Tom Nicholas

My next video...

My next video is slowly coming together so I thought I'd give you a little insight into what it's going to be about.

We're going to be taking a look at Elon Musk and Futurism, drawing on the Italian philosopher Franco Berardi's book After the Future (as well as a little bit of Mark Fisher's Ghosts of My Life and some other bits and pieces too).

I think it's going to be a fun video. It's such a rich topic though that I keep having to stop myself from going off on ...

Article: This Country and The City

Hey all!

I thought I'd share with you an article I recently wrote for Tribune Magazine about the BBC sitcom This Country.

It might be a little bit specific to UK patrons as I don't know whether or not it's been broadcast elsewhere in the world.

If any of you have seen the show, however, you might find it mildly interesting!

Thanks as ever for your support!

Tom

Early Access: Whiteness: WTF?

Hello all!

Attached is the Early Access link to the latest episode of What the Theory!

With the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US and across the world in response to ongoing violence against Black people by US Police Officers, I was keen to make something that engaged theoretically with racism and anti-Blackness.

This, then, is an overview of whiteness and the ways in which Anglo-American society (at the very least) works to frame whiteness as "the defa...

Next Script Written!

Just finished writing the script to my next video—image attached of me looking relieved and hopeful!

Will likely be filming tomorrow and editing over the weekend.

Thanks as ever for your support everyone!

Livestream: Ways of Seeing Art and Culture (with TheLitCritGuy)

I'll be going live in a few hours over on my "Tom Nicholas Live" channel with TheLitCritGuy!

We'll be talking about John Berger's Ways of Seeing as well as more broadly about why we bother applying "theory" when engaging with art and culture.

You can find the stream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIEmzoExL54

Do come along and get involved in the chat! Or, if you can't make it, it'll be...

Exclusive: May 2020 Patreon Q&A

Hello all! I hope you're safe and well!

Here's the most recent Patreon Exclusive Q&A. I hope you enjoy it.

Apologies if I ramble a bit, I hope it still makes some sense!

If you asked a question and want some clarification on what my stream of consciousness here means then do feel free to ask me below...

Thanks as ever for your support everyone!

My next video...

I've just finished the script for my next video!

My initial plan was to release a new episode of What the Theory? next (in which we're gonna look at gender).

As I worked on it, however, it evidently needed a little more reading and finessing to balance making it engaging and as comprehensive as possible!

So, instead, I've got a video essay on The Political Economy of Animal Crossing lined up.

It's a weird mix of discussing the Stork Market in Animal Crossing: New Horiz...

Q&A Submissions!

It's been a couple of months since the last, so it seems like its time for another Patron Exclusive Q&A.

After working on a couple of half-hour long epics, it may be an extra week between my last video and my next (although I might still manage to squeeze it in!) so I thought I'd use the extra bit of time to put together another Q&A.

Your questions before have always been fantastically inquisitive and it's always great fun doing these.

So, drop your questions below!<...

Early Access: How the War on Terror shaped Harry Potter

Hey all! Here's the early access link to my latest video, "How the War on Terror shaped Harry Potter". Enjoy!

Patreon also tells me that it's been a year since I launched this page. So, while I'm always grateful for your ongoing support, a special thanks for making the last year a memorable one.

Your support provides an added layer of security to making these videos which is especially helpful when, as with this one, they get demonetised on YouTube!

Hope you're all safe and ...

Livestream: Coronavirus vs Capitalism (with Second Thought)

Hi all!

I'll be continuing my livestreams tomorrow at 5pm BST (or whatever the equivalent time is where you are) by chatting with JT of the channel Second Thought.

You may have seen some of their great explainer videos across the years or some of their more recent discussions of the American pandemic response or America's "stunted political spectrum".

I'm really looking forward to chatting about what the present crisis reveals about American-style capitalism in the 21st cen...

Here's the bibliography (so far) for my next video...

