Hannah Montana's Guide to Life Under Capitalism

[@MostlyLoveOfMusic]

hi

[@MostlyLoveOfMusic]

most unexpected pin ever, thank you

[@demonrelm2474]

This is so deep... I think...

[@TurbopropPuppy]

hi

[@CartonOwO]

Hai!

[@edwardtjbrown1979]

So...smoking now, are we?

[@anfhe]

As a filipino (from the province), finding out about rich people in the USA managing to get away with turning a public beach into private property was the wildest part of this vid

[@crazyowlgirlcncowner]

There's a whole bunch of wild stuff rich people are allowed to get away with here 😔

[@sabrinusglaucomys]

This isn't even rare, my ex-boyfriend inherited a house in the mountains where the wealthy neighbors did the same thing to the public hiking trails

[@alylopez3721]

Im a Californian, I know and see how rich people get away with stuff but what kills me the most is that they destroyed their own beaches, they eroded them on purpose so they wouldn’t have to share!!! Like wtfffffff

[@sparklefairykitten]

In my experience as an American, I'd say that you can get away with literally anything if you have enough money. It's really gross.

[@p0Rp]

Wait till you hear about what happened to the Boeing whistleblowers

[@Aleteos]

This video is truly the best of Cheapos.

[@corysmith9975]

I aspire to be even an above average of Cheapos someday

[@jazzjensen]

I've avoided taking testosterone for years because I'm terrified of losing my singing voice - something I deeply value and brings me the most joy - but hearing you sing at the end of this video gives me hope that fear will not be manifested. 😭

[@ernie39]

omg wait that describes my thoughts and feelings about it too!! I started taking T about a year ago, and the main thing holding me back before I made that decision was because of my singing voice. And, tbh I can't say I feel completely confident about the decision all the time; I spent my whole life up to that point becoming familiar with my voice, so to have my vocal chords thicken felt a bit like starting over -- like being reintroduced to my own voice. But despite my complicated feelings about the singing aspect (which I've been feeling more comfortable with as I've practiced by myself over the past year, usually while I'm driving lmao) personally I find it to ultimately be a choice I'm happy I made, bc I finally feel like *I'm* the person speaking. I am able to speak how I want and have more control over how I sound and present myself to others. I still have a somewhat wide range I can cover, I've mostly been finding that going higher is more difficult now and hurts my throat -- which is limited by the vocal chord thickening, but might be helped somewhat by regular practice. It was and still is scary to "lose" aspects of my voice that had been so familiar and easy to achieve though, and it's such an important factor to take into account! My experience is only mine, and it's possible that the same reasons that convinced me might do the opposite for you (the variety of the trans experience is so cool)! It's a big and potentially scary change, but it can also be a new state of being to grow into and explore! Another cool thing is that T takes a while to permanently thicken your vocal chords (from what I recall around 6 months) so it isn't necessarily an inescapable commitment right away either! Also idk if it helps, but one thing I do kind of wish I did before was take videos/recordings of myself singing some songs and harmonies that I thought sounded rly nice, just to have for later. Sorry for the ramble but I want to thank you for helping me feel less alone in my experiences. I hope you're well!

[@jazzjensen]

@ernie39 You're certainly not alone in the concern. I've heard multiple trans friends and acquaintances, taking oestrogen or testosterone, express this worry.

[@SoICanComment163]

That’s exactly how I felt before starting T. I’ve been on testosterone for about a year now, and it’s so so good! Singing with my new voice is definitely tricky at times, but I never lost it. Just keep singing through it consistently, and you’ll be totally fine! I also recommend recording one side of a duet so you can sing with yourself later! I’m a little upset I forgot to record myself singing Orpheus and Eurydice’s song from the Supergiant game Hades before I started my transition!

[@Sky-bx9mn]

I was worried about that, too. My voice therapist looked into it for me. Statistically, what tends to happen is going through a rough period of a couple of years and then your voice smooths back out. I'm not sure why--because I completed voice therapy before ever starting T? Because my endo had me start at a low dose of gel for a while?--but my voice never roughened up, just got deeper and became easier to chest-resonate with. Still can sing. ^.^

[@sailorplanetmars6103]

For what its worth, as an AMAB enby, I had the same fear about my endogenous testerone driven voice changes, and it was hard for me to let go of the voice I'd gotten used to as a kid. But now I love my post-T voice the same way I did my pre-T voice - it's not so much losing as it is changing. It's true there'll be things you could do that you can't anymore (although you'd be surprised how effectively you can still reach high ranges with practice!), but there'll also be new and equally beautiful things you can do with a post-T voice ❤❤

[@CrazyRandomLord]

Made me realize Hannah Montana was the closest thing to a real life Truman show that existed before twitch

[@bijoubaybee]

she has said herself she feels that her life was like the Truman show and made tributes to it in her performances

[@katrijndekeersmaecker1904]

And family vlog channels. Don't forget family vlog channels.

