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The Game/Film/Food Theorists
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Is Yoshi really Bowser’s son? What’s the best way to survive The Hunger Games? Do carrots actually improve your eyesight?
You can immerse yourself in these arguably pointless-yet-interesting questions and answers on Matthew “MatPat” Patrick’s three channels: The Game Theorists, The Film Theorists and The Food Theorists. (MatPat also has a fourth channel, GTLive, which is dedicated to posting livestreams and which we won’t get into.) Each channel’s title is rather self-explanatory when it comes to the topics involved, as MatPat will put forth and analyze theories and questions surrounding games, movies and food, respectively.
On The Game Theorists (MatPat’s signature channel), you’ll find discussions about various video games, including immensely popular titles such as Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy’s and Pokémon, among many others. He’ll also provide theories on lore for lesser-known indie titles—many of which tend to lean in the direction of horror.
The Film Theorists likewise covers all of those questions you didn’t know you had regarding big movies and TV shows, ranging from large projects from Marvel and Disney to YouTube-based film series (the latter of which are, once again, typically horror-themed). He also occasionally theorizes regarding TV gameshows like Jeopardy!
Finally, MatPat’s The Food Theorists engages its audience with plenty of videos using the scientific and statistical processes to figure out which fast food joints are the best (or worst) deals, which items best help soothe the heat of hot wings, the best way to get your money’s worth at a buffet and more.
Whether you’ve got a preference or simply want to jump into all of it, MatPat likely has a video on at least one of his channels that’ll interest you. But with so much content spanning three channels, you can also be sure that there’s some concerns nestled in there, too. And you’d be right.
POSITIVE CONTENT
MatPat’s videos are well-made and well-researched, causing many of his theories (even the craziest ones) to sound quite believable. The editing of each video provides an engaging experience for viewers, and the script is clever and often educational. And for content on The Food Theorists, videos can even help save you a few dollars on your next fast-food venture.
It’s also fun to engage in many of these theories as nothing more than a bit of fun speculation that’ll boost viewers’ enjoyment of their favorite games and movies.
CONTENT CONCERNS
While very little of MatPat’s script is typically concerning (we counted one single use of “p-ss” and a single misuse of God’s name throughout watching a few dozen videos), a lot of the games, films and even food-related items he theorizes upon are. And while MatPat typically doesn’t use crude language, the game and film clips he plays for viewers to watch may include profanity (though MatPat typically censors it out).
On The Game Theorists, MatPat covers games of every genre, including some that involve drinking, partial nudity and killings of varying degrees of realism. (In one indie video game, MatPat comments that it allows you to “kill Jesus.”) In another video on the fictional game Petscop, MatPat suggest the game’s storyline is an allusion to a real-life killing of a child.
Most of the overtly negative content on this channel comes from the multitude of indie horror games that MatPat dissects to theorize about the spooky lore of each game. One video even focuses on theorizing about the size of an animated character’s genitals, and another talks about the breasts of various animated characters.
The Film Theorists will have similar concerns as MatPat builds theories on content-heavy entertainment such as Fifty Shades of Gray and Squid Game. Some of theories themselves may also be weird or gross, such as a theory that Wall*E is Satan or various theories about the crude Rick & Morty. Furthermore, the channel’s videos on various horror-based YouTube channels are likely to lean into the supernatural or outright disturbing.
The Food Theorists is arguably the tamest of the three channels, and most of the content we viewed was—dare I say it—positive and tame. However, a couple of the videos on the channel—particularly the ones regarding lore—may feature content parents won’t want their kids watching. In a deep dive into M&M commercials, for instance, MatPat tries to prove that the M&M characters are actually cannibals.
CHANNEL SUMMARY
MatPat’s theory channels are impressive in terms of video production, scripting and the information that they deliver. And with MatPat’s fun and charismatic personality, it’s no wonder he’s gained over 16 million subscribers with his in-depth videos.
But in contrast to MatPat’s generally family-friendly personality are the countless videos between his channels diving deep into games, movies and TV shows containing disturbing and often paranormal lore—as well as many others regarding topics inappropriate for children.
While The Food Theorists tends to typically fall on the cleaner side in terms of content, The Game Theorists and The Film Theorists certainly do not.
Kennedy Unthank
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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