I'm really excited about this one. It's an idea that's been brewing for a little while now and I think should both be fairly interesting and prove some good discussion.

Looking forward to sharing it with you all!

(And, fear not $5/month and above folks, I'll have the script for my video on Psychoanalysis and Joker up soon, just needs some last minute proof-reading!)

Early Access: Psychoanalytic Theory: WTF?

Hello all!

Psychoanalytic theory is a topic that I've had a lot of requests to cover over the past year or so and here it is!

I was hoping to be able to dig into some Lacan as well as Freud but, given the video was already more than half-an-hour long, I decided I'd save post-Freud psychoanalytic developments for a future video.

It'll be out for everyone else tomorrow but, until then, it's all yours.

Let me know what you think and thanks as ever for your generous suppor...

Early Access: Why is Academic Writing so Boring?

Hey all!

Something slightly different this time round. I thought I'd take a look at the debate surrounding academic writing styles, complexity and accessibility.

Hopefully it might spark some interesting debate!

And thanks again to everyone who joined in with the livestream on Wednesday, it was great fun and I'm definitely thinking of doing it again sometime.

Thanks as ever for your support!

Tom

Lockdown Livestream Tomorrow!

Hey all!

Tomorrow, I’m gonna be live-streaming from 5pm GMT on YouTube.

It was something I’d set as a Patreon goal for 75 Patrons (thanks for helping us get there everyone!!) but something I’ve wanted to try for a while.

Hopefully might be mildly entertaining for anyone who’s also in lockdown at the moment.

What we chat about is a bit up for grabs. Might be the present situation, might be politics, might be theory, might be films/TV; all depends on who turns up...

Exclusive: March 2020 Patreon Q&A

Hey all!

Below is the first of what I'm hoping will be many Patreon-exclusive Q&A videos.

I hope I've answered those of you who asked questions in a vaguely coherent manner! I'll put a post out in a couple of months when I'll be looking at making a further Q&A.

And, as I mention in the video, I really hope everyone and their loved ones are safe and well given present events.

Thanks as ever for your support!

Q&A Submissions!

Hey all!

I mentioned in a recent post that I was planning on putting together a Q&A video in the near future. I've already had one submission for a question but thought I'd post again in case there was anything anyone was interested in me talking about?

If so, post away below!

I've also been debating starting to make some "directors commentary"-style videos in which I go through my videos and expand on some points or explain some of the reasons behind certain choices I m...

Early Access: The Weird British-American Setting of Sex Education

Hello all!

Here's the early access link to my latest video which takes a look at the weird British-American setting of the Netflix series Sex Education.

I'd wanted to make something around this show since Season One was released last year (and, when I got round to making it this year, would have liked to have got it out a little closer to the show premiering!).

It's a bit of a dive into "universal" settings and what that means for a show's ability to comment politically on t...

Early Access: The Frankfurt School: WTF?

Hey all! Here's the Early Access link to the latest episode of What the Theory on the Frankfurt School.

Currently trying to battle demonetisation but it'll probably be out for others at some point this weekend.

For now though, it's all yours! Thanks for your support in making it possible for me to make these videos!

New Video This Weekend!

The latest episode of What the Theory on the Frankfurt School is getting there!

It's a mammoth, 26-minute-er and has taken many hours of research, writing, filming and editing but I think it's looking good.

And it's all in startling 4K...

Looking forward to sharing it with you all!

That's a Wrap on The Frankfurt School: WTF?!

I've just finished filming for the next episode of What the Theory? in which we're taking a look at the Frankfurt School. This video primarily focuses on what the Frankfurt School was and puts it into some historical context with the hope that I can then make some more in-depth videos on individual scholars and texts in the near future.

Also, for the first time, I've filmed it in 4K. My camera's had this feature for ages but I've never actually tried it out (mostly as my old computer wo...

Berlin, Potsdam and the Frankfurt School

These last few days I’ve been in Berlin and Potsdam working on a online education project for refugees.