[@louiserossiter4310]

Her and the royal family

[@gwathooon]

"I was low key a girl back then" is my favourite way to say that now.

[@trombonegamer14]

There's some serious trans-masc energy in that statement.

[@smk2457]

In respect to the controversial photoshoot: Never blame a young girl for doing an edgy or risque photoshoot. They weren't one of the many adults in the room. Those adults are the ones who should be questioned and criticized. I'm looking at the situation from a perspective of sexualization and power imbalance, not any concern for 'purity.'

[@sharkofjoy]

"Before we do a sociology or social theory/critical theory psychoanalysis and all sorts of homoerotic occultism" I love this damn channel

[@Boiea]

Ironically, ge actually wrote that one. XD love Alexander ❤

[@friendlykristen]

Same haha

[@jtlvhpublic]

@OfficerZ637 "BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTINE"? A crummy commercial?! Son of a bitch!

[@monochromesoul5873]

I laughed out loud to that too 😅

[@Halo-lg7rq]

He is just pure perfection. Brings you the humor and the facts, and now the vocals too??

[@jordanpatalano1574]

im so continuously impressed with the shift your channel is taking. the content, the production, the authenticity, its such a privilege to see you evolve as an essayist.

[@Halo-lg7rq]

And he posts these videos without a paywall😍

[@jotapuntoce]

bestie, you're so correct describing Nietzsche as a redditor and Butler as a tumblr user

[@spamozoid2310]

I can’t believe they were transvestigating Hannah in her own show 😭

[@VinceWhitacre]

"Redditor Friedrich Nietzsche" 😂 Edit: and "tumblr user Judith Butler" goddammit Alex dont make me laugh at work

[@Oonder22]

Theory Bro Michel Foucault The jokes are so simple, yet infinitely enjoyable

[@boojersey13]

this TOOK ME OUT

[@camipco]

Effort post gender trouble!

[@whatalsaid]

This guy could make a video essay on how silly bands are an allegory for capitalism and I'd STILL watch it.

[@wrmsnicket]

Don’t give him ideas. He WILL do it.

[@SparkleEELS]

…considering the role they had in mine and many other childhoods as a commodity to start businesses with, and the general progression they had?? That would be a completely fair point to make 😂 Silly bands were like the first thing to make me aware of how much financial incongruity there was between me and my peers. They turned playgrounds into marketplaces, with endless comparison and jealousy/bragging. I was so jealous of the ppl who had access to the starter capital to buy in bulk and sell them??? And even more jealous of the kids whose wrists were loaded up and seemed to just keep showing up to school with more money. I didn’t even like how they felt on my wrist but I treasured the couple I was able to get because I was told I should want them. We also went through a whole thing where the school banned them because they were too popular but people started just getting in trouble all the time for still having them, and then the school themself started selling them in the front office?? And then everyone had them so they weren’t cool anymore and we all moved on to the next thing (squinkies) and the process began anew There’s a lot there homie

[@spaghettiflakes2251]

Holy dang, fancy seeing you here! Love your vids dude!

[@cinnamonhope1]

Can you stop with the cinematography wtf dude its becoming too good 👁️👄👁️

[@cinnamonhope1]

(but really, incredible job!! Cant wait to watch the whole thing, when first shot is already so impressive, and i KNOW your essays are also just exceptionally written)

[@ABoxOfCartonJuice]

I wanna know where he got his camera from because it is crisp af

[@silverandexact]

Is this a KZbin video or an A24 movie? The lines are beginning to blur.

[@verraque]

-__-

[@DenGleason]

The fact that this whole video is artfully 4:3 is killing me. It's exactly what a gay little video essay about Hannah Montana should be.

[@AammaK]

The "Miley is Miley in real life and that's her real life dad but he has a different name but that's not her real brother but Dolly is in the show but is also her real godmother or whatever and also Hannah Montana has real music but also Miley is a real life artist and Hannah Montana being a secret public persona of Miley is obviously not a secret in real world but also kinda is???" tripped me out SO much even as a kid. I've always been pretty sensitive to the kind of uncanny reality bending meta stuff. You put it in words in a way I didn't know I'd ever get to revisit it all. To look back now and really think about the show as such direct commentary on her role as a real world idol is mindblowing. The interview bits in the final episode - which I can't remember if I ever saw myself at the time - seem so blatantly ominous and dark from today's perspective with the more detailed knowledge of what went on behind the teen idol appearances at the time, how both media and companies and those who were practically their handlers treated artists like her. On the other hand, you managed to analyze the dynamic in a way that managed to say quite alot about personhood in our day and age in general, which, wow. That being said, how do video essayists manage to turn silly specific topics into all-encompassing reality analysis? It's honestly pissing me off a little, non-derogatory, actually congratulatory if anything

[@douggibson2030]

On the one hand, I want to watch the whole video before sharing any thoughts... on the other hand that sweet sweet engagement

[@zefile]

on the other other hand, you could've said something worthwhile had you waited.

