You finally get home and grab some snacks, maybe a drink, you crawl into your bed, open up your laptop, and hear those 5 words, “Hey, what’s up you guys.” You’re about to embark on a 1 hour and 44 minutes journey about conspiracy theories hosted by Shane Dawson.
Shane Dawson has amassed more than 20 million subscribers and has been on YouTube since 2008. His content has changed drastically throughout the years beginning with his raunchy, sometimes inappropriate skits, trying out different food places or products, to now with movie length videos diving into deeper, more thought-provoking topics.
Although, Shane has faced some backlash for giving a platform to YouTubers who some think don’t deserve one, like Jake Paul and Jeffree Star; his views say otherwise. This time he’s moving away from talking with other YouTubers in this series by focusing more on conspiracy theories, which is one of the most popular topics on his channel.
This series focused on possible explanations for how the Paradise and Southern California fires started, Iphone’s listening into conversations before people even answer the phone, and how suicide is implemented into kids cartoons.
However, there are some people who think he tends to be a bit too overdramatic in his storytelling.
Senior Liliana Salcedo, who has been watching Shane since she was little said, “He used to do skits, and I thought they were funny but really inappropriate. He’s not as inappropriate and he tries to be a little more kid-friendly,”
Salcedo added, “He’s 100% overdramatic. There are times where he really doesn’t need to over exaggerate and he can just be a genuine person and get the message across.”
Dawson has struggled with views in the past and finding topics to make videos that he’s genuinely passionate about. Many of his fans over the years have made comments on his videos about him exaggerating his reactions to things and his thumbnails being “clickbait”; just trying to bring people to click on his video by having an interesting or shocking picture on the thumbnail.
“A lot of times I feel he’s not being genuine as if he’s just doing it for YouTube [views] and not because he’s genuinely interested in it.” Salcedo was especially interested in this series because she says, “I’m a conspiracy theorist and I’ve loved them since I was in 4th grade. I’ll talk about them at dinner with my parents.”
Dillon Goulart is a more recent Shane “fan” having only watched for about two years.
“Obviously I’ve watched the new series. I love conspiracy theories and I’m obsessed with them. This time the production quality was a lot better because he actually goes out and does things instead of [filming on] his couch which makes him more engaging. Sometimes him being dramatic draws me away but I can look past it,” said Goulart. “I think his videos could be better if he wasn’t as dramatic but he needs some dramaticness to attract people.”
Valeria Torres disagreed and said his dramatics, “helped move the story along. It felt like a real documentary you would watch on Netflix or something.” The theories he talked about, “ …blew my mind because I wasn’t in the loop of conspiracies for a while so some of them scared me.”
So far, Shane has only posted part one of this series and part two is set to be uploaded on Monday, February 11th. Go see for yourself if Shane Dawson is at times exaggerating his reaction to some things or if it helps move the story along.
