| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1200px_natalie_wynn_contrapoints_portrait_1_cropped.jpeg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:Hey, how are ''you,'' gorg?]] |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | ->''Condoms and orgies and mass immigration\ |
| 5 | Malt liquor 40s and miscegenation,\ |
| 6 | Boys who use dildos and girls with cock rings\ |
| 7 | These are my favorite degenerate things'' |
| 8 | |
| 9 | ->''Absinthe and coffee and bitchy sarcasm\ |
| 10 | Estrogen, crying, and fruitless orgasms\ |
| 11 | Antifa furries and NB drag kings\ |
| 12 | These are my favorite degenerate things'' |
| 13 | -->-- ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BlNGZunYM8 Degeneracy]]'' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Natalie Wynn[[note]]with the nickname "Contra" occasionally assigned to her and/or her [[AlterEgoActing on-screen persona]], especially in her earlier days[[/note]] (born October 21, 1988) is a [=YouTuber=] and political commentator who makes videos about social justice issues including gender, sexuality, anti-fascism, anti-capitalism and feminism on her channel [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvsIonJdJ5E4EXMa65VYpA ContraPoints]]. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Her videos provide left-wing counterarguments (hence the channel name) to stances upheld by conservatives, classical liberals, fascists, and the alt-right, and their lengths range anywhere from "average meal time, give or take" (20-40 minutes) to "feature film by any other name" (80-110 minutes). They are well-known for the [[SignatureStyle recurring stylistic techniques Natalie uses]], which include [[BlackComedy dark]], sarcastic and [[SurrealHumor surreal humor]] alongside elaborate setups with intricate set design, colorful lighting, and [[DragQueen flamboyant costumes]]. However, the foundation of Natalie's content is her sharp, oft-empathetic approach to arguing complex sociopolitical topics, with great influence from philosophy and sociology[[note]]the former of which she actually studied academically, eventually dropping out of a [=PhD=] program[[/note]]. Journalists have called her the "Creator/OscarWilde of [=YouTube=]" as well as a modern Creator/{{Socrates}}. She has gone on record stating that she handles nearly all aspects of video production -- writing, research, camerawork and editing -- herself. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | While [[OlderThanTheyThink Natalie began posting videos as early as 2008]], she began [=ContraPoints=] in 2016 in direct response to the Gamergate controversy, the ascendancy of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, and by proxy the increasing prevalence of both right-wing voices on [=YouTube=] and the alt-right on the Internet as a whole. What started as an attempt to deliver information on social issues eventually grew into a more individualized long-form style that incorporates high production value, a full musical score, and ''many'' cartoonish characters ([[ActingForTwo most of them played by Natalie]]) and plotlines, with her videos at one point often structured as debates between several characters. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Natalie also began her channel (by her own admission) as something of a political centrist, gradually moving further and further to the left due to the same 2016 events that inspired the start of the channel. Her channel has since criticised centrist liberals for, she claims, [[UnwittingPawn providing indirect support]] to the far-right by [[TheHorseshoeEffect lumping fascists and anti-fascists together]], and by taking white supremacists' excuses about just wanting "free speech" at face value. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Probably the most common theme on the channel is topics related to transgender identity. In early videos, Natalie identified as a crossdressing man, before coming out as genderqueer (nonbinary) in 2017, and then finally as a transgender woman six months later. As of early 2020, she has removed her old pre-transition videos (up to "Decrypting The Alt-Right"), explaining that watching them is very painful for her as it triggers intense dysphoria, and those videos being available on the Internet for public viewing eventually became too much for her to feel comfortable with[[note]]That hasn't stopped them from [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes being shared in some capacity]], however[[/note]]. To watch her earlier videos is not only to watch her evolve in technique and style, but to watch a woman coming to terms with her own gender identity. