Support me to make more videos like this by checking out my Patreon at patreon.com/tomnicholas Patreon supporters receive: - Early access to videos - Copies of scripts with footnotes and references - Access to exclusive commentary tracks to accompany each release - The ability to take part in Patreon exclusive Q&As - Weekly updates on what I'm working on next All this alongside helping me to continue to improve the quality of my videos through helping to cover the costs of research materials, set, costume, stock footage, music synchronisation, filming kits, editing software and more. If you like what I do, I'd be super grateful if you'd consider checking out the Patreon page at the link above. Thanks as ever! Tom
Johnny Harris has made another pro capitalism/NATO propaganda piece and turned comments off. Would you be able to respond? ruclips.net/video/JZpaIMSgj7I/видео.html
I feel like you shouldn't be able to just declare that a moment is a culmination of your own 'redemption arc.' That's like if Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day after exhibiting his efforts towards self-improvement and winning Andie MacDowell's affection just turned to camera and outright stated "my redemption arc is complete. this is the emotional climax of my narrative."
To be fair, I've watched at least one really bad stage play in which someone said something along the lines of "This really is my dark night of the soul" during the part of the play which screenwriters often refer to as the "dark night of the soul".
I genuinely hate how comfortably wealthy middle class people lie constantly about their upbringings and appropriate the very real struggles of lower class and impoverished people. The myth of earned poverty is alive and well and as insidious as ever.
I was born without a penny to my name, and my parents made me do chores for my allowance, and my trust fund terms require I remain employed, therefore I am a self-made-man, rags to riches, worked hard for every dollar, eArNed everything I own.
As a middle-class leftist, it’s people like the Paul brothers who make me live in constant anxiety that I’m a total fraud, and that all of my progressive musings are just an excuse to appropriate and infiltrate working class spaces.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick Tbh the concept of middle class is a concept devised by the Owning Class to create a divide between impoverished working class and "well off" working class where the "well off" people side with the Owning Class. Annoying thing is that it works. Its the same how racism is manufactured to divide ethnic groups of working class to stop them from collectivizing their power.
@@QuestionableObject Oh, I’m aware. It just doesn’t help to take the sting away. Like, I’d hardly say that I was as fortunate at the Paul brothers, but I never worried where my meals came from. My parents didn’t push me to get an job until after my freshmen year of college, I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities and hobbies, I was pretty reliably comfortable. I can’t help but look at my friends and comrades who had it worse and not feel a great sense of shame, as though I haven’t sufficiently earned the right to represent certain ideals, since I stand relatively unscathed by the world’s various ills.
Creating a thoughtful, engaging, and empathetic video on the Paul brother’s boxing career is a incredible flex, showing off your impressive writing and production abilities. Love it!
Completely agree, especially given that i don't have any interest in either boxing or the paul brothers, yet found the video engaging from start to finish!
For 20 of my 27 years alive, I lived in deep poverty, I mean the actual classification of deep poverty from the US Census Bureau. After the age of 21, when most of my family was working and pooling our money to try and lift ourselves out of poverty, Only recently has my life had massive turn around. However, no matter how hard we worked, it is undeniable that an incredible amount of luck in quick succession, in multiple occasions, made this possible. For anyone that says hard work can lift someone out of poverty is delusional. No matter how you slice it, you NEED luck, conditions need to be just right, or you will start to regress and the cycle will start all over again. People who peddle this nonsense make it harder to actually help the poor, because you put the onus of poverty, not on the dysfunction of the society in question, but on the victims of that dysfunction.
I don't mind people stating that hard work is a necessary component of success; however, I do take issue when it's implied (if not outright said) that it's sufficient.
You do need luck, but that doesn’t mean you don’t give it your all. Luck is the variable , effort is the coefficient. Your luck may have turned for the better, but if you’re effort to avail your opportunity, your coefficient, was zero you’d still be poor.
Not only that, but even IF hard work can generally lift someone out of poverty, that doesn't make it right. The fact that some people have to work harder than others just to meet basic necessities is an injustice in and of itself.
it’s false to assume poverty is a flaw of society, rather than a feature of humanity. also: “I make my own luck.” -Billy Zane, _Titanic_ -Dwight Shrute, _The Office_
I am so deeply uninterested in boxing and yet this video was FASCINATING. The way you drew together the tropes of boxing films with the reality of classism and the Paul’s careers… absolutely fantastic. This is a masterclass in taking a narrow subject and framing a wider argument from it. 👏👏👏
I think the real piece of poetic irony regarding the Paul brothers legacy was that documentary trying to figure out if they're sociopaths was made by Shane Dawson, of all the freakin' people to be doing it. It'd be like if Rupert Murdoch did a story on William Randolph Hearst about how dangerous misinformation-filled media empires can be. Great video, btw! Not sure why I forgot to mention that 😅
I just imagine the Paul brothers like: “Damn, bro it looks like we might need to show some legitimate contrition.” “Nah, I got an idea. Ever seen Rocky?” “Bro that’s brilliant, we can say we owned.... I mean did landscaping for, for _minimum wage.”_ “Bro, rags to riches. That’s genius.”
It's such a dumb line anyway. I had a very well-off upbringing thanks to my parents (probably quite similar to the Paul Brothers based on this video) and was never in danger of being short on money, but as a teenager and student I still worked minimum wage jobs in the summer. That doesn't mean I struggled at all. Something I didn't even really realise at the time is that in other families, kids work like I did to contribute to the family income. They'll help pay bills, rent, food, etc so they aren't a financial burden on their parents. In my case I got to keep it all to spend on nice things for myself. I was also very much aware that the jobs were temporary and once I finished college I'd have far better career opportunities. It's a completely different experience, and just saying I worked minimum wage glosses over it entirely.
The vocabulary is a bit too advanced for the walnut heads, but I'm sure the general idea was the same. Unless their idea was just "I feel like punching people, bro, you wanna punch people?" and then falling ass backwards into the internet's graces, because we know the internet is waaaay too forgiving to pieces of shit and monstrously harsh to innocent people.
In other words, they realized they were being idiots, but instead of trying to stop being idiots, they're pushing the fact that they were being idiots under the rug, while still being idiots. Correct?
I really like Adam something, but he do have the benefit of being less academic (in his vids I mean). So I think Tom is abit less "main stream" in that sense. That said, I to hope alot more people see this.
@@jadebeast100 genuinely great film. Really different to it's over the top sequels. Stallone was living in his car at the time I believe when they made it, he was dirt poor. The rocky character story very much is a mirror for his own life.
Oof that made me feel my age. It was so spoofed and parodied when I was growing up, I've never had to watch the movie/s. When a person's cultural touchstones become forgotten relics it's time to find a nice plot of land, a wood box and a big shovel.
@@Firegen1 I know about Rocky, and understood the basic idea, but I have a real problem with just not watching important or popular TV and movies. I’ve never seen titanic either. You could legitimately ask me if I’ve seen any movie and there’s a 95% chance I haven’t. I just spend more time playing Games and watching educational RUclips.
"Well, surprise surprise, I'm not that good at chess either, I just really don't want a broken nose!" I think I'm going to steal this. It was *clearly* made to describe me anyway.
