Better With Bob?
(the question mark is intentional) is a YouTube channel run by actor and writer Bobby Calloway.
Initially starting in 2018 with a focus on contextualising films from The Golden Age of Hollywood, he soon expanded into more recent films and discussed contemporary television. His first video was on the lesser known Rogers & Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song but he has since made it unlisted over dissatisfaction with the audio quality.
He has a strong emphasis on positivity, and discussing why a particular work is good or what it meant for its time. He's also a massive horror fan and has done videos discussing the artistic merits of the horror genre, including a lengthy series comparing the characters in each adaptation of Carrie. In 2022, he began almost exclusively discussing Charmed (1998).
The channel name is a reference to a now defunct trope on this very Wiki ('Everything's Better With Bob' if you're curious).
Better With Bob? videos provide and discuss examples of...:
- Accentuate the Negative:
- Defied. He's turned down offers to review films that he won't be able to say anything positive about. Notably he gets quite negative in Darling Lili but offers suggestions on how the film should have ended rather than just calling it bad.
- He bluntly says that Amy Irving is easily the weakest part of Carrie (1976). He does mention most of her scenes being cut and Brian De Palma not understanding the character but says "the choice of actress" is a contributing factor.
- When it comes to Black Christmas (2019), he calls it "a trainwreck from start to finish". He does praise Imogen Poots for trying to commit to the material however. Still, he reviews the films starting with 2019, then going to 2006 and finishing at 1974 so as to get more positive as the video goes on.
- When slamming the adaptations of Cirque du Freak and The Seeker, he notes a couple of cast members who were trying.
- He prefaced his video on The Imitation Game by warning people that he was going to get "very salty".
- Action Mom: Notes that the horror genre was allowing women to play these roles long before it was mainstream.
- Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
- He views the true lesson of Imitation of Life to not be just 'racism=bad' but that the younger generations with more opportunities should not look down on the older generations who worked hard whatever ways they could to get them those opportunities - in-universe Annie working as a maid and housekeeper o send Sarah Jane to college, and real life Hattie McDaniel playing maids and Mammy to get African-Americans some representation on the big screen.
- He views Pocahontas as a way of reversing the symbol that Pocahontas herself had previously been used for - namely white supremacy and the importance of assimilation - and giving the symbol back to the Native American people as someone who promotes harmony between cultures.
- He also views 10 Things I Hate About You as a meta commentary on The Taming of the Shrew, in that the moral is not that a tempestuous girl like Kat needs to be tortured into bending to a superior man's will - but that such a girl needs to be understood, and in doing so, one can identify why she's like that and encourage her to get better.
- Applicability: Devoted a video to this trope with regards to how often mermaid characters are relatable to autistic viewers - highlighting another YouTuber Anna Moomin detailing how she related to Madison from Splash, and how he himself relates to Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989). He also discusses Aquamarine and how the mermaid there is applicable to the condition as well. He notes that Applicability is distinct from an allegory in that it's done unintentionally and relies on audience interpretation.
- Asian Hooker Stereotype: In his view, The World of Suzie Wong subverts this. Suzie has a complicated backstory, rejects any man she does not want, challenges racism and does not need to be 'saved' by a wealthy white man (she even briefly supports Robert financially). Likewise Gwennie Lee is only a prostitute because she wants to earn enough money to open her own knitting shop.
- Asian Speekee Engrish: Cringes when he sees this in The World of Suzie Wong - pointing out that the prostitutes would probably speak perfect English due to all the British sailors they meet.
- At Least I Admit It:
- Admits that his views on Pocahontas are shamelessly biased because it was the first Disney film he ever saw.
- And that the Cirque du Freak film is coming last on his 2000s fantasy list "purely because of nerd rage." And The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe coming first is because of the opposite.
- Author Appeal:
- A big fan of Anna May Wong, he's discussed two films she was in - Shanghai Express and Daughter of Shanghai (which turns into a mini biography of her) - and references her in the Imitation of Life video.
- Ariel is his favourite Disney Princess, so he did a whole video defending her as a character. And later another video in which she's discussed as a good parallel to autism.
- When discussing Sabrina the Teenage Witch, he notes that, after talking about The Craft and Charmed (1998) his viewers can notice that witches "kind of have an appeal" for him.
- Bait-and-Switch Comparison:
- His video on Folk Horror has him announcing he's about to discuss the beloved classic starring Christopher Lee, having referenced The Wicker Man (1973) before. Turns out he means The Devil Rides Out instead.