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Natalie has [[http://contrapoints.com a website]] and accounts on [[https://twitter.com/ContraPoints Twitter]], [[https://instagram.com/ContraPoints Instagram]] and [[https://www.facebook.com/ContraPoints Facebook]]. She also has donations available through [[https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=HDNO9KJMUAMf0P-XrVxQ11dqR3c7tVg-fq-qLaiNT-lplibc7jRuRh3qKD0NKXyXjb6Ezdy_UFNsm_qe&locale.x=US PayPal]]. Her channel is financed through [[https://www.patreon.com/contrapoints Patreon]], where she currently has over 22,000 patrons. (As such, her videos do not contain sponsorships or promo deals.) She states on her page that her current upload rate is "one 100 minute video every six months", but she is also "trying to go back to shorter-form, more frequent content". |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Compare to friend and fellow [=YouTuber=] [[WebVideo/HBomberguy [=H.Bomberguy=]]], who also uses humor and theatricality to talk about similar issues, and ''WebVideo/PhilosophyTube'', a fellow leftist philosopher and occasional voice-over in her videos whose style has been influenced by Contra's. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Not to be confused with another [=YouTube=] channel called WebVideo/CounterArguments, which discusses rhetorics and logical fallacies in general. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | ---- |
| 32 | !!Some tropes you'll find in her videos include: |
| 33 | |
| 34 | * AccidentalMisnaming: |
| 35 | ** Jackie Jackson accidentally calls Abigail "Annabel" in ''The Aesthetic''. |
| 36 | ** ''Is Casual Sex Bad for your Soul?'' is a video response to The Distributionist, but because of his icon [[note]]A photo of Catholic author and theologian, [=G.K. Chesterson=][[/note]], she accidentally calls him Chesterton. She decides to just run with it for the entire video. |
| 37 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: |
| 38 | ** In her video on JK Rowling, she looks through some of the transphobic buttons from "Wild Womyn Workshop" and finds one that says "Sorry About Your Dick, Bro". She promptly quips "That one's good, I'd wear that one!" |
| 39 | ** "Canceling" involves a section wherein she reads a bunch of hateful tweets made about her. Throughout the insults and attempts at slandering her entire public persona, some jokes make her laugh. |
| 40 | * TheAlcoholic: Natalie is pretty open about having been one, and to smaller extents still being one. Lots of videos feature alcohol either for comedic purposes or as a sign of class and style. |
| 41 | * AlterEgoActing: The "Contra" that hosts the show is basically Natalie Wynn putting on a much louder personality than she has in real life; as her interviews and debates with other people have shown, her natural demeanor is more reserved and shy. |
| 42 | * AllJewsAreAshkenazi: In "Debating the Alt-Right", Saul gets this treatment. Fritz even sings "Hava Nagila" at him while he looks on incredulously. |
| 43 | * AmbiguousGenderIdentity: The topic of gender is explored thoroughly on her channel, with the help of her characters. When she started transitioning, so did her non-female characters. This is explicitly pointed out with Lady Foppington and Fritz (now Freya).[[note]]Some fans have taken to the headcanon that Bruce is a pre-transition Tabby (despite not being half-cat and declared dead in "The Left").[[/note]] |
| 44 | * TheAntiNihilist: In "Incels" and "Envy", Natalie examines hopeless ideologies that drive to misery and evil, and argues against them. She's pointed out flaws in "black pill" incel ideology that claims incels are doomed to never be with women while noting that there is usually a problem with their effort or conduct that makes them unsuccessful, and in "Envy", she advocates for pro-oppressed ideologies rather than anti-oppressor ideologies since the latter may be wrapped up in a feeling that the status quo cannot truly change, such as political lesbianism, which co-opts a real sexuality as a performance under the assumption that heterosexuality is broken and unfixable rather than trying to address the issue. |