Great video as always. This was very thought-provoking and made me look back on my life. I spent my teen years in a white suburb of Northern California. I now realize I was unwittingly being raised by my parents to revile anything “trashy.” When I was in summer high school classes, it was a fad to bring playing cards to class and play solitaire or two person games during breaks. I remember that one day my dad told me I shouldn’t carry cards around, because it’s what “low class” people do.
Boxing always struck me as being the kind of working-class entertainment that one should avoid if one was poor and wanted to be seen as 'above their station'. Conversely, if one is already wealthy, one should *embrace* elements of low culture, because 'high culture' has no intrinsic cultural elements. Wealthy people don't actually create anything, don't pioneer trends, and don't inspire interest in themselves outside of their wealth, so they are forced to appropriate culture that is generated by the more sincere existences of the people who don't live their lives constantly preoccupied by 'respectability' or 'appropriateness'. You can see this dynamic in online tutorials for how to appear like an upper-class person, how to dress, how to cut your hair, et cetera. Being respectable and classy is about cultivating an image of perfection and superiority, otherwise everyone will see that you're just another schmuck but with disproportionate wealth. So the Paul brothers don't appear to have much personal depth, but they can pretend they do by play-acting as people interested in personal growth. The entire media landscape is designed by and for men like the Paul brothers to create and sustain their images as being meaningful, integral aspects of society, even as they are totally removed from the brutality of the world they foster.
I gotta disagree with you. Boxing is one of the few sports where low class people can be seen refined in some sense considering how boxing is seen an honorable sport focused on technique over brute force
@@Mizarriz like dude my local area used boxing as a way out of poverty, with even a statue of a local fighter who died in the ring, there’s a lot of pride to it to the point that when my grandparents were told I was taking up the sport they were all for it
@@Mizarriz if you're more interested in learning the culture behind boxing then look up Broughton's Rules and Daniel Mendoza. Basically they changed Boxing from a bloodsport to a skilled art form
saying wealthy people dont create anything cultural is actually dumb, sorry to be rude. wealth amassed does not take away creativity or the struggle for meaning in life. kendrick lamar is wealthy, yet creates great art, same goes for many much more privlidged people like David Lynch. Hating on the consept of capitalism is great, but dehumanizing those who benefit from it is just… bad, wrong, unempathetic and a refusal to understand our worlds unfairness in its true disgustingness
*feeds the algorithm a protein bar* Thank you for such an interesting video. I had never given the boxing narrative much thought before, because fighting movies don‘t particularly interest me, but I had always wondered why staging or refusing to stage a fight is such a recurring plot point in this kind of story. When it‘s not just about fairness, but about respectability and class, it suddenly makes much more sense.
Old legends of MMA? It's to make money. Good on them. F*ck legacy when most fans won't remember them in a decade and treat them badly. They know their value; they don't need people like us to tell them what they're worth.
I found this channel some time ago and I have seen most, if not all the videos already. I think that I can safely assume by now that this tough guy here is my new youtube sensation. Keep it up Tom!
8:43 *Video Correction:* _"Logan's massive height, weight, and reach advantage allowed him to easily avoid being knocked out by Mayweather."_ I haven't finished watching your video, but this is objectively, blatantly, and offensively wrong. There is a common misconception amongst laymen that a boxing match is either fixed or fair. This is not the case. Boxing is a highly managed sport. And over the years an intricate system has emerged for controlling outcomes via various techniques that may or may not meet the definition of "fixing." The purpose of all of this, is to protect the long time profitability of potential money making line ups and to avoid snuffing out a potential superstar by prematurely exposing them to excessively harmful matchups. This was an *exhibition* match. Mayweather was instructed to *carry* Logan. Meaning to give Logan an active and exciting sparring session, but to leave him unharmed and allow him to finish out the full length of the fight. Throughout the entire fight Mayweather is exhibiting excellent restraint and professionalism. He pulls back his knuckles on impact and hits Logan with the front of his fingers to minimize the weight of impact - turning punches into closed first slaps. He sets Logan up for knockouts and then purposely alters the trajecory of the punch so that it glances off the sides and top of his head. He steps off setting up perfect angles of attack and then either pushes or clinches with Logan. These are all standard techniques. This is Mayweather "play sparring" at 5%. This type of thing usually happens in 3 situations: 1) When a legendary fighter is retiring, a young upstart who can knock him out will sometimes carry the fighter in this way. 2) When a fighter with high future earning potential but low current skill/experience needs either a warm up fight or a marketing boost, an older "can" fighter will be instructed to carry the younger fighter. 3) In freakshow promotional events such as this one. Floyd is a businessman way before he's a fighter. His viability as the "go to" celebrity boxing partner (and to a lesser extent the viability of this entire celebrity boxing charade) is completely dependant on Hollywood agents being absolutely certain that he will stick to the script and refrain from damaging their clients or their clients' reputations. Given the amount of money this trend is generating for the industry as a whole, and the amount of potential new lines of income being opened up by all the fuss, finishing Logan is a petty indulgence with a $100+ million price tag. It proves nothing to anyone, as anyone who knows anything about boxing already knows what's happening here. Case in point: I'm saying all of this, and I have literally *never watched the fight.* I saw a total of about 40 seconds and immediately understood what was happening. When I see a fighter going out of his way to protect his opponent and actively shutting down openings, the writing on the wall is obvious. And to be honest, if I was in Floyd's corner, I would refuse to work with him _unless_ he promised to carry Logan. So, to be clear: Logan Paul did not "survive" Mayweather. Nor is it remotely possible he ever could. I know this isn't the point of your video but this is an obscene perversion of reality that really can't be overlooked. LP is so outmatched, and was so perpetually exposed to an easy knock out, that had this been a real fight, tying Logan's hands behind his back would not significantly alter his chance of losing. _________________________ Note: What I wrote above does not apply to Jake Paul's fights. Jake can actually box (at the level of a decent amateur). What's happening with Jake is a little more complicated. I may explain it later
Yes to everything that you said, but I still dont give Jake any amount of respect because he still cherry picked his fights. All I wanted to do was watch him just go up against someone of similar skill.....or at least similar height/weight. I guarantee that had he went that route, it would've been much harder to see through his BS because AT THE VERY LEAST he faced an actual boxer.
@@thepassingstatic6268 Not sure what you mean by "similar skill" but Woodley weighs as much as Paul at walk-around weight. He's not as good of a boxer technically but he's a far better athlete, just old. Jake's proven himself as decent repeatedly, even if he sucks as a person.
According to some interviews, the locals in Zaire didn't know Foreman was black until he showed up. Having heard the narrative about the fight, many assumed he was white.
Your punching form in that intro is painful even to me, somebody who's literally taken one self defense course But i appreciate your aggressive honesty and willingness to try new things
I kept expecting the 'I coulda been somethin', I coulda been a contender' line to pop up... On the Waterfront is a pretty fantastic redemption story. And as for real life boxing narratives, nothing beats the Jack Johnson story.
Ah... These Premieres get me all the time. Why can I not remove them from my subscriptions... It is so disappointing to see that there is a new video by one of my favorit youtubers and not being able to see it... There should not be anything in my subscriptions that I cannot view at this time.
