Shane Dawson’s Conspiracy Theories

video: Review
By: Ariana Perez De Alderete

Dawsons’s
video thumbnail

Photo By: Shane

Dawson Video

Talking about controversial topics, or ever about different brands can be very
difficult to do. But with humour and respect for all of the people involved with the theory,
Shane Dawson fuels the curiosity of his viewers. Dawson has talked about many
theories that have upset many people and many companies. He has received backlash
and threats of lawsuits, but still continues to explore the world of conspiracies. He talks
about things that are very interesting and allow people to look more closely at the world
around them.
By popular demand, Dawson has made two hour and half long videos going over
different theories. The one I am focusing on is the first one posted on January 30th of
2019. He approaches every video with caution and a disclaimer. He uses many video
editing tricks to make his videos even more intriguing. He adds different music in the
background of each of his topics, this engages the audience. Being criticized in the past
for a similar method of video editing, Dawson does his best to not get carried away with
the music.
One thing Dawson does that makes him such a good source of information, is he
builds his credibility. The audience of his that has been following him for a while know,
that he is an honest and curious person. He also like to do his own extensive research
on each topic. Dawson does experiments and trials to test out the theories he can. One
of the most interesting points of the video is in the beginning. Before getting into any of
the theories, there is a clip of his friend. His friend, Garrett Watts, gets a phone call. His
friends ask if it is the delivery guy, and he says “It’s my mom,” before answering the
phone. When he finally answers the phone, his mom asked if he was making fun of her.
Garrett Watts does not know what she means by that, and asks for clarification. She
said “You said ‘It’s my mom.” After that clip, Dawson goes into the theory of how the
Iphone is always listening.
One thing Dawson does in most of his conspiracy videos is, when he does
involve his friends, he does not tell them beforehand the theories. So, to everyone in the
rooms surprise, what they all just witnessed with Garrett Watts and his mother, would
be a theory that they just witnessed first hand. Dawson does a few more trials, and on
one of them, he hears Garette say something before saying hello when answering the
phone.

Dawson’s disclaimer in the

beginning of his video

Photo By: Shane Dawson Video

Dawson has the

audience on the edges of their seats for the whole hour and a half. He formats his
videos in a way that the audience can easily follow along, even if they have never heard
the theory before. He also includes subtitles when voices are muffled or when a
person's face is not being seen on camera. He also uses many clips of his own and
others he has found during his research to help explain and give background
information to the audience. Dawson has gained a huge following for his theories, and it
shows how much work he puts into making them. I highly suggest watching them, you
will find yourself down a hole of conspiracies.