- In 10 Things I Hate About You, he refers to it as Heath Ledger's "second most iconic role". The screen fades out, implying he'll show a clip from The Dark Knight, and then he shows A Knight's Tale.
- Breather Episode: After doing a lot of videos on horror films, particularly something as brutal as I Spit on Your Grave, he did one on 2000s fantasy films to focus on something lighter. Although because of the length of said video - and needing to watch eleven films to prepare - it was quite a long process.
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Broken Aesop: Mildly. He feels that having Brooke Shields nude in Pretty Baby undermines the film's message about child exploitation a little. - Butt-Monkey: The Mask of Fu Manchu is mocked in his videos on Flower Drum Song, Shanghai Express and Daughter of Shanghai.
- Children Are Innocent: When he first watched House of Wax (2005), he had no idea who Paris Hilton was and "was one of the two people hoping she'd make it."
- Compassionate Critic: Prefers to praise or talk positively about things and, if he is negative, he tries to do so in a constructive way.
- Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch:
- Notes that a lot of criticism of The World of Suzie Wong and Pocahontas came from people who hadn't seen the film but just heard about the controversy. In both videos he cites two people who ended up watching the film and changing their views.
- When he lists Romeo and Juliet (1968) as his favourite Shakespeare film, he says "you don't get to judge unless you've actually seen it."
- And again, the backlash to I Spit on Your Grave largely came from people who hadn't seen it and merely heard about how exploitative it is.
- Contractual Purity: Touches on this in the Darling Lili video and examines how it ties into the Madonna-Whore Complex. Julie Andrews, Emma Watson, Deborah Kerr, Christina Aguilera and Lindsay Lohan were among those who had such squeaky-clean images.
- Cousin Oliver: Discussed in the second Charmed video to point out just how successfully the show pulled it off with its introduction of Paige; the show already had an established relationship (Patty and Sam) that could have plausibly resulted in a baby, with justified reasons for her existence to be kept secret until now.
- Critical Dissonance: He's stepped out of line with the popular consensus.
- Doesn't think The World of Suzie Wong is just Fair for Its Day; but a genuinely resonant film that holds up very well, and is important in Asian representation.
- Pocahontas is his favourite Disney film, and he prefers it to The Lion King.
- Thinks Sucker Punch is an unfairly villified feminist masterpiece.
- The Blood on Satan's Claw is an inferior rip-off of Witchfinder General.
- His favourite Carrie adaptation is the 2002 TV remake rather than the 1976 version. He admits to enjoying all three on their own merits.
- Considers Francesca Annis in Macbeth (1971) to be his favourite Lady Macbeth.
- Praises I Spit on Your Grave as a "lost feminist classic" and thinks it's more poignant than The Accused.
- Happily calls Charmed (1998) one of his favourite TV shows of all time, and actually prefers the 'Paige Era' of Seasons 4 to 8. And the widely disliked Billie Jenkins is a character he loves, eventually getting a whole video defending her as a character.
- Unashamedly says he used to love Divergent, and thinks Tris is an extremely underrated heroine.
- He doesn't go into detail but mentions in a video how he was defending X-Men: Apocalypse quite passionately when it came out.
- Thinks Power Rangers (2017) is great, and announced a video about it titled 'The Power Rangers Movie We Deserved'.
- Admits to enjoying Fate: The Winx Saga, even knowing and agreeing with some of the criticisms of the first season.
- Dead Artists Are Better: Discussed this re: Spartacus: Blood and Sand, feeling that some of it is due to Never Speak Ill of the Dead, but a premature death can also create a "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" perspective towards a performer. He lists James Dean, Aaliyah and of course Andy Whitfield as people who had genuine talent and sadly couldn't show more of it.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?:
- His videos in 2022 ended up calling attention to shows that deserved more appreciation, such as Charmed (1998), Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
- A video on the Charmed episode "Sense & Sense Ability" has a segment in which he states that Alyssa Milano deserves far more credit for her contributions to the show, and specifically her gift for comic timing that he feels she doesn't get enough of because of her sexier image and the Comedy Ghetto.
- Due to the Dead:
- His video on Spartacus: Blood and Sand includes a small tribute to the late Andy Whitfield at the end.