You can view a trailer for the video and it says the time it premiers at under the video. I don't really see the problem with premiers. Edit: there are also timestamps in the video description that give you an idea of how long the video will be. You can also hide any video (including premiers) from your sub feed.
Sorry, there's always gonna be a bit of tension between doing a premiere for those that really enjoy it and not wanting to irritate good folk like yourselves who find them a bit annoying. Rest assured, the video will be available to watch as normal in a few hours. Cheers!
It a critic og youtube not the channel. Yes is this case the channel shows time stamps, (nice), but youtube should just show it. Yes I can hide any individual video from my subs. But way cant i just select if i want to have premiers, shorts, polles and so on in "my" feed. I thin premiers are fine for those who like them, but i love video on demand, i see what I want to see when I want. Therefore i would like to remove premiers from my sub feed... Is that too much to ask for... They do not need to make it the standard, just give me the option to chose for my self.
A superbly engaging video, Tom! Even though I have no interest in Paul brothers or boxing, this was imho one of the most entertaining and educational videos of yours.
Great video Tom! I never expected to be so engaged by a video about either of the Paul brothers. Very impressive :) Edit: that ending gave me a laugh, thanks for that
Tom, I guess I've been waiting for this kind of content in youtube for a long time. You do a brilliant job with the research and an ever better work around theory. We need people like you! Greetings all the way from Brazil!
@@Tom_Nicholas oh, you're thinking of Footloose. Flashdance is about a welder who acheives her dream of getting into a dancing school by aggressively training in the slums of Pittsburgh.
Plus there's this thing about her best friend failing to escape the working class and eventually becoming a sex worker. Really, it's a lot about getting respect from the greater society as you mention.
And its interesting, started as performance art but became an actual sport, that sounds interesting When will tom do a match😉. The good thing is if he survives the boxing rounds he could beat the paul brothers in chess.
@@marocat4749 more precisely, chessboxing as it is played currently comes from a comic book from E. Bilal. In any case, it's really a funky concept, my own boxing coach has been to the last world championships in Turkey (lost in finals, heavyweight) and his prep' during this time was quite fun for us 😅
Based on the title I was really not expecting to care about this video, but once more I am surprised of how much do you manage to say about pretty much anything, thank you ❤️
Incredible work! Beside of all the other incredible in-depth views on the Paul’s boxing „adventure“ the whole class conscious take on boxing films was really interesting to me! I watch a ton of them and honestly I never actively realized the trope of the „stupid working class“ persons as a contrast to our hero that is special and explicitly does not represent all working class people. Great content, glad I klicked on it and I’m now subscribed! Thanks a lot!:)
Tom, I only recently found your channel but I just can't look away. Your articulate breakdowns of any given scenario are bar-none amongst a lot of YT today. Please, please please keep up the great work. It's incredible and deserves way more credit. You've earned a new fan and I'd love to let everyone know.
I know this wasn't the intention but that bit about Ali vs Foreman's fight having a cultural perception as a clash of ideals could also very easily describe the way the theming of a *ton* of the most classic Shonen anime conflicts
@@reveranttangent1771 Goku vs Vegeta from the first arc of DBZ is a pretty well-known example. Thematically it's about natural talent vs hard work, with Vegeta relying super hard on what he feels is *inherent* strength that he's entitled to due to his lineage, and ultimately losing to people who were born less powerful (both in terms of physical strength and social class) but trained vigorously and made a ton of sacrifices to get to that point. When Vegeta loses to characters who are way weaker than him, the subtext is that his whole sense of pride at that point in the story has been debunked, and revealed as something that was super unearned and ultimately his own undoing. Luffy vs Katakuri from One Piece is another great example that's way more recent, I don't want to spam you with an essay-worth of text analyzing it but under the hood that whole portion of the story is about the sense of freedom that comes with living authentically vs the sense of self-repression that comes with being an figure of authority.
@@reveranttangent1771 Oh, and Naruto has this sort of storytelling in spades. It's the reason Kishimoto was able to implement the infamous "Talk no Jutsu", where Naruto overcomes certain enemies through challenging their previously-held ideals via dialogue rather than direct combat.
You shouldn't get to declare yourself on a "redemption arc" that's so cringe when he says that in an interview, like out loud, to a real person and everything... Like my guy you are not Zuko?
I admit, I hadn't given any of this very much thought before. I've never watched a boxing match, RUclips or otherwise. I've also never watched a boxing film because I could tell it wouldn't be a genre that appealed to me and I wouldn't find the subject matter very compelling. And indeed hearing your analysis -- while very interesting, thought-provoking, and entertaining -- confirmed for me that I'm truly not interested in these themes or tropes, or in the boxing story as a narrative vehicle. The only part of this video I really disagree is the part near the end about how whether we love them or hate them, the Paul brothers have made us feel something with their boxing matches -- and yeah, just not really for me. I'm not interested and couldn't care less. These matches seem innocuous compared to their controversies and low points, but not something I'm going to respect or admire. They're just meh to me personally. There are better and worse things they could be doing for content.
If (and only if, because there are only so many hours in a day and days in a life and I'm not a proponent of the "GASP YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE AT ALL COST TO PROVE YOURSELF") this may make you curious about Million Dollar Baby : it's been seventeen years since, and perhaps you've been spoiled about it, but the great twist of this movie is how it's... not really about boxing. Now, Tom just made a whole video explaining how boxing movies go beyond the expectation of a single match, but Million Dollar Baby does that and... more. It does that, and then it stops the car, asks everyone to climb out, and leads the viewer inside a roadside dinner while you're left looking out the window and asking: "weren't we driving... somewhere???" I first watched it without really thinking about it in the context of boxing movies tropes, which gives it an even added layer, and it still struck a chord. A lot of food for thought there. Basically, should you have occasion to watch it, I highly recommend it.
Boxing is the only contest I can think of that would earn the Pauls so much money, win or lose. Physical dominance is still seen by many as the ultimate way to settle a dispute, or as per Starship Troopers: "violence is the supreme authority, from which all other authority derives". There's a sense that besting an opponent in the ring isn't just a matter of winning a game, but of proving yourself 'right'. I guess this is another reason boxing is the sport of choice here as opposed to, say, bowls or golf. From the audience's point of view, the spectacle of seeing someone you hate getting punched is quite appealing too. Loved the video 😊
OK this is why I enjoy your videos: even though I have little to none knowledge of the subjects, they never fail to interest and educate me. Great work!
as someone from the Midwest who grew up working class, the childhood home photos looked like the homes of the kids we all knew as rich when it was time for school birthday party invites or pool parties etc
Jake Paul never fights real boxers. Askren and Woodley are MMA fighter and both are more grapplers than strikers, especially Askren. Ben Askren was a lay up so why does anybody think Jake Paul is anything more than an amateur.
I was so confused hearing about Yotubers boxing cause I thought it was a joke, I didn't know until watching this they're freaking real and this is where the Paul Brothers ended up. It just feels so wild to see this, and them reinventing themselves through boxing. That and now understanding a lot of boxing movies I never watched growing up
I've barely heard about Logan Paul. Thus, when I've read the title of the video, I never expected you would talk about THIS Logan Paul. I'm glad that your channel is the best place to be informed about something like this!