[@douggibson2030]

@@zefile chill out im gonaaaa

[@Halo-lg7rq]

@@zefileso not the best of cheapos from you bro

[@demonspawn108]

I read a lot of Zizek in the few years before I transitioned. I was looking for permission. I found it in his "A Reply to my Critics": "It is not transgender people who disrupt the heterosexual gender binaries; these binaries are always-already disrupted by the antagonistic nature of sexual difference itself." And: "To recapitulate, not only do I fully support the struggle of transgender people against their legal segregation, but I am also deeply affected by their reports of their suffering, and I see them not as a marginal group, which should be “tolerated” but as a group whose message is radically universal: it concerns us all; it tells the truth about all of us as sexual beings." It felt radical for transness to be located at the heart of gender rather than its periphery, and it felt validating to hear acknowledgement of the internal struggle that I was feeling, to hear gender posed almost as a response to an ancient trauma, rather than a casual choice. I haven't kept up with Zizek much since then, and I want to believe that his heart's not really in the transphobia, but it's a shame all the same because of the damage that it's invariably doing.

[@Ivan-qk2rn]

I agree with you deeply. Alenka Zupancic elegantly put it like: it's not men and women are struggling against each other, but it's humans vs sex, the fact that we are split. Also, interesting part I've found in 11th seminar from Lacan about sex (liberately paraphrased): before "boys and girls" there was sex as a split between an immortality of species and finality of a individual member of a species. Before the sex there was a multiplication by division where was no death of individual, but ever fracture and growth of "ameoba" lacan called "lamella".

[@otter.mayhem]

​@@Ivan-qk2rnI like OP's points, and yours as well! Just commenting for the algorithm lol

[@emilygrace1692]

"The soul is the prison of the body" I think you just changed my life with how you explained foucault

[@morganh3179]

I really admire how you use pop culture to explore sociological and philosophical concepts and make them more accessible. It’s awesome that you can bridge the gap between academia and a general audience. Also the home video near the end is iconic. I apparently can’t make this comment not sound like a thesis statement lol

[@armchairbrain]

I'm sorry; I still can't get over how awesome your videos are looking with the camerawork. Also, this was the best HANNAH MONTANA video essay nobody expected. Well done !

[@malpertuis.]

Thank you for that sweet gift at the end.💙

[@kaykolesnyk9289]

It's wild that we're allowed to use voices of presidents to say whatever we want. AI is insane

[@Ziggi_onthe_RISE]

I was super confused at first when I heard it 😂😵‍💫🙃

[@oyasuminerd]

ok so im not crazy in thinking i heard obama

[@VultureSkins]

@banquetoftheleviathan1404means govt isn’t supposed to try stopping you (not that it would matter much in your case)

[@kadauber]

I do wish Alexander would put the fact that the voices are generated on the screen or in the video description. It helps people learn what is and isn't generated.

[@candicraveingcloude2822]

@@kadauberI'm now disapointed

[@emile7794]

The camerawork, the application of soc theories, using hannah montana as cultural analysis, all of that was amazing, but what blew it all over the top was that The Climb performance!! You've got such a good voice omg!!! I'm emotional, that was so good

[@bilinmeyensahs2945]

Bro wtf you surpassed the amount of times you're allowed to surpass your potential its crazy

[@jojodelacroix]

There's something interesting I've just noticed. Hannah Montana the show constantly had big name guest stars on it. I mean, they had Brooke Shields, a successful big name actress play her mom in a small role on multiple episodes. The show itself is literally just her leveraging her father's connections. That's her entire career. The thing I find most interesting though is it feels like to some degree that was their way to pull in adults stuck engaging in this with their kids. Instead of making engaging material that was actually enjoyable they instead just had big name guest stars. It was this sort of low effort extremely materialistic way of drawing you in.

[@doublemaycare7171]

Seriously, holy shit? This is a terrific video. Identity has always been so WEIRD for me. Insomuch as I consider my deadname "dead," I still perk up a little when I hear it. Some of my favorite people have it. It too is part of me. I am a cipher and I am nothing and I am multitudes and more, and that's beautiful.

[@ismolatham4393]

I find I perk up in the same way now to my deadname like I do to the names of old school friends, like part of me hopes it is them and I'll see them again. My deadname, the person I was then has become an old friend I don't know anymore, but might see again, that identity is outside of me now, its strange

[@Miguecraft]

I usually cringe when people sing in out-of-place situations, but your performance was amazing, you have a great voice. Thank you for the video, and thank you for giving us a very interesting point of view to interprez Zizek

[@coldfire1]

I didn't know I needed you singing The Climb. You got a great voice. (can you make a separate video for it?) This whole video essay was great for someone who was slightly too old for the show to understand a bit better why it was so popular. It's been interesting seeing the public discourse around Miley post show and this gives me even more appreciation for her place in our collective conscious of what it is to be a typical American girl.