- When he comes across a Charmed episode featuring Elise Rothman, he pays tribute to her actress Rebecca Balding, who had only recently passed away.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: His initial videos from 2018 until about 2020 were crudely filmed vlogs, speaking to camera in a somewhat Caustic Critic tone, discussing exclusively older films. Starting in the 2020s, he switched almost exclusively to voiceover and started covering more contemporary films and television.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Makes a joke about how Bloom's sexy blue dress in Fate: The Winx Saga provides some female eye candy to balance out all the Shirtless Scenes. He also notes that the Evil Enchantress from Charmed "A Knight to Remember" has quite the "generous bust line".
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Says that Julie Harris steals a lot of spotlight from James Dean with her powerful performance in East of Eden.
- Cites Chelan Simmons's portrayal of Helen Shyres as a real highlight of Carrie (2002).
- Agrees with the statements that Anna May Wong steals Marlene Dietrich's thunder in Shanghai Express.
- When discussing Spartacus: Blood and Sand, he notes that Naevia's Character Development is the most significant after the title character himself.
- Like many others, he considers Helen Shivers of I Know What You Did Last Summer to be a superior character to Julie James - the movie's ostensible lead.
- Escapist Character: Praises both Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Sabrina: The Animated Series for their portrayals of the eponymous heroine - saying they found "the right balance between escapism and relatability".
- Ethnic Scrappy: Shudders when a picture of Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's comes up. And does likewise when the caricature waiter pops up at the end of The Mask of Fu Manchu.
- Face–Heel Turn: 'The Problem of Morgana' discusses the problematic execution of this trope in relation to Morgana of Merlin (2008), also highlighting WWE's attempts to force Becky Lynch as a heel and the badly received direction of Daenerys in Game of Thrones.
- Fair for Its Day: A talking point for many of his videos.
- The World of Suzie Wong challenged racism and depicted an interracial romance positively.
- East of Eden deconstructed the idea of putting women on pedestals.
- Imitation Of Life (both versions) examined colourism and the Mammy stereotype.
- Shanghai Express has some good points about female sexuality and legitimate Asian representation.
- The Little Mermaid (1989) revolved around a princess who got to save her man's life and have agency in her own story.
- Pocahontas was about a Native American woman's journey and educates viewers about their culture.
- The Witches (1966) deconstructs feminine hysteria and has some well-rounded female characters for a studio that was best known for Distressed Damsels and Ms Fanservices.
- Fan Disservice: Points out that I Spit on Your Grave's deliberate use of this with regards to the rape scene forces the viewer to identify with Jennifer.
- Fanservice:
- When discussing City of the Dead he includes the shot of Nan in lingerie.
- Features the striptease from Darling Lili in full.
- Mentions that House of Wax (2005) was his gateway to the slasher genre, and then includes a clip of Paris Hilton's striptease (and then a clip of Blake's Shirtless Scene to keep it balanced).
- Final Girl: He notes that the Final Girl was a feminist character trope overall, considering this allowed women to defeat the villain and save themselves.
- Flawless Token:
- Is not a fan of this with regards to female characters. He's praised Evy Carnahan and Elizabeth Swann as examples of heroines who could be flawed and yet still competent. He frequently mentions the title character of Captain Marvel (2019) as a bad example of this.
- Feels that Prue from Charmed (1998) is rather close to this, feeling more like "a focus group result" than actual character - whereas Piper, Phoebe and eventually Paige felt more well-rounded.
- He notes how many Black characters in children's and young adult media from the 90s onwards are are often put into this to dodge criticisms of bad representation. But then when discussing Aisha from Fate: The Winx Saga, he notes that the show helps to justify some of it by revealing she's under a lot of pressure to succeed and thus is inexperienced when it comes to romance.
- Genre Roulette: He's covered everything from classic melodramas, horror movies, teen comedies, YA fantasy, gritty indies, Disney musicals and even Shakespeare adaptations!
- Guilty Pleasure:
- Says he's not a fan of the term, feeling that any enjoyment or value someone gets out of a work should be validated; especially if it's shunned by the mainstream. Then he admits he often uses the term to describe his enjoyment of Aquamarine.
- He jokes that he might lose credibility for admitting he was a Divergent geek "back in the day".
- Talks about how Spartacus: Blood and Sand is often talked about in these terms, because of its violence and nudity - when in his opinion, the show was "both style and substance" and was up front about being explicit, but that was to its favour.
- Halloween Episode:
- For 2019, he set aside the month discussing two videos on Folk Horror.
- For 2020, he released 'Does Horror Have a Women Problem?' analysing the role of female characters in horror.