Cm punks first promo since returning to wrestling seems to be a good example of fiction representing combat sports as a chance for an individual to redeem themselves both in terms of choices they regret and life circumstances they wish never happened.
I had never heard of either Paul before now, and after the video I do not feel like I missed out at all. Weirdly random topic to cover. I enjoyed it, though.
i remember when u started doing more progressive social topics for videos, it seems like you've become more comfortable and coherent with the scope now. good to see 😁
Great video Tom - really 'hooked' me in 🥊 This video articulated some of what I had felt and suspected but had never dedicated the time to formally conceptualise. These two have been playing a long game. Carefully contructing a synthetic, problematic, almost Disneyfied, boxing hero narrative that they are 'reformed', and are cashing in on every plot beat on the way. But my suspicion, (though I dont think its really touched upon here), is that they are not targeting adults or even the 18-25 demographic - who might instinctively see the wider picture as the carefully orchestrated PR panto that it is - but that of the kid and tween market. This junior audience is more liable to be beguiled into believing the supposedly real life story they see being playing out before them is authentic and original or, at the very least, aspirational and entertaining. What is more, the move from disney channel, to RUclips - a platform dominated by this junior demographic - to boxing, has allowed them to not just retain, but grow and accumulate the attention of an audience that has grown up with the Paul brothers. The aim, I figure, is not to target adult wallets directly, but indirectly, by good ol' fashion pester power. Wonder how many dads have been asked by their 12 year old sons if they could pay to watch or support one of their matches? 🤔
Hahaha the clip at 34:00 of the pulley/wire rotating around a wheel, followed by the clip of the Parliament building, had me thinking that Big Ben was being mechanically moved down the top of the building!
Changing the title 3 times in 24h seems pointless to me. I get that RUclipsrs do that to game the algorithm but within 24hs you get a lot of people from different time zones so you don't really know what title does best and instead you just catch the demographic from china or whatever.
Support me to make more videos like this by checking out my Patreon at patreon.com/tomnicholas
Patreon supporters receive:
- Early access to videos
- Copies of scripts with footnotes and references
- Access to exclusive commentary tracks to accompany each release
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All this alongside helping me to continue to improve the quality of my videos through helping to cover the costs of research materials, set, costume, stock footage, music synchronisation, filming kits, editing software and more.
If you like what I do, I'd be super grateful if you'd consider checking out the Patreon page at the link above.
Thanks as ever! Tom
5D chess with Multiverse Timetravel
@@RhizometricReality Vs. Jan Misali
Johnny Harris has made another pro capitalism/NATO propaganda piece and turned comments off. Would you be able to respond?
ruclips.net/video/JZpaIMSgj7I/видео.html
I like the new title, hopefully it will help you in the algorithm
I thought about setting up my own patreon
I feel like you shouldn't be able to just declare that a moment is a culmination of your own 'redemption arc.' That's like if Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day after exhibiting his efforts towards self-improvement and winning Andie MacDowell's affection just turned to camera and outright stated "my redemption arc is complete. this is the emotional climax of my narrative."
The Pauls remind me more of another Bill Murray character - the groundskeeper's assistant in _Caddyshack_
To be fair, I've watched at least one really bad stage play in which someone said something along the lines of "This really is my dark night of the soul" during the part of the play which screenwriters often refer to as the "dark night of the soul".
It’s ridiculous, Logan opens some Pokémon cards and says some politically correct stuff on his podcast and now everyone says he’s “redeemed” lmao
A narcissist would absolutely think so.
Agreed. Like, I shoved my wife down a mountain while on vacation; however, I am willing to take a punch from Mike Tyson in leu of life in prison.
I genuinely hate how comfortably wealthy middle class people lie constantly about their upbringings and appropriate the very real struggles of lower class and impoverished people. The myth of earned poverty is alive and well and as insidious as ever.
A little reminiscent of Lindsay Ellis' video essay on Rent
I was born without a penny to my name, and my parents made me do chores for my allowance, and my trust fund terms require I remain employed, therefore I am a self-made-man, rags to riches, worked hard for every dollar, eArNed everything I own.
As a middle-class leftist, it’s people like the Paul brothers who make me live in constant anxiety that I’m a total fraud, and that all of my progressive musings are just an excuse to appropriate and infiltrate working class spaces.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick Tbh the concept of middle class is a concept devised by the Owning Class to create a divide between impoverished working class and "well off" working class where the "well off" people side with the Owning Class. Annoying thing is that it works.
Its the same how racism is manufactured to divide ethnic groups of working class to stop them from collectivizing their power.
@@QuestionableObject Oh, I’m aware. It just doesn’t help to take the sting away.
Like, I’d hardly say that I was as fortunate at the Paul brothers, but I never worried where my meals came from. My parents didn’t push me to get an job until after my freshmen year of college, I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities and hobbies, I was pretty reliably comfortable.
I can’t help but look at my friends and comrades who had it worse and not feel a great sense of shame, as though I haven’t sufficiently earned the right to represent certain ideals, since I stand relatively unscathed by the world’s various ills.
Tom, that intro was almost intimidating. Not really, but almost.
But I tried so hard!?
@@Tom_Nicholas I wouldn't challenge you to chess 😰
@@Tom_Nicholas Loved it. The bit was on point, well written jokes. But you really aren't intimidating anyone.
Chess fight chess fight , or a chess boxing one🤔
@@Tom_Nicholas and got so far!
But in the end it doesn't even matter
Creating a thoughtful, engaging, and empathetic video on the Paul brother’s boxing career is a incredible flex, showing off your impressive writing and production abilities. Love it!
Thanks, I’m really glad you liked it!
Completely agree, especially given that i don't have any interest in either boxing or the paul brothers, yet found the video engaging from start to finish!
the idea of the paul brothers taking notes of your videos of the society of the spectacle is making me chuckle
Hey, who knows...?
Meanwhile at Paul Bros. Inc. HQ:
Logan: Uh oh Jake! This Tom guy is on to us...
We've been _rumbled!_
It would be the best thing that ever happened to them. If only .....
For 20 of my 27 years alive, I lived in deep poverty, I mean the actual classification of deep poverty from the US Census Bureau. After the age of 21, when most of my family was working and pooling our money to try and lift ourselves out of poverty, Only recently has my life had massive turn around. However, no matter how hard we worked, it is undeniable that an incredible amount of luck in quick succession, in multiple occasions, made this possible. For anyone that says hard work can lift someone out of poverty is delusional. No matter how you slice it, you NEED luck, conditions need to be just right, or you will start to regress and the cycle will start all over again. People who peddle this nonsense make it harder to actually help the poor, because you put the onus of poverty, not on the dysfunction of the society in question, but on the victims of that dysfunction.
I don't mind people stating that hard work is a necessary component of success; however, I do take issue when it's implied (if not outright said) that it's sufficient.
You do need luck, but that doesn’t mean you don’t give it your all. Luck is the variable , effort is the coefficient. Your luck may have turned for the better, but if you’re effort to avail your opportunity, your coefficient, was zero you’d still be poor.