| 45 | * ArmourPiercingQuestion: At the end of ''[=TERFs=]''. [[spoiler:"Dost Thou Bleed?"]] Albeit because it confuses Tiffany more than anything. |
| 46 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: |
| 47 | ** In "Jordan Peterson", Natalie disgustedly calls philosopher David Hume "a fuckin' racist, and also Scottish." |
| 48 | ** In "Why I Quit Academia", the video has a content warning that it contains "alcoholism, eating disorders, vomit, tedious introspection." |
| 49 | ** The "Are Traps Gay?" video has yet another one warning that it contains "discussion of transphobic slurs and violence, and graphic displays of anime." |
| 50 | ** "The Hunger": Natalie in character as an evangelical pastor refers to children being "delivered directly into the hands of Satanists, pornographers, or worse, Episcopalians." |
| 51 | * TheBadGuyWins: |
| 52 | ** In "Debating the Alt Right," the Nazi Fritz completely upstages Saul in their interview with Jackie. |
| 53 | ** Discussed in "The Left", as Contra criticizes the left's lack of presentability, explaining that it's the right wing's tactic to make their fascist beliefs more popular among the public. |
| 54 | * BerserkButton: Nat has made it clear that, while she is willing to discuss and engage with (read: disprove) many ideas and public figures that other people on the left criticize her for even deeming worth a discussion, she will never ever rationalize or downplay bigotry, or help fascists and regressives expand their audience. |
| 55 | * BittersweetEnding: |
| 56 | ** "Autogynephilia" ends with final words from Natalie in which she explains that making this video was extremely humiliating, difficult and personal, she shared things in this video that she "wouldn't even tell her own diary on her deathbed", for the scrutiny of people who despise her. She says that the only hope she has in life is that one day she'll be loved by someone who sees her as a woman. Otherwise, she's fucked. She concludes the video with the phrase "This has been a tough one, girls. I dare say you've earned a song." She then plays a truly heartwarming cover of "Three Times a Lady" by Music/LionelRichie, before transitioning into Rocky Horror's "Time Warp". |
| 57 | ** "Beauty"'s actually constructive conclusion is undercut by Natalie claiming that none of these ideas would actually help her solve the problem. |
| 58 | * BlackComedy: Part of Natalie's comic aesthetic is bleak self-deprecation, which she discusses in "The Darkness", where she characterizes the titular phenomenon as finding humor in the most bizarre and upsetting aspects of your own experience, and discusses how she appreciates this kind of edge when done in the right hands. |
| 59 | * BluntYes: In the "Jordan Peterson" video, when Abigail Cockbane asks Natalie if longer nails is the only thing womanhood means for her. Natalie only nods in answer. |
| 60 | * BodyMotifs: She notes how the far right tend to use skulls as a symbol of natural hierarchy, from 20th century race scientists using phrenology to justify white supremacy to modern incels ranking male attractiveness based entirely on bone structure. |
| 61 | * BothSidesHaveAPoint: Not always the case, but many of Natalie's videos feature rhetorical debates with no clear winner. One prominent example is the episode "Punching Natzees", where two characters discuss whether [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin punching Nazis can ever be justified]]. |
| 62 | * BrainsAndBondage: Her video "Violence" features her discussing different philosophies surrounding violence while being repeatedly disciplined. By herself. |
| 63 | * ByNoIMeanYes: "Gender Critical" starts out this way. |
| 64 | -->'''Natalie:''' First of all, a reminder that this episode is a female-only space, so if there are any men here today... ''GetOut'' ...I mean, unless you enjoy watching the very interesting things that women do on our own. In which case, like! Comment! Subscribe! |
| 65 | * CallBack: |