- In 2021, he discussed The Innocents, The Fog and Dog Soldiers.
- Hollywood Autism: He's autistic himself and has discussed autistic representation in a few videos.
- When talking about The Craft, he mentions that autistic people often see themselves more in characters who weren't intended to be coded that way; far more than actual representations because of this trope. He himself finds Sarah struggling with her natural magic to be quite relatable.
- He tears into The Imitation Game for using this trope in a biopic, especially since the real Alan Turing didn't exhibit the cliches the movie depicts; theorising that they're in the movie specifically to make it more Oscar Baity.
- In two separate videos, he laughs at the fact that Power Rangers (2017) has better autistic representation than The Imitation Game, which won an Oscar for its screenplay. He praises that movie for its well-researched, incidental depiction that also shows an autistic teenager getting to be a superhero too.
- Irony: Finds two meta ironies in Black Christmas (2019):
- Riley's "we're not inspiring people, we're pissing people off" is prophetic of how the film's attempt at an empowering feminist message failed because of how badly people responded to the quality of the material.
- The "Up in the Frathouse" sequence delivers a message while entertaining the audience, which "is how a film with a message should operate". But because the film put "message before plot", the sequence just serves as an example of why it fails.
- Jail Bait Wait: Discussed in Pretty Baby, about how teenagers are sexualised the closer they get to legal age.
- Lighter and Softer:
- He started off covering pretty hardcore topics, such as whether Pretty Baby or I Spit on Your Grave were really exploitative, or how older films tackled racial issues. Most videos in the 2020s are about analysing how great he finds certain works.
- He discusses this trope in the second Charmed video, and comes up with an in-universe justification for it in the fifth season; the Halliwells had now defeated the Source of All Evil and wiped out most of the upper-level demons in vanquishing the Seer and the unborn heir, meaning there were no major threats to face. And with the underworld now being more chaotic without an evil overlord, lesser demons were now trying to seize power and going after creatures such as woodnymphs, who had not been in danger before, explaining why they wouldn't have been mentioned already.
- Madonna-Whore Complex:
- Discussed in Darling Lili when it comes to actresses trying to break out of their typecasting by either going Hotter and Sexier - Emma Watson in The Bling Ring, Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity - or going from sexy to modest - Jessica Biel in The Illusionist (2006), Blake Lively in The Age of Adaline.
- Also in East of Eden, where Abra and Cate were pigeonholed into the roles of Madonna - giving them impossible standards to live up to.
- Eye of the Devil plays this up too with Catherine filling a Madonna role and Odile the Whore one. And then Witchfinder General subverted it by showing Sara as a sexual character who is also heroic and virtuous.
- Praises I Spit on Your Grave for subverting this. Jennifer Hills the protagonist gets nude scenes and wears a bikini, with the film not feeling the need to present her as a "good girl" - since it illustrates that providing Fanservice does not justify the gang rape she suffered.
- Briefly mentions how Cat People plays around with it; Irena appears to be the Whore to Alice's Madonna, but Irena actually is rather chaste and afraid of her own sexuality, and that leads to her marriage falling apart. Ollie falls for Alice, who is more sexually forward, despite seeming like the all American Girl Next Door.
- Notes that the some criticisms of Charmed going Hotter and Sexier has elements of this, pointing out that the costume change was mostly organic from a character point of view and represented their powers and confidence growing.
- Mundane Made Awesome:
- Daughter of Shanghai puts two Asians in the role of The Hero who both get to have agency in the plot, noting it would be "generic" if white characters filled those roles.
- Black Christmas (1974) merely has an unconventional set of female protagonists in a slasher movie setting, but the great characterization and direction ends up making the film memorable.
- One-Scene Wonder: Lynne Griffin from Black Christmas (1974) gets some praise for "doing a lot with the part" and making the audience care about her getting killed off so soon.
- Oscar Bait: A major talking point in a video on The Imitation Game, in how the film's adherence to this formula was to its own downfall.
- Parent Service: Notes that the Disney heroines of the 90s being more sexual was there to appeal to the parents of the day. And that pandering to the trope led to some unfortunate exoticization of Pocahontas - which is touchy territory considering the stories that claimed the real Pocahontas was raped while she was in captivity.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses:
- "Stop Slut Shaming Ariel" examines this re: the 'feminist critique' of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Despite her rounded personality, her clear goals and interests and realistic character flaws - the main reason she's criticised is simply because she expresses a desire for love. He compares this to similar backlash towards Ginny of Harry Potter and Phoebe of Charmed (1998) - because said characters pursued their love interests.