Not only that, but even IF hard work can generally lift someone out of poverty, that doesn't make it right. The fact that some people have to work harder than others just to meet basic necessities is an injustice in and of itself.
@@bluebird5173 *nods vigorously* and i’ll keep telling people that until the planet falls into the sun
it’s false to assume poverty is a flaw of society, rather than a feature of humanity.
also: “I make my own luck.”
-Billy Zane, _Titanic_
-Dwight Shrute, _The Office_
I am so deeply uninterested in boxing and yet this video was FASCINATING. The way you drew together the tropes of boxing films with the reality of classism and the Paul’s careers… absolutely fantastic. This is a masterclass in taking a narrow subject and framing a wider argument from it. 👏👏👏
Thank you, I’m so glad you thought so. Yeah, it was really, really fun to begin with something which is ultimately a bit silly and build out from it!
Excellent video, particularly in pointing out the classism of the boxing narrative! Loved it!
Thank you, really glad you enjoyed it!
Finally got around to watching this and damn dude, you knocked it out of the park with this one
🔺SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
So when can we expect your video using Canadian boxing (I mean hockey) as a canvas for wider social issues? I’d totally watch that.
Ahh, thanks! So glad you liked it! Although, you appear to have just used a *baseball* metaphor on a *boxing* video!?
I think the real piece of poetic irony regarding the Paul brothers legacy was that documentary trying to figure out if they're sociopaths was made by Shane Dawson, of all the freakin' people to be doing it. It'd be like if Rupert Murdoch did a story on William Randolph Hearst about how dangerous misinformation-filled media empires can be.
Great video, btw! Not sure why I forgot to mention that 😅
big joel’s video about shane dawson is on point
I think calling it a "documentary" is a bit of a stretch tbh. It's really more of a reality TV show.
🌓SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
@@aratirao9007 stop
I just imagine the Paul brothers like:
“Damn, bro it looks like we might need to show some legitimate contrition.”
“Nah, I got an idea. Ever seen Rocky?”
“Bro that’s brilliant, we can say we owned.... I mean did landscaping for, for _minimum wage.”_
“Bro, rags to riches. That’s genius.”
I can imagine Jake watching video, and it just going in one ear and out the other lol.
It's such a dumb line anyway. I had a very well-off upbringing thanks to my parents (probably quite similar to the Paul Brothers based on this video) and was never in danger of being short on money, but as a teenager and student I still worked minimum wage jobs in the summer. That doesn't mean I struggled at all.
Something I didn't even really realise at the time is that in other families, kids work like I did to contribute to the family income. They'll help pay bills, rent, food, etc so they aren't a financial burden on their parents. In my case I got to keep it all to spend on nice things for myself. I was also very much aware that the jobs were temporary and once I finished college I'd have far better career opportunities. It's a completely different experience, and just saying I worked minimum wage glosses over it entirely.
The vocabulary is a bit too advanced for the walnut heads, but I'm sure the general idea was the same. Unless their idea was just "I feel like punching people, bro, you wanna punch people?" and then falling ass backwards into the internet's graces, because we know the internet is waaaay too forgiving to pieces of shit and monstrously harsh to innocent people.
🟦SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
In other words, they realized they were being idiots, but instead of trying to stop being idiots, they're pushing the fact that they were being idiots under the rug, while still being idiots. Correct?
I hope the algorithm gods bless you like they did Adam Something.
Haha, Adam Something has (deservedly) won the favour of the algorithm gods.
I really like Adam something, but he do have the benefit of being less academic (in his vids I mean). So I think Tom is abit less "main stream" in that sense. That said, I to hope alot more people see this.
Adam something deserves it
@@Tom_Nicholas Dubai, Elon Musk, Public Transportation. Real Housewives, Spoderman butt dance. Just commenting buzzwords for the algorithm.
Adam who??
the gesturing as normal but with boxing gloves on is making me giggle lol
Haha, need to tie those arms to my body.
@@Tom_Nicholas not at all, it’s part of who you are Tom, keep up the great work man. Surprisingly insightful video about the Paul brothers.
Great video! Learned what the plot of Rocky is.
It's actually worth a watch! I thought I would just be watching it *for the video* but kinda liked it.
@@Tom_Nicholas I’ll watch it, after finally hearing a basic synopsis it sounds like a much better movie than I had anticipated.
@@jadebeast100 genuinely great film. Really different to it's over the top sequels. Stallone was living in his car at the time I believe when they made it, he was dirt poor. The rocky character story very much is a mirror for his own life.
Oof that made me feel my age. It was so spoofed and parodied when I was growing up, I've never had to watch the movie/s. When a person's cultural touchstones become forgotten relics it's time to find a nice plot of land, a wood box and a big shovel.
@@Firegen1 I know about Rocky, and understood the basic idea, but I have a real problem with just not watching important or popular TV and movies. I’ve never seen titanic either.
You could legitimately ask me if I’ve seen any movie and there’s a 95% chance I haven’t. I just spend more time playing Games and watching educational RUclips.
"Well, surprise surprise, I'm not that good at chess either, I just really don't want a broken nose!" I think I'm going to steal this. It was *clearly* made to describe me anyway.
Same
@@HxH2011DRA great username :)
@@naomistarlight6178 thank you!
🔴SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
Great video as always. This was very thought-provoking and made me look back on my life. I spent my teen years in a white suburb of Northern California. I now realize I was unwittingly being raised by my parents to revile anything “trashy.” When I was in summer high school classes, it was a fad to bring playing cards to class and play solitaire or two person games during breaks. I remember that one day my dad told me I shouldn’t carry cards around, because it’s what “low class” people do.
That's kind of an hilariously quaint idea of "low class" vice these days.
@@krombopulos_michael I know right? 😸
Boxing always struck me as being the kind of working-class entertainment that one should avoid if one was poor and wanted to be seen as 'above their station'. Conversely, if one is already wealthy, one should *embrace* elements of low culture, because 'high culture' has no intrinsic cultural elements. Wealthy people don't actually create anything, don't pioneer trends, and don't inspire interest in themselves outside of their wealth, so they are forced to appropriate culture that is generated by the more sincere existences of the people who don't live their lives constantly preoccupied by 'respectability' or 'appropriateness'. You can see this dynamic in online tutorials for how to appear like an upper-class person, how to dress, how to cut your hair, et cetera. Being respectable and classy is about cultivating an image of perfection and superiority, otherwise everyone will see that you're just another schmuck but with disproportionate wealth. So the Paul brothers don't appear to have much personal depth, but they can pretend they do by play-acting as people interested in personal growth. The entire media landscape is designed by and for men like the Paul brothers to create and sustain their images as being meaningful, integral aspects of society, even as they are totally removed from the brutality of the world they foster.
I gotta disagree with you. Boxing is one of the few sports where low class people can be seen refined in some sense considering how boxing is seen an honorable sport focused on technique over brute force
@@andrewa9064 Is it? I know little about it, aside from vague impressions. Good to know
@@Mizarriz like dude my local area used boxing as a way out of poverty, with even a statue of a local fighter who died in the ring, there’s a lot of pride to it to the point that when my grandparents were told I was taking up the sport they were all for it
@@Mizarriz if you're more interested in learning the culture behind boxing then look up Broughton's Rules and Daniel Mendoza. Basically they changed Boxing from a bloodsport to a skilled art form
saying wealthy people dont create anything cultural is actually dumb, sorry to be rude. wealth amassed does not take away creativity or the struggle for meaning in life. kendrick lamar is wealthy, yet creates great art, same goes for many much more privlidged people like David Lynch.