[@TheGabygael]

The commentary on how society has shaped our sense of identity to better track us and on how all interactions tend to become more and more man-made and kess genuine, that shifts into an ad has to be the deepest most unsettling piece of psychological horror and the purest form of narrative irony i've ever experienced

[@lucastudios86]

Making politicians read Zizek quotes is probably one of the best use of AI ever

[@theelectricant98]

I can think of better uses

[@spinozatheobvious626]

You don't seriously expect me to be able to pay attention to what Zizek is writing when I'm just enraptured by the Biden voice? Also in the future, I imagine it would be "Biden but with Zizek's mannerisms". Because how can we listen to a Zizek who's not sniffing?

[@dindindundun8211]

@@spinozatheobvious626 Having to discriminate between choking and speaking is what keeps me on the edge of my seat

[@st.youngman124]

As a trans man with AuDHD who grew up in the Hannah Montana era -- I'm 30 now and started transitioning at 19 -- the wisdom you deliver starting at about 1:08:00 made me happy to hear. I suppose for the reasons that you imply when you comment that your audience are largely people who "deal in excess" in some way. Many of us eventually become deft, creative, and confident symbolists and communicators, with a standout ability to "choose ourselves," precisely /because/ we've had no choice but to be conscious of Normality as a big masquerade party for as long as we can remember being "conscious of separation." I love Majora's Mask (looking back, it's because of the masks, the sketchy promise of being "returned to your true form," and the apocalypse giants), and there's a thesis embedded in the ludonarrative relationship in that game that I think can be expressed this way: "The mask is a curse until you can take it off; then it becomes a power." Once we're aware that only the deed exists, often we can accomplish things that seem almost superhuman to other people, because we don't feel ultimately limited by the lines of any particular mask, and over time we have collected a great number of masks. But with experience being pretty much the only real teacher of these things, they don't really get what we mean when we explain our methods and that they're free for anyone to adopt anytime. My trans feeling about this is often that people admire who I am, but don't respect how I got to be that way -- so then how much do they "admire" me really and why should their admiration interest me in the first place? It makes me happy to see someone teaching, in this way & on this platform, the posture that I think has been most fundamental to my own happiness as a mixed-up meat machine with a band of unwavering light inside it. Of course, it also makes me very happy just to see somebody making videos like yours, teaching Zizek and Butler so well with a TV case study that invites people to return critically to the stories that played such a big unconscious role in their own interpellation and self-interpellation as subjects. I think it's a great rhetorical context for generating actual results from your audience when you challenge them to answer the questions "How do you know what you know?" and "Why do you like what you like?" Thanks for all the work and love you put into this channel. You're really making things of quality.

[@Sky-bx9mn]

Dang I wasn't expecting a really well-phrased deep cut into Majora's Mask in this comment section. Ftw.

[@dindindundun8211]

"The mask is a curse until you can take it off; then it becomes a power." That's profound. Did you just come up with that?

[@cactus2260]

I love to joke with my trans friends avout how being trans is like being the Neo of gender (which is by design). Once you are aware of the farcity of the system everyone lives in, you can play with it and bend it in ways others would find unimaginable, unnatural or impossible

[@st.youngman124]

yes but only if "just" can mean "over years with the help of a phenomenal talk therapist" lmaoo @@dindindundun8211

[@maripuppquin6483]

the ending lowkey made me tear up? thanks for the cover and the insightful thoughts

[@FabulousKilljoy]

No fr it’s so good 😭

[@anyolivna163]

hes way too talented, i balled my eyes out😭

[@RossShaw]

Wow! Thank you algorithm for introducing me. When I heard you sing in "Shanna Pondanna" I thought "dang he's already got something cookin' here" and then you hit me with that song at the end! Wowza!

[@gabyh566]

The Climb cover is amazing and brought me back to when I was in my Hannah Montana heyday and performed The Climb at my very first talent show in school. I was 9 years old and overcoming my stage fright. I did the talent show 2 more years after that also singing Hannah Montana songs. Great video.

[@garrett7762]

It is genuinely impressive to me that a KZbin video obstencibly about Hannah Montana could bring me to tears and make me feel the way I did it truly shows how far art can go❤

[@ArrkaytheBun]

Woah LETTERBOX aspect ratio!? 4x3 in 2024?! It's making a come back, isn't it

[@Pyronaught410]

Oh my god thank you, I could not figure out why it seemed like the top and bottom of the video was being cut off. My youtube player just put it in 16:9 automatically 😭

[@gustavemuppet5675]

Wouldn't that be pillarbox?