- He also praises films that don't demonise female characters for their femininity, such as Bianca from 10 Things I Hate About You.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons:
- Criticism of Ariel is valid for one reason - that she doesn't appear to learn anything from what happened. Of course people just focus on criticising her for wanting a man.
- Likewise with Pocahontas - the criticisms of historical accuracy or toned down racism pale in comparison to blatant exoticisation of the title character or how few developed Powhatans there are compared to the English.
- Shallow Parody: Considers Darling Lili to be this - subverting only the family friendly Julie Andrews image without offering an alternative. The parody character Lili Schmitz is in fact a weaker and more passive damsel than Mary Poppins or Maria von Trapp.
- Spiritual Antithesis:
- Now, Voyager is this to Jane Eyre. In the latter, the Madwoman in the Attic is an obstacle to a mentally well couple being together. In the former, the 'madwoman' is the protagonist, and the abled wife is the obstacle to her happiness.
- Spartacus: Blood and Sand is this to Downton Abbey (both started airing in the same year). The latter has a Rose-Tinted Narrative of the days of the aristocracy, with a cast of Spoiled Sweet characters and servants who were happy to serve. The former was an unflinchingly brutal look at the nuances of slavery, how innocents could be exploited for the whims of their masters, and reinforces the theme that freedom is a basic human right.
- Slut-Shaming: Discussed in Stop Slut Shaming Ariel - where he finds that a lot of criticism lobbied at Ariel seems to be about the fact that she wants a relationship at all, especially in comparison to Aladdin, Quasimodo and Tarzan.
- Sophisticated as Hell: In the middle of discussing autism parallels in mermaid characters, particularly in Aquamarine, he says "yes at that age we can be thirsty AF too".
- Take a Third Option: When looking at Pretty Baby, he defends the film from criticisms that it was child exploitation and says that the nude scene did have an in-story significance. However he says that having a twelve-year-old actress nude still wasn't right.
- Take That!:
- He's taken shots at Black Christmas (2019) a couple of times outside his video discussing it.
- He took a shot at Anita Sarkeesian in his Sucker Punch video, inferring he finds her videos problematic in their own right. Another video contains a clip of her over a line "as 2010s pop feminism gets even cringier". The I Spit on Your Grave video uses her as an example of people who misunderstand "Baby It's Cold Outside".
- He's indicated that he dislikes Captain Marvel (2019) (and specifically the character herself) more than once.
- Technician Versus Performer: Compares Shakespeare films with this dichotomy. The 1948 version of Hamlet in his view is technically proficient and well acted by British performers giving essentially a filmed stage version, whereas the 1935 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream feels more like a film and translates the comedy better to the screen. He also supports Franco Zeffirelli cutting out large amounts of dialogue in Romeo and Juliet (1968) to better convey the passion.
- Token Black Friend:
- Acknowledges that Chloe in Sabrina: The Animated Series has elements of this, but he praises the series for giving her importance as Sabrina's Secret-Keeper, getting to have adventures with the rest of the protagonists and even saving the day. He then jokes that "at least they gave her the best lines".
- Discusses how Aisha of Fate: The Winx Saga began as this, despite her potential as a character; existing just to be needed by the others and rarely getting focus outside of her friendships with them. He then praises Season 2 for correcting this by: a) giving her a romance subplot that's "entirely for herself", b) having scenes where she is the driving focus and the others are there to support her, c) revealing more of her life and backstory.
- Took the Bad Film Seriously:
- Says "bless you, Kay Walsh" for attempting to make the ridiculous orgy in The Witches (1966) work.
- Finds that Katie McGrath did so in Merlin (2008) - trying to work with terrible writing. And when she was unable to, she just had fun.
- Praises Imogen Poots as the only one who gives a good performance in Black Christmas (2019).
- He also praises the actresses in Black Christmas (2006) for making their characters likable.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: In Shanghai Express he notes that it's conspicuous that Anna May Wong (a real Asian) murders Warner Oland (a Swedish man in Yellowface) with the former as the hero and the latter as the villain.
- White Male Lead: Discusses the 'Galbrush Paradox' in relation to Tiana vs Rapunzel. Rapunzel is allowed to be more flawed because she's white. And Simba vs Ariel, where Simba is praised for his flaws because he's male - while Ariel gets criticised for hers.