Hating on the consept of capitalism is great, but dehumanizing those who benefit from it is just… bad, wrong, unempathetic and a refusal to understand our worlds unfairness in its true disgustingness
Jake Paul Sartre
greatest brainmind of our generation
@@travdump209 Greatest legal brain I ever knew.
*feeds the algorithm a protein bar* Thank you for such an interesting video. I had never given the boxing narrative much thought before, because fighting movies don‘t particularly interest me, but I had always wondered why staging or refusing to stage a fight is such a recurring plot point in this kind of story. When it‘s not just about fairness, but about respectability and class, it suddenly makes much more sense.
I want everybody to know that this is how I found out Rocky didn't win in the end
All this time I just assumed he beat the guy!
Lmao same. It also puts the result in Creed's (2015) match into perspective
As a boxing fan I despise what the Pauls are doing to it and extremely saddened by old legends copping out to hype them
Old legends of MMA? It's to make money. Good on them. F*ck legacy when most fans won't remember them in a decade and treat them badly. They know their value; they don't need people like us to tell them what they're worth.
@@STKHub legends of boxing, the publicity runs, brother, not the fighters.
As a boxing fan idc at all. Im happy for them. Dont be a salty hater
RUclipsrs and tiktokers are ruining boxing.
Boxing has become like wrestling. Fake as hell
Well researched, well written, well performed, well produced… Just overall well done.
Thanks Michael, glad you thought so!
42:40 For people who don't know, From Now On is also the culmination of a redemption arc within the movie, so they're not being that subtle
🌗SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
we've had unboxing channels…
Haha, it's gonna be tough for anyone to top this comment!
What a _punchline_ 😂
@@somecuriosities man, i love puns
@@Sour_pussy I know right, they really _hook_ you in.
Tom trying to sound even kind of threatening in the opening is almost adorably funny, like a snarling poodle or something lol
🧱SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
This is such an aggressively british way to challenge someone
... to chess.
🔵SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
I found this channel some time ago and I have seen most, if not all the videos already. I think that I can safely assume by now that this tough guy here is my new youtube sensation. Keep it up Tom!
Ahh, thanks so much, I'm glad you've got something out of them!
8:43 *Video Correction:*
_"Logan's massive height, weight, and reach advantage allowed him to easily avoid being knocked out by Mayweather."_
I haven't finished watching your video, but this is objectively, blatantly, and offensively wrong.
There is a common misconception amongst laymen that a boxing match is either fixed or fair. This is not the case. Boxing is a highly managed sport. And over the years an intricate system has emerged for controlling outcomes via various techniques that may or may not meet the definition of "fixing."
The purpose of all of this, is to protect the long time profitability of potential money making line ups and to avoid snuffing out a potential superstar by prematurely exposing them to excessively harmful matchups.
This was an *exhibition* match. Mayweather was instructed to *carry* Logan. Meaning to give Logan an active and exciting sparring session, but to leave him unharmed and allow him to finish out the full length of the fight.
Throughout the entire fight Mayweather is exhibiting excellent restraint and professionalism. He pulls back his knuckles on impact and hits Logan with the front of his fingers to minimize the weight of impact - turning punches into closed first slaps. He sets Logan up for knockouts and then purposely alters the trajecory of the punch so that it glances off the sides and top of his head. He steps off setting up perfect angles of attack and then either pushes or clinches with Logan.
These are all standard techniques. This is Mayweather "play sparring" at 5%.
This type of thing usually happens in 3 situations:
1) When a legendary fighter is retiring, a young upstart who can knock him out will sometimes carry the fighter in this way.
2) When a fighter with high future earning potential but low current skill/experience needs either a warm up fight or a marketing boost, an older "can" fighter will be instructed to carry the younger fighter.
3) In freakshow promotional events such as this one.
Floyd is a businessman way before he's a fighter. His viability as the "go to" celebrity boxing partner (and to a lesser extent the viability of this entire celebrity boxing charade) is completely dependant on Hollywood agents being absolutely certain that he will stick to the script and refrain from damaging their clients or their clients' reputations.
Given the amount of money this trend is generating for the industry as a whole, and the amount of potential new lines of income being opened up by all the fuss, finishing Logan is a petty indulgence with a $100+ million price tag. It proves nothing to anyone, as anyone who knows anything about boxing already knows what's happening here.
Case in point: I'm saying all of this, and I have literally *never watched the fight.* I saw a total of about 40 seconds and immediately understood what was happening. When I see a fighter going out of his way to protect his opponent and actively shutting down openings, the writing on the wall is obvious. And to be honest, if I was in Floyd's corner, I would refuse to work with him _unless_ he promised to carry Logan.
So, to be clear: Logan Paul did not "survive" Mayweather. Nor is it remotely possible he ever could. I know this isn't the point of your video but this is an obscene perversion of reality that really can't be overlooked.
LP is so outmatched, and was so perpetually exposed to an easy knock out, that had this been a real fight, tying Logan's hands behind his back would not significantly alter his chance of losing.
_________________________
Note: What I wrote above does not apply to Jake Paul's fights. Jake can actually box (at the level of a decent amateur). What's happening with Jake is a little more complicated. I may explain it later
I mean, "Money" Mayweather
Yes to everything that you said, but I still dont give Jake any amount of respect because he still cherry picked his fights. All I wanted to do was watch him just go up against someone of similar skill.....or at least similar height/weight. I guarantee that had he went that route, it would've been much harder to see through his BS because AT THE VERY LEAST he faced an actual boxer.
🌕SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
Damn. I love intense niche knowledge. Right on, dude
@@thepassingstatic6268 Not sure what you mean by "similar skill" but Woodley weighs as much as Paul at walk-around weight. He's not as good of a boxer technically but he's a far better athlete, just old. Jake's proven himself as decent repeatedly, even if he sucks as a person.
According to some interviews, the locals in Zaire didn't know Foreman was black until he showed up. Having heard the narrative about the fight, many assumed he was white.
Your punching form in that intro is painful even to me, somebody who's literally taken one self defense course
But i appreciate your aggressive honesty and willingness to try new things
Hey, I practiced for like a whole 5 minutes!?
I kept expecting the 'I coulda been somethin', I coulda been a contender' line to pop up... On the Waterfront is a pretty fantastic redemption story.
And as for real life boxing narratives, nothing beats the Jack Johnson story.
The Paul brothers live and train in Puerto Rico, as gentrifiers on top of all of it
So far, hands down for one of the most hilarious intros I've recently enjoyed
Toms intros are often laugh out loud funny. I think his conservative cancelation one was my favorite
@@capitalistraven yeah that one was also crazy good
Eh, personally I want to see a youtuber become a racecar driver.
I would totally do this.
There already is one! Jimmy Broadbent!