[@KrashyKharma]

4:3 has been on the comeup since like 2018, it's fully normalized at this point And good, it's a better aspect ratio. Much better for composition imo.

[@Rinthony1]

I was NOT prepared for such an legitimately amazing cover at the end

[@silverandexact]

This title got me to click on the push notification despite the fact that I was already watching (and very interested in) Rowan Ellis's new video on autistic representation in media.

[@aphroditescomet]

wait… this is me rn

[@viktorj.948]

This is also me

[@nicolasnamed]

Brb gonna put that video in my watch later

[@BarkRuffalo]

Literally 😂

[@quinn855]

LMAO SAME

[@jaysauer834]

Why did the cover have me actually crying. Seeing your personal connection to the show 😭😭

[@SilverLetomi]

This 1 and a half hour video went live 3 minutes ago. Fortunately, I'm an oracle and can already tell this video is already one of my favorites. (Will edit later to confirm my foresight skills.) EDIT: Indeed I have The Gift. Beautiful, hilarious, and thoughtful work as always.

[@thisisntallowed9560]

Society failed me, it left me in an abusive home with no help. Society has given itself permission to fail me, and millions of children in america.

[@RogueError617]

Same here

[@lucasmillanrodrigues8340]

Great video. Reclaiming Zizek from his memetic state can be very useful. Loved the way you managed to explain such abstract concepts as the excess in a palpable way. Keep doing what you doing.

[@Malumen]

I remember a while ago there was a video about the lives of extremely wealthy youth and their stuggles to fall in love and live 'among us' and the overall message of the video was "suffering is suffering, no matter who it is"... I tried really really hard to think about that for such a long time, but I always see people my friends watch or talk about and cannot help but just not care for the struggles of the rich. A simple mistake to a rich person causes embarrassment, but the same thing to everyone else is losing your apartment or car etcetera... Ugh.

[@vixxcelacea2778]

Thing is, everyone should be in the position where the worst thing you could face barring existential issues like a black hole swallowing your galaxy, is that you are embarrassed and socially suffering for making a mistake, but your core survival needs are ALWAYS met. For wealthy people, this is the most pain they often suffer in that way. Think of it like a kid. A kid cries and screams the first time they get a small cut or suffer embarrassment because it IS for them, the worst thing they have known up until that point besides birth itself. People put down the idea of being "soft" by our entire MO as a species has been to reduce suffering and hardship so that we're free to do other things. We should want the worst thing someone encounters physically is a paper cut and never has to actually feel the fear of starvation. The problem with being rich is that you are in this weird space of being protected due to having access, but you still always feel a sense of impending dread and loss. Wealthy people are greedy because they assume at some future point they could lose everything. Greed is assumed future lack. There is no group that actually feels secure and it feels even more painful to those who truly lack financial security to see greedy attitudes and responses from those whom to us seem like they should feel secure. Yet, no one does. Our system doesn't in the end benefit anyone, even those who assume they benefit the most, because there is no real security. No one actually feels safe, even if they live in relative safety. Same could be said for the average surfer of the web who has a job and access to even make comments like we do. We're both by many standards doing far better than nearly half the rest of the human population. Most of us don't need to actually worry about where to get food, if we can take a shower or if we have clean water. Let alone having to take a job that pays so little and is a health hazard directly due to conditions at the work place. Our system doesn't foster security. We have the illusion of thriving, but we're all still just surviving in different miserable tiers. Which explains why the rich have the attitude that they often do.

[@2eeillustration]

1+ hr alexander avila video?? sign me the fuck up lets goooo

[@rosyopal]

my brother in christ the video alone is award-deserving, but your rendition of the climb?? life changing, chill inducing, spectacular 🧍

[@86fifty]

I loooove the description of Nietz as a Redditor and Judith Butler as a tumblr user writing an Effort Post, had me cracking up :D and the way the auto-captions spell Zizek as "xek" and Michel Foucault as "Michelle Fuko" LMAO, it's not super-wrong, actually!

[@tangle-of-trees]

i think, personally, that an important part of being nonbinary is realizing that language is limiting, categorization is limiting, and you don't have to submit to it and give every tiny piece of yourself a name and description. you don't have to explain shit, even to yourself. you can just be goop, and that's great

[@StormSought]

A lesson we should consider applying to a lot of things about being human, probably

[@tangle-of-trees]

@@StormSought reject categorization, become goop!

[@StormSought]

@@tangle-of-trees actually I'm a library student and my dissertation is on categorization 😅but that means it's partly about how it's all arbitrary and made up

[@tangle-of-trees]

@@StormSought oh, lmao. yeah, sometimes categorization can be useful, but it can be used too much

[@StormSought]

@@tangle-of-trees Completely, and the more you dig into it, the more glaring it is that it's sometimes useful but always arbitrary and which has to ignore a lot of things to work. It's a useful tool sometimes. People who act like statistical categories are like, natural law are being weird, and there are some situations where it's simply not useful.