| 66 | ** "Transtrenders" is one to ''The Aesthetic''. It opens with Tiffany Tumbles debating a sympathetic NB character (in the same way Abigail Cockbane was debating Tabby), and she goes on to have a conversation with the same character Tabby did (who's this time defending NB people and other trans people who're labelled "transtrenders" by some). The whole episode hits many of the same beats (albeit contrasting Tiffany and Tabby's reactions to them) and is likely meant to demonstrate how Wynn's views have changed since the episode. |
| 67 | ** "J.K. Rowling" has a few to "Jordan Peterson" -- fitting, considering the two are named after and center around controversial public figures. For example, Natalie pours milk onto a mannequin with Creator/DanielRadcliffe's face this time, and the "Dr. Peterson. Professor. Daddy." joke is returns in the form of "Joanne. Jo. Mother." |
| 68 | * TheCameo: |
| 69 | ** Natalie's videos often involve cameos from other left-wing [=YouTubers=] including Creator/LindsayEllis, [=H.Bomberguy=], Shaun, Peter Coffin, The 1 Janitor, Steve Shives, Dick Coughlan and Claudia Brown. |
| 70 | ** A common joke among the {{Fandom}} is that Shaun[[note]]who uses [[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/835881387420958720/U0dMC8JP_400x400.jpg a skull wearing glasses]] as his [=YouTube=] avatar[[/note]] has a cameo in "What Is Race". |
| 71 | * CasanovaWannabe: Examined in ''Pick Up Artists''. It starts out comical and soon gets pretty depressing. |
| 72 | * CastFullOfGay: Many of Natalie's characters are trans or otherwise gender non-conforming people... [[BoomerangBigot even if they are Neo-Nazis]]. |
| 73 | ** The original idea behind Fritz was that of a CampGay crossdressing Nazi - a paradox in and of itself. |
| 74 | ** Tabby and Adria are two trans women in a polyamorous relationship. |
| 75 | ** Justine's moment of character growth in "Transtrenders" is Tiffany spelling out to her that she's a lesbian. [[spoiler:Many fans saw this as a moment of RealLifeWritesThePlot or subconscious foreshadowing on Natalie's part.]] |
| 76 | * CastingGag: |
| 77 | ** Abigail Cockbane, a trans-exclusionary radical feminist who accuses trans women of being men in wigs, is herself being played by a trans woman in a wig. |
| 78 | ** In "The Aesthetic", Tracy Mounts, a drag queen that Natalie plays, comments on how some people say she's a man dressed as a lady, but she's actually a lady who used to be a man dressed as a man dressed as a lady. |
| 79 | --->'''Tracy:''' Explain ''that,'' Professor Butler. |
| 80 | * CatchPhrase: |
| 81 | ** Natalie saying "''As a trans woman''..." in an obnoxious snotty tone before delivering her perspective on an issue through that lens. |
| 82 | ** "Let's watch an instructional video to learn more." This is used by various characters to segue into a portion of the current video's essay, introduced on the old TV that's frequently used. |
| 83 | ** Debuting characters tend to introduce themselves to the audience with "It is I, ''[insert name here]''!" |
| 84 | ** “Hey, how are ''you''?” used as an emphatic. |
| 85 | ** [[SarcasmMode "That must be super fucking hard for you."]] |
| 86 | * CelebrityParadox: In "The Aesthetic", Justine refers to (and shows footage of) a 2017 debate between Blaire White and "that [=YouTuber=] with the pink wig", i.e. [=ContraPoints=] herself. |
| 87 | * ChivalrousPervert: Part of the Contrapoints aesthetic. She's been playing with the DepravedHomosexual / DepravedBisexual trope while discussing feminist and LGBT issues since the beginning of her channel. |
| 88 | * ClassicalMusic: Natalie has said she's always liked classical music. She uses it plenty in her videos. |
| 89 | * ClosetKey: Joanne from "Shame" was this for Natalie. |
| 90 | * ContinuityNod: In ''Incels,'' Natalie discusses how reading abusive comments about her appearance started affecting her outside of the computer, and says "I need to stop looking at this stuff right now or I'm going to become a monster." and it cuts to [[InternalizedCategorism Tiffany Tumbles]]. |
| 91 | * CostumePorn: As time has gone on the costumers have become more numerous and extravagant. Many characters have evolved as a result: [[https://i.ibb.co/Z6mzF4X/Lady-Foppington.png Foppington]], [[https://i.ibb.co/hYddBxn/Abigail-Cockbane.png Abigail Cockbane]], [[https://i.ibb.co/p2sNyHq/Tiffany-Tumbles.png Tiffany Tumbles]] and [[https://i.ibb.co/KymBnQ1/Jackie-Jackson.png Jackie Jackson]], for example. |