Ah... These Premieres get me all the time. Why can I not remove them from my subscriptions... It is so disappointing to see that there is a new video by one of my favorit youtubers and not being able to see it... There should not be anything in my subscriptions that I cannot view at this time.
Also... Now I know when I can see it... But not how long time it will take. Is it 10 min og 2 hours... It matters.... :-)
useless system.
You can view a trailer for the video and it says the time it premiers at under the video. I don't really see the problem with premiers.
Edit: there are also timestamps in the video description that give you an idea of how long the video will be. You can also hide any video (including premiers) from your sub feed.
Sorry, there's always gonna be a bit of tension between doing a premiere for those that really enjoy it and not wanting to irritate good folk like yourselves who find them a bit annoying. Rest assured, the video will be available to watch as normal in a few hours. Cheers!
Ooh, and to answer your other question, it's about 45 mins.
It a critic og youtube not the channel.
Yes is this case the channel shows time stamps, (nice), but youtube should just show it. Yes I can hide any individual video from my subs. But way cant i just select if i want to have premiers, shorts, polles and so on in "my" feed. I thin premiers are fine for those who like them, but i love video on demand, i see what I want to see when I want. Therefore i would like to remove premiers from my sub feed... Is that too much to ask for... They do not need to make it the standard, just give me the option to chose for my self.
It should be mentioned I think that one of the indescretions that Jake Paul would supposedly have to attone for is a serious rape allegation
🛑SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
I could not think of a less interesting topic than "youtuber boxing" to cover, but I trusted Tom to make it interesting somehow, and gosh he did!
Thank you, I'm so glad you found it interesting!
Don't think many people particularly want to like Jake Paul
Edit: Why did I ever doubt you Tom, you addressed this in the video perfectly!
A superbly engaging video, Tom! Even though I have no interest in Paul brothers or boxing, this was imho one of the most entertaining and educational videos of yours.
They made me watch boxing for the first time in my life just because i wanted to see them loose, it's kind of genius actually
It's been amazing for boxing as a sport. While a lot of long-time fans hate it, it's drawn in a lot of extra money and eyeballs.
The heel working as intended
Great video Tom! I never expected to be so engaged by a video about either of the Paul brothers.
Very impressive :)
Edit: that ending gave me a laugh, thanks for that
Thank you! Really glad you liked it!
Tom, I guess I've been waiting for this kind of content in youtube for a long time. You do a brilliant job with the research and an ever better work around theory.
We need people like you!
Greetings all the way from Brazil!
The intro was genuinely hilarious and well scripted, Tom XD
Thank you! Glad it made you chuckle!
Not a fan of the subject matter but you still made an awesome video out of it. Thanks homie
Cheers! Yeah, it's weirdly the video I've drawn most on my PhD for, haha, so I hope people take the time to watch it!
Holy crap, is flashdance a boxing film?
Is it bad that I've not seen Flashdance? That's the one where they ban dancing, right?
@@Tom_Nicholas oh, you're thinking of Footloose. Flashdance is about a welder who acheives her dream of getting into a dancing school by aggressively training in the slums of Pittsburgh.
Plus there's this thing about her best friend failing to escape the working class and eventually becoming a sex worker. Really, it's a lot about getting respect from the greater society as you mention.
FOR THE AL-GORE-RHYTHM!
Celebrate good times
"Yes
.I will"
I thank you for your sacrifice to the algorithm gods.
Good news! Chess Boxing is an actual sport!
😬
And its interesting, started as performance art but became an actual sport, that sounds interesting When will tom do a match😉. The good thing is if he survives the boxing rounds he could beat the paul brothers in chess.
@@marocat4749 more precisely, chessboxing as it is played currently comes from a comic book from E. Bilal. In any case, it's really a funky concept, my own boxing coach has been to the last world championships in Turkey (lost in finals, heavyweight) and his prep' during this time was quite fun for us 😅
@@anthonymarconi761 Oh XD Even more wild. When subscriber nuber will tom try it ? :D
@@Tom_Nicholas 😆
Based on the title I was really not expecting to care about this video, but once more I am surprised of how much do you manage to say about pretty much anything, thank you ❤️
Incredible work! Beside of all the other incredible in-depth views on the Paul’s boxing „adventure“ the whole class conscious take on boxing films was really interesting to me! I watch a ton of them and honestly I never actively realized the trope of the „stupid working class“ persons as a contrast to our hero that is special and explicitly does not represent all working class people. Great content, glad I klicked on it and I’m now subscribed! Thanks a lot!:)
Thanks so much, I'm really glad you found it interesting!
This video made me think about the Paul brothers in much more detail than I ever wanted to lol
I’m sorry, I guess?
@@Tom_Nicholas Nono I’m still watching (at the bit about respectability rn), it’s a great video, I just don’t really like the Paul brothers.
Also heads up, I’m subscribed with the bell on and I never got a notification for this video
Between this and Big Joel's Rocky video, hell yeah, lefties on storytelling tropes of boxing is my jam!
Tom, I only recently found your channel but I just can't look away. Your articulate breakdowns of any given scenario are bar-none amongst a lot of YT today. Please, please please keep up the great work. It's incredible and deserves way more credit. You've earned a new fan and I'd love to let everyone know.
I know this wasn't the intention but that bit about Ali vs Foreman's fight having a cultural perception as a clash of ideals could also very easily describe the way the theming of a *ton* of the most classic Shonen anime conflicts
Examples, please
@@reveranttangent1771 Goku vs Vegeta from the first arc of DBZ is a pretty well-known example. Thematically it's about natural talent vs hard work, with Vegeta relying super hard on what he feels is *inherent* strength that he's entitled to due to his lineage, and ultimately losing to people who were born less powerful (both in terms of physical strength and social class) but trained vigorously and made a ton of sacrifices to get to that point. When Vegeta loses to characters who are way weaker than him, the subtext is that his whole sense of pride at that point in the story has been debunked, and revealed as something that was super unearned and ultimately his own undoing.
Luffy vs Katakuri from One Piece is another great example that's way more recent, I don't want to spam you with an essay-worth of text analyzing it but under the hood that whole portion of the story is about the sense of freedom that comes with living authentically vs the sense of self-repression that comes with being an figure of authority.
@@reveranttangent1771 Oh, and Naruto has this sort of storytelling in spades. It's the reason Kishimoto was able to implement the infamous "Talk no Jutsu", where Naruto overcomes certain enemies through challenging their previously-held ideals via dialogue rather than direct combat.
Thank you
You shouldn't get to declare yourself on a "redemption arc" that's so cringe when he says that in an interview, like out loud, to a real person and everything... Like my guy you are not Zuko?
Marlin Brando: “I could have been a contender” Logan Paul: “I could have been a pretender”
I just recently got into boxing a little bit late in life but I never even thought about the importance of my backstory. I have so much work to do.
I admit, I hadn't given any of this very much thought before. I've never watched a boxing match, RUclips or otherwise. I've also never watched a boxing film because I could tell it wouldn't be a genre that appealed to me and I wouldn't find the subject matter very compelling. And indeed hearing your analysis -- while very interesting, thought-provoking, and entertaining -- confirmed for me that I'm truly not interested in these themes or tropes, or in the boxing story as a narrative vehicle. The only part of this video I really disagree is the part near the end about how whether we love them or hate them, the Paul brothers have made us feel something with their boxing matches -- and yeah, just not really for me. I'm not interested and couldn't care less. These matches seem innocuous compared to their controversies and low points, but not something I'm going to respect or admire. They're just meh to me personally. There are better and worse things they could be doing for content.
