White Lady (and White Dude) Leftist content talking about popular fandoms and internet culture, check out some of these creators on Youtube. Not an exhaustive list, feel free to add your own. I tried to stick to a similar theme, but there is some variation.
Harriyanna Hook, who focuses on nostalgic properties through the lense of a black woman.
Jacob Geller, a Jewish man who does deep dives into various media. Mostly horror and sci-fi.
Kennie JD, a black woman that does this excellent series called bad movies and a beat every week on Saturday. A series where she reviews bad movies (often terrible romantic comedies and bad horror movies) while putting on her makeup.
D'Angello Wallace, a black man that focuses on internet culture, media, and people of interest. Sometimes shorter videos, sometimes deep dives. He used to be an art channel but now focuses more on culture than art.
Xiran Jay Zhao, a Chinese woman in who looks at media and focuses on the tokenism and appropriation of Asian culture.
T1J, who talks about culture, media, and social issues through the lens of a black man. He also has big Dad Energy.
Lady Knight The Brave, a Jewish woman who does deep dives into various media, often ones that have big fandoms attached.
Ada on Demand. A black woman that talks about social issues and culture, with a focus on pop culture.
Reignbot, a Filipino non-binary person that focuses their content on horror and ARGs and true crime.
Tee Noir, who focuses on various media, culture, and social platforms through the lens of a black queer woman.
Also Khadija Mbowe! They are black queer creator who makes long video essays (not only about media but mainly)
Also look into
Kat Blaque [social commentary, celebrities, and other topics]
Macdoesit [lots of comedy, but also social commentary]
Salem Tovar [essays, celebrities, all kinds of topics]
Jenna Brown [daily vlogs, social commentary, and other topics]
Miss Darcei [mostly beauty, and commentary about beauty products]
Seasonal Frostbite [doll customizations, just very beautiful art]
Asia Jackson [Beauty and beauty products]
Cheyenne Lin [Video essays, social commentary, entertainment, etc.]
Likelihood Art [digital artist]
Mei Yu [Digital and traditional artist]
LLAG Media [ personal favorite tbvh, p.s. Race, Politics, and Culture]
Thumin [Digital Artist with a bit of commentary here and there.]
I Am Eloho [As she describes on her channel, Beauty, Storytime, and Magic]
Oxlack Investigador [Paranormal and etc] [Spanish]
Yalitza Aparicio [wouldn’t you know it, our fave girl has her own YouTube.]
I follow a lot of POC creators, in an effort to be not only supportive, but also listen to what their perspective is on various subjects, because as a mixed poc, I want to make sure I listen to the correct voices, before I allow ‘public’ opinion influence me. [which it honestly never does, but… let’s go. Let’s see what the fellow mixed, black, non-black poc are saying about subjects that sometimes spark my interest.]
Melina Pendulum - looking at media (often superhero cinema/TV) through a Black feminist lens
F. D. Signifier - primarily breaking down toxic masculinity
CJ the X - just. a fucking weirdo
ToonrificTariq - not particularly leftist, but has some sweet takes about cartoons
Love this list (and so glad someone added cj would highly recommend he has some really strong video essays about media and art) but just so everyone knows Xiran Jay Zhao is not a woman! They’re nonbinary and use they/them.
hi i love genuinely am obsessed with hour long video essays from genius people so i’m gonna add a few more (all of these are media/pop culture analysis)
- Yhara Zayd: her video on The Day Rue Became Black is incredible.
- Broey Deschanel: she watches very different media than me but I thoroughly enjoy her breakdowns
- withcindy: where i get all of my booktok drama
- Shanspeare: you cannot make a list like this and not have her on it!
- Accented Cinema: a focus on foreign films
- Kimberly Nicole Foster: her break down of the national exit polls after the election was the only thing keeping me sane for WEEKS
I have a few non-binary and trans folks to suggest too, but I wanted to stick with OP’s goal of providing non-white essayists.
(via mail-me-a-snail)