It’s been great fun and also, in my down time, has given me a chance to work on the next episode of What the Theory in which, as I’ve mentioned, we’ll be looking at the Frankfurt School.

If you want to see some pics from my trip, then there’s some more over on my Instagram at http://instagram.com/t...

Early Access: Little Women: How (and why) Greta Gerwig changed the ending

Hi all! So, here's the early access link to my latest video on Little Women, feminism, postmodernism and adaptation.

As I said before, it's likely to be slightly more insightful to those who have seen the film but I hope it's also mildly interesting even for those who haven't as, though I'm using the film as an example, I do draw the conversation out into some broader themes surrounding narrative and adaptation.

It'll probably go out on general release this weekend at some point...

What I’m currently reading...

Although my main YouTube focus at the moment is my Little Women video essay, I’m also looking ahead to the next episode of What the Theory? which will be on the Frankfurt School.

In doing so, I’ve been reading Stuart Jeffries’ Grand Hotel Abyss, a “collective biography” of the school.

It can be a little wandering in its style in a manner that might be a bit foreboding to those without some kind of or existing knowledge but it’s been a fascinating read in terms of flesh...

Little Women

My plan was to make my next video about the Frankfurt School. I'm really interested in doing a bit of an overview of what the School was/is, why it was set up and what it achieved (and didn't).

I'm still planning on making that video very, very soon. However, after seeing Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women the other day, I think I'm now going to postpone that video a couple of weeks in order to make something about what I thought was an absolutely wonderful film.

In particu...

Early Access: The Gig Economy: WTF?

Hi all! This will be going out for general release a little later today but wanted to at least give you all some slightly early access to it!

This was a lot of fun to make and I'm pretty pleased with it but really interested to hear what you all think!

In good health and back to work!

I hope everyone's having lovely holidays!

Thanks all for your lovely comments and support whilst I've been ill! I was a little optimistic with my last post and actually ended up having a night in the hospital just before Christmas...

Nevertheless, a course of antibiotics later and I'm now back in full health and back at it. I recorded the Gig Economy video a few days ago and am currently mid-edit. I don't like to blow my own trumpet but I think it's looking pretty good.

I've...

I've been ill but am on the mend and should have my new video out soon!

Hello all!

I'm aware I've been a bit quiet on here recently and that my Gig Economy video is a little late.

I've been quite ill over the past week or so which has had me totally out of action. So,  while the script is looking really good, I've not quite managed to shoot it just yet.

I seem to be recovering at the moment and so will hopefully be able to crack on with it this weekend. I'm still holding out hope that I might be able to get it out before Christmas but we'l...

Early Access: When Video Essays Aren't Enough: Theory, Praxis, Elections

Hi all! My new video is out properly tomorrow but, as it's up and ready to go, I thought I'd give you all early access to it!

With both the UK having a general election in a couple of weeks and the Democratic primaries kicking off in the US in the New Year (and likely many other super important elections taking place throughout the world in the coming months and year), I wanted to discuss elections through the lens of Hannah Arendt's notion of theory and praxis.

Hope you all enjoy...

A slight change of plan for this week's video...

Okay, so potentially slightly controversial decision in that I decided to change the video I'm putting out next. I wanted to make a video about elections through the lens of the concept of the theory and praxis and, with the UK about to go to the polls in a couple of weeks and the Democratic primaries beginning in a couple of months, it felt somewhat timely to do it now.

Hopefully no one's too disappointed. The gig economy will definitely be next up now (and anyone who is particularly l...

Gig Economy Video Underway!

Beginning work on my Gig Economy video today which I know some of you have been looking forward to. I'm keen, as ever, to use a bunch of examples so would be keen to know what gig economy services people are most familiar with.

Here in the UK, I'd say Deliveroo and Uber are perhaps most prevalent but I'm guessing its different in different countries?

I'd also kinda hoped to include an interview with someone who works for one of the most prominent services to get a real sense of wh...