| 92 | * CovertPervert: |
| 93 | ** Abigail Cockbane. In "Is BDSM Feminist?" she argues that she just doesn't see what's supposed to be so appealing about bondage, before going on a whole spiel explaining her erotic fantasies of being spanked by a dominant master and having wax dripped over her naked boobs. |
| 94 | ** In "Autogynephilia", she holds a riding crop in her hand, which Natalie asks about. She quickly and angrily defends herself by saying it's for horseback riding. |
| 95 | * CreepyCrossdresser: Discussed in both "Autogynophilia" and "J.K. Rowling", along with its connection to transgender representation and how it may have influenced [=TERFs=] into viewing trans women as bathroom predators. Natalie herself has admitted to something of a fixation with the trope, and would frequently lean into it during the early years of her channel, both as a coping mechanism and because she enjoys dark humour. Even after coming out as trans and adopting a more feminine wardrobe she still enjoys the occasional reference to ''Film/SilenceOfTheLambs'' or joke that she's secretly a serial killer. |
| 96 | -->'''Natalie:''' And I take great offence to the suggestion that trans women are serial killers, because I for one... haven’t been caught yet. ''[giggles]'' |
| 97 | * {{Crossdresser}}: Natalie used to crossdress in her twenties. Before discovering her own trans identity, she used to present as a cross-dressing man on her channel. |
| 98 | * DespairEventHorizon: How she summarizes the "Black Pill" of the incel community, when an incel develops a world view that sexual value is genetic. Because they come to believe that they don't meet the qualifications for attraction from women, they are doomed to a life without romantic love or sex, and so they should just "lie down and rot". This mindset is what leads to suicidal ideation and, in extreme cases like with Elliot Rodger, mass murder. |
| 99 | * DidNotGetTheGirl: |
| 100 | ** Justine admits to her frienemy Tiffany that she is in love with her in "Transtrenders", prompting Tiffany to leave and get drunk without reciprocating. |
| 101 | ** A real life example: "Shame" tells the story of how Natalie tragically fell in love with her best friend, who did not love her back. |
| 102 | * DoubleStandard: |
| 103 | ** In "Gender Critical", she points out that transphobes come down much, much harder on trans women for "reinforcing patriarchy" by presenting as hyperfeminine, than they do on similarly hyperfeminine cis women like Kim Kardashian. |
| 104 | ** "Beauty" is a vivisection of her own feelings around plastic surgery and internal beauty standards. As a feminist, she wants to end the harmful pressure women are placed under to conform to an image of beauty - yet she can't help but want to look beautiful and youthful herself. |
| 105 | ** "J.K. Rowling" examines treatment of trans women and trans men under a MenActWomenAre lens when bigotry comes to play. Natalie argues that trans women are often stereotyped as seductive predators--"men" who fetishize femininity and use it to appear harmless but are really out to hurt "true" men and seduce the women; while she argues that trans men are really ''infantilized'' rather than seen as actively harmful, treated like insecure, vulnerable and gullible "girls" (not women, girls) who [[DamselInDistress need to be rescued]] from people willing to prey on their gender and body worries. |
| 106 | * DoorStopper: ''Twilight'' (a video essay about [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga the media franchise of the same name]], and also about romance fiction/human sexuality in general) shattered her previous records, coming at around 2 hours and 50 minutes. As many fans eagerly pointed out, the video is longer than ''Film/DunePartTwo'', which released shortly before. |
| 107 | * DownerEnding: |
| 108 | ** "The Aesthetic" is a socratic dialectic (meaning a dialogue between two fictional characters representing two different points of view) on gender performativism. There is no coda, no clear "right or wrong" as is usual for these kind of videos, but this particular video has somewhat of a mean spirit to it. It cuts to the core of many, many trans people's anxieties and fears. Justine literally spells out, "I guess we can't win, can we?" Even though Justine tells Tabby that she doesn't want to fight with her, and that as long as they both exist as trans women in this world, they'll always be sisters, the tone remains somber. |