[@inotanzen]

ok but that climb cover?? come on vocals!!! you sound so stunning alex 🥹

[@friendlykristen]

The presidents' AI voices reading out the quotes is SENDING MEEEE

[@TEZAFIM]

oh bro the 4:3 aspect ratio is so beautiful

[@yayciencia]

I feel like I just sat in for a special lecture in a college-level philosophy course and the guest speaker is one of those rare people who are entertainers, comedians, and educators all in one

[@PokhrajRoy.]

THANK YOU FOR THIS! The ‘Hannah Montana’ girlies needed this. Also, the more I reminisce it, it’s so gay. The drag performance was always on point.

[@dominiqueasser7521]

I can’t believe KZbin is free! This is a stunning video in every way! I’m sorry I can’t do pateron but am sharing this video with everyone I know, and excited to see everything you create ❤ Thank you!!

[@adamgreene187]

I don't love the AI voices (cause AI sucks and also I've heard enough of all three of those people for my lifetime). However, having zero touch points for Hannah or Miley, this was a BONKERS fucking ride.

[@sharkofjoy]

More than 3 voices read quotes....I think it must be assumed that all voices were AI.

[@mintyfreshest]

okay I am being completely serious here. your rendition of the climb made me cry. I'm kind of going through it at work taking on new responsibilities and feeling overwhelmed, and the 2000s kid in me has always lowkey loved that song. Thank you :)

[@gammarays3683]

The video production and cinematography is always knocked out of the park. I really feel like I'm watching a film students thesis film. It really puts the video in video essay

[@bzenga5981]

love the way this deals with zizek. he was one of the first people i heard really articulate a way to understand my queerness and discomfort with the capitalist order, and as disconcerting as it's been to watch him reify his own imposed image as an uncouth iconoclast and take wild potshots at trans people and pull back hard on israel - amongst years of speaking at or appealing to actual forms of institutional power - his undergirding philosophical strain is at least still deeply radical in a way that predates and goes past him

[@chertheworm]

the song performance genuinely moved me. also your voice is beautiful

[@Cohesive.]

Equally impressed and surprised that you’re not writing for a major publication. Making incredibly insightful critical analysis available to so many more people. I appreciate you

[@PokhrajRoy.]

3:35 As a gay child, Hannah Montana merch was my favourite. I remember having a huge sticker on my notebook which I defended when boys made fun of me.

[@fantasticbeck3938]

I had so much Hannah Montana merch as a kid that during the pandemic I made a Hannah shrine for fun. That kept me entertained for a while

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@fantasticbeck3938 Based

[@mariochaosspear]

I feel like I've stumbled upon the platonic ideal of a KZbin video essay.

[@aubreejobizzarro1208]

Ah funk you totally right Hannah Montana really do be clinging to Institutionalized norms. I went undiagnosed adhd through highschool, genuinely hated it, dropped out early to go to college early. The immediate pushback when I chose to leave was “bUt wHaT aBoUt hEr sOcIaL lIfE????” 😂 I’ve never been to a school dance/prom/event. Growing up ND and poor really alienates you. But I’m glad more people are willing to share their authentic childhood experiences. I feel less weird!

[@Nichrysalis]

Damn you got some pipes. Mad respect and killer video as always.

[@marcella8576]

Really good one man this resonated a lot. Like miley I struggled with the idea of having a fixed identity. I would base things on how to please others or what my partner or parents would want me to be. I would change how I dressed and parts of my beliefs and habits when I got close to people. I have been diagnosed with BPD and have been told a symptom is indeed struggling with a sense of self. But its only in the framework of society and reality that we impose an individual personality, and it makes me feel alittle better that I don't know how to have one sometimes. The boundaries of what makes me "me" and what makes reality "real" are things I question personally, and thought I was more alone in that than before now.

[@kirbykirbykirbyO8]

I want to make more friends who have a genuine interest in engaging in subversive discussions about the ways we interact with the world and how it interacts with us. I haven't read a lot of academia about the specific authors, ideas, and verbiage to be able to articulate arguments fully, like Alexander in this video, but I'm obsessed with deconstructing what I was taught in all aspects of my grooming into adulthood. I feel like an overbearing weirdo when interesting topics arise and I get too excited to share the ways in which those ideas resonate with me. It feels weird to be able to walk into circles of the internet and voice my desire to meet people who likely would already agree with the ways I interpret the world. Why is it so normal to talk about these things in comment sections of the internet, but I have anxiety thinking about saying something akin to this comment to almost anyone in my friend/social/familial circles. Why do I feel like I would be judged for my lack of discreet written and read knowledge among people who are well read academics. At what point does my anecdotal experience become valid to people who position themselves similarly to me already? It feels like it would be perceived as laziness for me not having done the research, but I never seem to know what I should have read before coming to the discussion. I've been going through a personal crisis where I want to learn and share my ideas and perspectives with people, but I've been so socialized to fit in and disappear, that I'm afraid to actually voice radical ways of thinking about our shared experiences. Meeting other people like me might only create a bubble where my ideas may become more refined, but increasingly stagnant as society progresses. There's a part of me that believes I would be more motivated to create if I believed that there was a world or people who would be interested in what I have to contribute. What part of this world is telling me that I don't need to be perceived? I know I'm rambling. I could have left this in my journal. Maybe someone else is going through similar mental turmoil. I hope the best for everyone who got something out of this video. I hope I can make essays like this that inspire people to view the world differently. Thank you Alexander.

