Video Essays

One of my questions is in her video.

PG Cooper is such a Zoomer.

“The movie begins with the National Anthem. It must be a political statement.”

Dude, that’s how TV stations used to sign off back in the day. lol.

Also, you used Exorcist as an example for special effects when Amityville Horror is the more comparable example. Both Amityville and Poltergeist are effects driven movies. Then you talk about the Indian burial ground. Amityville is the one built on an Indian burial ground. You hinted on that, but you should have flat out said it. But I’m guessing you didn’t cause it would have gone against your narrative. Poltergeist is a low-key rip-off of Amityville Horror. Both movies literally have the exact same ending.

But I’ll give you credit for the consumerism angle. Although the family in Amityville also abandons all their possessions, it’s never emphasized. Poltergeist does indeed go out of its way to present all their material goods and the ghosts do indeed travel through the TV set.

Technically I'm a millennial but it's definitely borderline.



I posted this video three times today and yet you still misquote me. Sad.

Also, yes, I'm well aware that TV stations used to sign off like this. Doesn't change or disprove my point. If anything it merely reinforces how inextricably wound up the product was (and still is) with national identity. Moreover, things in movies can represent multiple things. The anthem played accurately reflects a broadcast signing off and it also signifies American culture as an important theme of the film. Hell, when the music starts, we don't know that it's from a TV broadcast. It starts as non-diegetic score played over the credits before shifting to the more static diegetic music coming from the TV. So the immediate association is not with TV, it's with America itself.



I don't explicitly say The Amityville Horror is built on an Indian burial ground because I don't have to. When I talk about the trope and show clips from the film, the implication is made. It's cleaner and leads to a more well-paced video. Not mentioning it had nothing to do with "going against my narrative". I don't even see how that would go against my narrative. I also used Exorcist more because it seemed the more seminal 70s haunting movie (even if it isn't technically a haunting) and best emphasized the difference between 70s trauma inducing horror and 80s roller-coaster rides. Also because I own The Exorcist on Blu but not Amityville, hence why the latter is represented with low-quality trailer footage.



I'll call this a win.



No impression, but I do have a bit structured around Grady's dialogue that I think turned out pretty well.

Again, elements in a film can do multiple things at once. I don't know why you're so fixated on this only having one meaning.



You're missing my point. I'm saying I don't need to explicitly say "The Amityville Horror features an Indian Burial Ground" in my voiceover because I make that point through my editing. Moreover, I very much address Amityville Horror and how it differs from Poltergeist. Mainly, that Poltergeist abandons the isolated and old haunted house and opts for a modern home smack in the middle of suburbia, plus the consumerism angle that you already mentioned. That's a lot more substantial than just a PG-rated Spielberg aesthetic.



Neat, but I stand by using The Exorcist.

Neverending turns out to be the toughest professor PG Cooper has ever had.

If Poltergeist "looked" like a Tobe Hooper movie, it would look like it was filmed without filming permits, using people's backyards, and would have special effects you could buy at a hardware store.

I very deliberately avoided touching that. I don't think there's enough evidence to definitively say so I defer to the official credit. Also, I like to think it's Hooper's movie. It's likely one of his 5 best where it wouldn't even make Spielberg's top 10.

I just split the difference and gave credit to both when I reviewed it for my thread.  Though I will say it has a very Spielbergian feel to it, so it's easy to see why there's that question in the first place.

Yes, this is essentially the 7th week in a row with a new video.



Part of a collaboration with about a dozen other Youtubers called The Director Project. We're starting off with the bearded one himself; Steven Spielberg.

Total coincidence too. I had no say in the selection and was even invited to the group a little bit later than a lot of the others.