“Something I never ever thought I would see on my phone is three messages from Jake Paul,” said Shane Dawson as his phone dinged in the beginning of the first part of his newest series, “The Mind Of Jake Paul”. The controversial series, which debuted in fall of 2018, has become one of Dawson’s most controversial projects yet.
Shane Dawson has been making YouTube videos for over eight years; with 18 million subscribers and counting, he has a wide reach in the YouTube community. He started his account with funny skits and parody videos that were mostly comedic and, at times, raunchy. Although within the past year, he transitioned to more serious and personal content.
Dawson explained, “I want to connect with people in my past who I haven’t seen in a long time for a lot of different reasons,” in a video titled “Exposing My Secret Relationship”, which is now a series about confronting family members and people from his past. This video gave viewers an in-depth look into Dawson’s personal life.
The change began to progress rapidly and his content turned from humourous romps to remarkable and revealing documents of his world and YouTube culture. His various docuseries began to shatter viewers’ perceptions of what it really is like to be an influencer. He and his editor, Andrew Siwicki, turned the camera onto some of the most influential YouTubers to see what their lives were really like.
Dawson has connected with a lot of different people in YouTube’s more controversial community including Jeffree Star, Tana Mongeau, and Jake Paul. These documentaries gave a voice to those whom Dawson believed felt voiceless in society due to their reputations.
For Tana Mongeau, it was to get to the bottom of why Tanacon, a YouTube convention named after her, took a disastrous pitfall that left thousands of fans waiting in the heat for hours and who was to blame. For Jeffree Star, it was a behind-the-scenes view of his life which he kept, for the most part, a secret to his viewers. Both of these accounts were emotional and gave a rounded view of the whole situation and where the future seems to be heading.
In his most recent docuseries, “The Mind of Jake Paul”, there was controversy because a lot of Dawson’s followers and those that have been keeping up with the drama surrounding Jake Paul did not feel like Paul deserved a chance to explain himself for his past. With abuse and racism allegations against him, some viewers felt that Paul would take advantage of Dawson and his platform to gain sympathy and a bigger following. A lot of people threatened to unsubscribe to Dawson if he decided to go through with the series.
“I didn’t know the extent of it. I thought he was just cringey,” said Dawson in the first part of the series. “I want you guys to know that I am aware, I am aware that this might be a bad idea,” he continued.
This series threatened Dawson’s reputation and a part two of the series, “The Dark Side of Jake Paul”, further angered viewers. They felt there was a reckless discussion about mental illness. A YouTuber known as Fae Systems, who was featured in this second part of the docuseries, was upset about how her disorder was negatively portrayed.
Fae Systems responded to the series stating, “It was so deeply and intensely dramatized. From the strange VHS, vintage-esq screen cuts to the brooding music, it was a little much.” She continued, “He should probably stick to skits and conspiracy theories until he can actually get to know some mentally ill people.”
The series, which has eight parts, is the longest docuseries Dawson and his crew have produced. Dawson talks to psychologist Kati Morton, members of Jake Paul’s family, ex-members of Team 10, a group Paul created with other influencers, and his ex girlfriend, Alissa Violet, who was shrouded in controversy when allegations of abuse and bullying surrounded Paul.
This series sheds light on Paul and on YouTuber culture in general. In an interview with YouTuber iNabber, Dawson gets an idea of exactly what people will do to become famous on the platform. iNabber questioned Alissa Violet’s and the other accusers’ motives for remaining on Team 10.
“If they were so upset about that, why would they stay in the Team for so long?” iNabber asked in his interview with Dawson.
He raised points about the volatile need to become famous and how it was rumoured that some of the Team 10 members actually paid their way into the house because of the promise of fame. In the parts named “The Enemies of Jake Paul” and “The Ex Girlfriend of Jake Paul”, Dawson and Siwicki walked through two elaborate mansions that were almost identical and bought exclusively for influencers.
Especially for Violet, viewers get emotional accounts of what she endured in the Team 10 house and how it led to her being kicked out. She recounted her relationship with Paul from the beginning to the end and then her relationship with Paul’s brother, Logan.
“I tried for so long to change [Jake] and make him a better person,” said Violet. “I don’t know what was going on behind the scenes. I don’t know if we are together and I’d try to talk to him about it.”
Viewers get a raw breakdown of what exactly happened in Violet and Paul’s from the very beginning to their catastrophic end. This reverts back to the idea that things are not what viewers thought them to be. Getting this inside look into Violet and Paul’s relationship was eye opening for those that just thought they were happily dating or that it was all about getting views.
From this docuseries, it is clear that not everything is as it seems and this is what viewers can and should expect from social media. In Dawson’s docuseries, there is a recurring question; what lengths will one go to become famous? From the somewhat fake relationships in the Team 10 house, Paul faking some of his videos to seem crazier than he actually is and even Dawson’s discussion of Paul as a sociopath, there are motives behind every action taken by YouTube influencers to boost popularity in the community.
Although there was backlash on his docuseries, there was also praise for Dawson’s persistence to get Paul to tell the truth about what was actually happening in the Team 10 house and to respond to big allegations like bullying and abuse. The series also helped those affected by any of the controversies to finally let go of the past and move on. With the results of his latest series, viewers are anticipating the next one and what else it can uncover from the behind the scenes of YouTube and its influencers.