We are barraged on a daily basis with videos that purport to show the most amazing, shocking, or wonderful things. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Thank goodness we have a superhero looking out for us: Captain Disillusion!
Captain Disillusion is the superhero character created by filmmaker Alan Melikdjanian in his hilarious series of videos where he deconstructs and debunks many of the most popular viral videos on the internet. With his deep knowledge of computer-aided effects and post-processing, Melikdjanian can spot most every bit of video trickery, often even naming the specific filters and effects used in popular pieces of software.
Melikdjanian has been going at this for nine years now, but because he puts a lot into his videos (and because it isn’t his full-time job), his output hasn’t been huge, but recently he’s turned to Patreon to help him fund his hobby. If there were ever a creative project work supporting, Captain Disillusion seems like a shoe in.
Not every Captain D video is perfectly kid-friendly, so I’d suggest you watch them before showing your kids (depending upon their age/maturity level), but they are a great way to reinforce the need to use a skeptical eye when viewing content from the internet. They’re also highly educational, often quirky, and always funny.