[@mayoneas8224]

i feel the same way, but slightly different. as i've never fitted in with people, i've always been somewhat of a recluse. i'm just not good at being social. as a result, i don't have anyone to challenge my ideas or differing perspectives to consider. i can only take from my experiences and the things i see and the people i occasionally come into contact with through online mediums, such as this video or this comment. sometimes, in the case of this video i can learn something, however lacking discourse usually means lacking depth in my ideas. videos like this one expose my half-baked philosophies both in my mind and in my art and give me a different perspective to explore that i didn't think about before.

[@kirbykirbykirbyO8]

@@mayoneas8224 I love this response! I'm glad videos and spaces like this really can help fill that space of desiring deeper discourse. I have my own issues with videos and discussions acting as praxis, but I forget that this kind of content has the potential to help people grow into more researched and open minded individuals who ARE driven to act and to educate. I used to be very centrist and fine with the status quo until most of my simple beliefs were challenged in various college courses. Internet spaces like this don't worry about comfortability and conformity and there is absolutely value in consuming and engaging with these ideas with people who you don't have to worry about impressing or disappointing. Thanks for the response! Hearing about people growing makes me happy :)

[@alinachrist8416]

I relate to that quite a bit. As a teenager, it's often difficult to talk to people my age who might as well be in a totally separate part of the world. I often find solace in comment sections to voice my opinions and ideas that I wouldn't dare say to any person in a social setting. It really emphasizes how strong the presence of internet is in our lives. All information of the world is available at fingertips yet it somehow makes us kind of less and less capable of having our own opinions and interests. Like, I would love to talk or even pen down stuff that I find interesting or just follow a thought process to see where it goes while hopefully, having some inputs from other people. Comments sections like these provide me the comfort of being anonymous and to be evaluated for what I say. Still smth truly feels missing when all everyone ends up doing is criticising a person for being ignorant or naive without ever trying to help them out despite them asking for it. It just feels like you gotta have the right opinion or a particular line of thought that everyone is following, which tbh feels very restricting. Im still happy that videos like this one have people eager to reach out and allow me to a safe space to express my own thoughts on random things that wouldn't interest anyone otherwise. So yea, lots of love to the creator❤

[@stormillion5002]

Absolute chad move of going with 4:3 aspect ratio, I am in love

[@ArtichokeHunter]

ok the best of cheapos lowkey made me cry and i don't know what it means either

[@joeburly]

The presidential voices reading the quotes is…. Disconcerting.

[@julienne152]

bruh I was trying to figure out where I recognized them from lol 🤦‍♀

[@aimehermse2554]

Had an entire existential crisis (including at least half an hour of crying combined) encouraged on by this video, enjoyed it lots tyvm appreciate you wish i could give you some made-up-real money xx

[@sleepdeprivedpikachu7235]

oh the four by three size is so beautiful for this what a nice touch

[@kiwwykeen5305]

Wow, glad you noticed and shared, this is lovely

[@CatastropheCat97]

I’m commenting to boost engagement because, while my thought goop hadn’t coalesced into words yet, I have a lot of very deep feelings about this video and your cover is now added to my liked songs on Spotify. This was amazing

[@Michelle_Wellbeck]

Every day you live and participate in institutions, school, college, workplace, that ask you to invest in the normative identities that reproduce capitalist society. Why it is that it is so difficult to resist the seduction of neo liberal identity is that those around you, your peers and those above you will invite you into their circle of privelage (or at least their alliance of striving within the structure) to share in the benefits exploited, and if you refuse they act with hostility to whatever might threaten their sense of stable identity and status within the structure. Maybe they're right, making your own identity outside of prevailing structures is fraught with unforseen dangers and the risk of failure. So the fundamental choice in life is to submit or to resist.

[@EnbyNomad]

You always manage to grab chunks of my brain I seldom think about

[@hedgehogMurp]

As an afab gen z er my only ever brush with the good ol hanna Montana in my childhood was when my father got me a tshirt of hanna montana where i was confused on who she was and never wore it.