If (and only if, because there are only so many hours in a day and days in a life and I'm not a proponent of the "GASP YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE AT ALL COST TO PROVE YOURSELF") this may make you curious about Million Dollar Baby : it's been seventeen years since, and perhaps you've been spoiled about it, but the great twist of this movie is how it's... not really about boxing. Now, Tom just made a whole video explaining how boxing movies go beyond the expectation of a single match, but Million Dollar Baby does that and... more. It does that, and then it stops the car, asks everyone to climb out, and leads the viewer inside a roadside dinner while you're left looking out the window and asking: "weren't we driving... somewhere???"
I first watched it without really thinking about it in the context of boxing movies tropes, which gives it an even added layer, and it still struck a chord. A lot of food for thought there.
Basically, should you have occasion to watch it, I highly recommend it.
Next up, Jeffrey Star a Revolutionary Text.
Shocked this video hasn’t been copyright claimed or taken down from the boxing clips tbh
Boxing is the only contest I can think of that would earn the Pauls so much money, win or lose. Physical dominance is still seen by many as the ultimate way to settle a dispute, or as per Starship Troopers: "violence is the supreme authority, from which all other authority derives". There's a sense that besting an opponent in the ring isn't just a matter of winning a game, but of proving yourself 'right'. I guess this is another reason boxing is the sport of choice here as opposed to, say, bowls or golf. From the audience's point of view, the spectacle of seeing someone you hate getting punched is quite appealing too. Loved the video 😊
why not chess-boxing? some weird people do it, its one session of blitz-chess, one round of boxing and to it again.
Have no idea who these people are. But I enjoy your videos! This one is for the algorithm ;)
Much appreciated!
OK this is why I enjoy your videos: even though I have little to none knowledge of the subjects, they never fail to interest and educate me. Great work!
0:10 He's not the hero we want, but the hero we deserve...
Ok, the essay was great as always, but the real champ move was that patreon name reading at the end. Legendary.
"Now you may not be a disgraced youtuber looking for public redemption...Although hello Logan and Jake if you are watching" 😂😂😂
Bonus points to you for watching the ad!
I had not given much thought to the ideological base for boxing movies. Very interesting video, thank you!
This has easily become one of my favorite channels
as someone from the Midwest who grew up working class, the childhood home photos looked like the homes of the kids we all knew as rich when it was time for school birthday party invites or pool parties etc
Jake Paul never fights real boxers. Askren and Woodley are MMA fighter and both are more grapplers than strikers, especially Askren. Ben Askren was a lay up so why does anybody think Jake Paul is anything more than an amateur.
Another great boxing redemption story is amazing Italian film Rocco and His Brothers. Highly recommend it.
That explains why I've never liked boxing and many other sports. I've always approached boxing postmodernly. Two people fighting, who's going to win?
I was so confused hearing about Yotubers boxing cause I thought it was a joke, I didn't know until watching this they're freaking real and this is where the Paul Brothers ended up. It just feels so wild to see this, and them reinventing themselves through boxing. That and now understanding a lot of boxing movies I never watched growing up
I've barely heard about Logan Paul. Thus, when I've read the title of the video, I never expected you would talk about THIS Logan Paul. I'm glad that your channel is the best place to be informed about something like this!
31:45 id love a breakdown on why podcasting is seen as more sophisticated
Thanks for the video. Learnt a lot about the boxing subculture in the West.
i know this isn’t really the point but i think rocky took a LOT from Ashita no Joe
This was awesome! Great pacing, framing, and overall arc. WAIT A SECOND!
Cm punks first promo since returning to wrestling seems to be a good example of fiction representing combat sports as a chance for an individual to redeem themselves both in terms of choices they regret and life circumstances they wish never happened.
🟢SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE TOM
Seeing Tom lifting weights really butters my parsnips
I had never heard of either Paul before now, and after the video I do not feel like I missed out at all. Weirdly random topic to cover. I enjoyed it, though.
i remember when u started doing more progressive social topics for videos, it seems like you've become more comfortable and coherent with the scope now. good to see 😁
Great video Tom - really 'hooked' me in 🥊
This video articulated some of what I had felt and suspected but had never dedicated the time to formally conceptualise.
These two have been playing a long game. Carefully contructing a synthetic, problematic, almost Disneyfied, boxing hero narrative that they are 'reformed', and are cashing in on every plot beat on the way.
But my suspicion, (though I dont think its really touched upon here), is that they are not targeting adults or even the 18-25 demographic - who might instinctively see the wider picture as the carefully orchestrated PR panto that it is - but that of the kid and tween market. This junior audience is more liable to be beguiled into believing the supposedly real life story they see being playing out before them is authentic and original or, at the very least, aspirational and entertaining.
What is more, the move from disney channel, to RUclips - a platform dominated by this junior demographic - to boxing, has allowed them to not just retain, but grow and accumulate the attention of an audience that has grown up with the Paul brothers. The aim, I figure, is not to target adult wallets directly, but indirectly, by good ol' fashion pester power. Wonder how many dads have been asked by their 12 year old sons if they could pay to watch or support one of their matches? 🤔
I actually got an ad for a tuber boxing match of some sort here
I'm guessing I'd come off as missing the point if I said six UFC fans disliked this?
Very surprisingly insightful video, didnt know u can bring an actual valuable lesson/social commentary from the paul brothers stupid boxing matches
Thanks, really glad you liked it!
Really interesting. Thanks for uploading this! All RUclipsrs should wrap their hands when doing boxing content.
some of the most thoughtful and articulate journalism on this website. incredibly underrated.
Nice work! It's a shame that this one didn't do as well as your other videos, because it's just as deserving of the attention.
Pet doggie
* * pet * *
Hahaha the clip at 34:00 of the pulley/wire rotating around a wheel, followed by the clip of the Parliament building, had me thinking that Big Ben was being mechanically moved down the top of the building!
Excellent video as always, thank you very much for putting it out!
Thanks, I’m so glad you liked it!
Gosh your channel is just so amazing, I love every single one of your vids
I do not wanna catch those hands... or that Pawn to Knight opener.
You don’t know how happy it makes me that this, except the fact that a that fight happened in 2017, is pretty much news to me.
i'm very curious about that opening skit - did it impact your average retention in this video?
Great thumbnail!
Pretty sure I saw you in the music video for Undercover Martyn.
I liked the wheezing at the very end, 10/10.
Thank you. That was, erm, acting.
@@Tom_Nicholas Oh don't worry, I could tell!
Very, very well written. How many hours of work? Impressive
Changing the title 3 times in 24h seems pointless to me. I get that RUclipsrs do that to game the algorithm but within 24hs you get a lot of people from different time zones so you don't really know what title does best and instead you just catch the demographic from china or whatever.
I despise the Paul brothers, yet manage to watch a full 46 minute essay about boxing featuring them. Great job, Tom!