GRAPHIC BY EMMA CHANGBy COLLEEN GAPUZAN
STAFF WRITER
Netflix, where’s Shane’s original series?
YouTuber Shane Dawson has finally released his long awaited documentary series titled “Conspiracy Theories with Shane Dawson” after a much needed YouTube hiatus for himself. Finishing the year incredibly strong after the premiere of his docuseries “The Mind of Jake Paul,” which reached over 120 million views, Dawson decides to take on a new challenge, and speak out on unpopular opinions and hidden secrets that his audience may never have realized existed.
The premiere of Dawson’s one hour and forty-five minute two-part series drastically changed the way viewers perceive certain topics from nostalgic childhood memories to recent events, such as the infamous Woolsey Fire.
In the first installment of his series, Dawson separates the video into different sections according to its respective conspiracy theory such iPhone conspiracies, California wildfires, brainwashing children, subliminal messages in stores and much more.
For his beginning theory, Dawson addresses the current iPhone conspiracy theories. He begins with exposing the effect that modern technology has on social media; specifically, identity theft. Dawson analyzes the world behind the identity theft app Fake App and how it has impacted major celebrities, political figures and citizens all across the world. He introduces “Deep Fakes,” which is when a computer can put a celebrities face on any person the user wants. “Deep faking” celebrities has been prominent for quite some time. For example, movie studios have been using deep fakes in their films to bring certain celebrities back from the dead. For example, the YouTuber identifies how a commercial company used an actor who resembled Audrey Hepburn and incorporated CGI to mask her identity look realistic, as if the real actress was still alive. However, deep fakes can also be utilized detrimentally when its purpose becomes to harass or discredit notable figures. He warns on the dangers of identity theft and how it appeals to the audience. Viewers are stunned to realize how threatening deep fakes are and the massive damage it can impose on individuals. In addition, many deep fakes were used to stir controversy in politics. Fake App users manipulated the masses by using President Donald Trump’s face on potentially any other human being they saw fit. In a sense, the public was able to make the president say and do anything they wanted in real time, which resulted in potential political endangerment.
Another huge conspiracy that Dawson addresses is the hidden, subliminal messages in stores and businesses. Since the beginning of history, stores have been doing everything they can to capture the attention of the public eye. Dawson introduces with the proposition by uncovering clever ploys grocery stores use to entice their products. Firstly, we discover that within supermarkets, all the products are arranged in a specific way, along with certain smells, to get you to purchase more items. Manipulated from the beginning, we learn that grocery stores purposefully oversize shopping carts to psychologically make customers feel like they haven’t shopped enough. Moreover, the grocery stores intentionally place their more essential items such as milk, eggs and meat toward the back in order to get customers to walk through all the other items on their way there. Even in a place as simple as the grocery store, the public gets a glimpse of how much industries are invested in selling their products, which adds on to their list of conspiracies in the process.
Continuing with devious tactics in stores, reports show that in high-end retailers such as Gucci and Prada, employees are trained to be rude and condescending to customers to get them, again, to buy their products. More affordable stores, specifically Hollister, has also been under the radar in using duplicitous strategies to get more bang for their buck. For example, research shows that Hollister used to blast incredibly loud, upbeat music to distort their thinking process to get consumers to buy their products.
However, one of the biggest revelations that Dawson comes across is the prejudice Hollister had toward its workers and customers. Former CEO Mike Jeffries stepped down due to various lawsuits surrounding controversial comments regarding the fact that he only hired good-looking, attractive people to work at the stores, and the same went for the customers. Because of this controversy, employees and customers spoke out on behalf of the discrimination and what truly went down behind the scenes. By using clips of former Hollister employees and customers, the audience was able to sympathize and gain information on what really happened behind the scenes. In the end, viewers get to see the legitimate reality of one of America’s popular retailers and how some of them would risk anything to be on top.
Out of all the different conspiracies, the speculation Dawson has on the Woolsey and Campfire disasters seems to have stunned the most. The YouTuber starts off by addressing the pictures and footage on Twitter where it looked like direct energy weapons had struck certain structures, resembling lasers. Additionally, pictures had shown that in the midst of the fires, certain homes were clearly untouched despite the whole block being burned to a crisp. This formulated the theory that the government might have had something to do with the fires in which the audience gets an alarming sense of what might have been a possibility to the current tragedies.
Overall, no matter what the conspiracy, one thing is clear: Shane Dawson never disappoints. His unbelievably creative persona and his talent for captivating an audience of over 20 million has never ceased to amaze, and is utterly displayed in his part one of his jaw-dropping two part series. With fans shocked around the world, it’s pretty safe to say that Shane Dawson is back, and better than ever.
For the last time. Netflix, give Shane his series already. Please.