[@nikolasrodriguez2286]

OK

[@AudreyLee]

I haven't finished this video, I just wanted to pause and thank you for putting out such stellar work time and again.

[@foxintrash9636]

I dropped whatever I was doing (nothing) when I saw this on my timeline

[@foxintrash9636]

And I was so right for that this video is amazing

[@evalolz6021]

🥹🥹 wtf the end man!!! Also the imagery of access around symbolic identity made so much sense. Thank you again for a beautiful video

[@lithium444]

Out of all the people I never thought i’d see Alex smoking, this is like hearing the unscesored Spongebob audio all over again

[@paolaarnez5840]

fist time being serenaded on a video essay and I refuse to lower my expectations

[@venus67venus]

I didn't understand that I watched this when it just came out. Litterally cried. So good. Always seen myself in miley as well and have gone through a lot regarding identity in an existential very personal and philosophical way and this was very valuable ❤️

[@GayleenFroese]

A golf course does this same gates and fake signs thing in the city where I live. They're allowed to have certain rights in the river valley parks but they are supposed to provide public access to trails--some in winter, some year-round. They were revealed to have been blocking access with locked gates and false signs but there was no will in City Council to do anything about it. And why would there be, when the mayor was a member of that golf club and likely the rest were, too.

[@thespin7092]

By far, this is your most impressive work to date! To dissect the beloved Hannah Montana phenomenon in a sociological box is brave! Great job!

[@aiden.e.f]

i cant get over the set design and how good your singing is at the end, oh my god 🫡🙃🫨😫

[@kiraandergrant1997]

Noooooo Alex put down that cig man please, I promise you don't need it to look cool, you're already so so so cool! The cinematic shots of smoking remind me of how I would view it when I was young and addicted and I cringe looking back at these times. I have not watched the whole thing yet but I really felt the need to comment this.

[@tombrandis]

Literally what I was about to write

[@carcasstown]

i thought it was a joint

[@AndersWatches]

I have no idea how you came to the conclusion that he was doing it to look cool?

[@tombrandis]

@@AndersWatches because he filmed it and uploaded it to a KZbin channel...? Really loved the video anyway btw

[@AndersWatches]

@@tombrandis it was a stylistic choice with recognisably common symbolism, I really don’t think it had anything to do with ‘looking cool’. Like, he didn’t even actually smoke it lmao

[@kristoforban8241]

The way my jaw dropped when u started singing :O you have a gorgeous singing voice dude

[@adaydreamhd]

Oh my god i quit smoking like a week ago and was unprepared for that intro, but, good intro

[@AngDevigne]

Wow! Didn't know you could sing bro 👏🏻 This was easily one of the most profound and well explained video essays I've ever seen. You're always outdoing yourself.

[@alchemistbanii]

Utterly stunning ending.

[@boylilikoi]

i wasnt expecting a musical number, but im welcoming it with open arms this is fire

[@c-bass2777]

Zamn I to high for this rn 37 mins in and my brain is mush

[@c-bass2777]

Gotta come back tho

[@connerblank5069]

Lovely song at the end there. Didn't know you could sing!

[@nobarbie8748]

Hannah, Miley, Miley really shaped me as a person tbh and this whole video just connected the dots on so many things for me. Crazy thing that happened there huh. Thank you and beautiful performance there at the end

[@AuthenticTeeCee2.0]

Oh yea you’re a true KZbinr my boy! I love the production value already

[@travvitz]

Queer neurodivergent trans men who have actual critical analysis of class, gender, and “neurotypical”ity ….wish i had more friends like you irl! These are the conversations i want to be having!

[@dazey8706]

there is a certain lens through which you examine and present your analysis of our society which i realize is deeply lacking in lots of other anticapitalist content and its filling the hungry void inside me so unnervingly perfectly, thank you💚

[@Xantexhunter]

Gotta love another video essay from Alexander Avila! Edit: Finished watching. My god, this is some powerful stuff. Avila never fails to disappoint, bringing out the most thought provoking concepts and deconstructing the factors on which we determine is our "self". Great video Avila, you are a true treasure. Not just to the community, but the world itself.

[@beccabonham8137]

was not prepared for the banger cover at the end !! i mean this whole thing was so intricate and well-produced, literally wtf

[@connerblank5069]

The Presidential deep fake quote reads were wild.

[@jenm1]

I think there is also that people have to compromise themselves too, especially again in poverty and like you said, we still judge people as if they are perfect moral agents.

[@naliroka7998]

Incredible video as always! I really enjoy your content, I was wondering if you could make an essay on how anime (and other forms of media/influence) normalizes inappropriateness towards children/concept of a child? I know it's a heavy subject and you spend a ton of time, energy and effort to create your art, so I would totally understand if wouldn't want to take it up. I just really agree with you on so many things, I feel like you could name unamed thoughts I have, like you did thus far. All my love to you and have a nice day 💜