| 109 | ** "Cringe" ends with a tinge of a BlackComedy joke, where Natalie points out that the world will probably burn within the next 50 years, so it's not like anything matters. |
| 110 | * DudeLooksLikeALady and LadyLooksLikeADude: Played with, to both comedic and serious effect. |
| 111 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Her earlier videos lack the MoodLighting that has since become her trademark. Since she had yet to come to see herself as a transgender woman, those videos also see her with a deeper voice, far less skillful makeup, and occasionally more masculine clothing. Most of them feature her exclusively as herself, with her bevy of characters not yet appearing. Her humor style was also drier and more blunt. |
| 112 | * EroticEating: For example, stuffing your mouth with corn dogs as a metaphor for dick ("The West"), or sensually licking out mussels as a metaphor for eating pussy ("Pick-Up Artists"), or subverted when she beats the crap out of a zucchini. |
| 113 | * ExtraLongEpisode: While Contrapoints videos are longform video essays usually around the 30-50 minute mark, she's made a few videos that were literally the length of a feature film. Most notably, "Cancelling" and "Cringe". |
| 114 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Freya, the campy trans Nazi. She can appear as more open-minded, calm and rational than her liberal opponents, but it's clear she only tries to legitimize Nazi views in the eyes of the audience. |
| 115 | * FramingDevice: |
| 116 | ** Lampshaded in the fictional talk show in "Is BDSM Feminist?" with Contra just making up a name for the host on the spot. "Whatever, it- it doesn't matter." After all, the talk-show format is only the framing device for the dialectic. |
| 117 | ** Pointed out in "Punching Natsees" - Bruce asks Trixie how her week has been, as is normal in a Skype call between friends, and she argues that it doesn't matter, this is just a framing device, he should just get to the point. |
| 118 | * FlowerMotifs: "Shame" uses a mossy background adorned with countless flowers, invoking the Garden of Eden with Natalie taking on the role of Eve eating the forbidden fruit. She even has two daisies covering up her nipples. |
| 119 | --> "This floral fantasy is a little less 'Mother of Mankind' and a little more... Coachella 2015. Well, that's ''my'' Eden." |
| 120 | * TheFreakshow: The aesthetic theme in one segment of "Cringe". She uses this to liken [=YouTube=] to a freak show where the comedy is heavily derivate of finding someone for the public to laugh at. |
| 121 | ** Also used as a dry joke in “Autogynephilia,” when Natalie refers to her telling her transition story as “the gender circus.” |
| 122 | * FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Discussed in "J.K. Rowling". Based on Rowling's manifesto, it's clear that her crusade against trans people comes from a place of not being able to trust men due to a history of sexual assault and domestic violence, and Natalie doesn't shame her for being wary of it, but once this has escaped her personal issues and she has taken on the fight against trans liberation because of her negative experiences with men, she has turned into a transphobe, using her platform to rally against their rights. |
| 123 | -->''"Like, if you're against gay marriage because you were traumatized as a child when your father left your mother for a man, you're still a homophobe, right? You're not less of a bigot because your bigotry has a tragic backstory. In fact, bigotry often has a tragic backstory, bigotry involves feelings of being threatened or attacked, so it's often rooted in trauma. [...] Feelings of victimization are often used as a justification for aggression, and when the target of that aggression is a marginalized group, the result is bigotry."'' |
| 124 | * FullNameUltimatum: Downplayed. In "Voting", Natalie repeatedly talks down Tabby's radical arguments while calling her "Tabitha". |
| 125 | * GenreTurningPoint[[invoked]]: Natalie analyzes this on [=YouTube=] in the video "Cringe". She notes that Youtube, at the time of the video, is very left friendly, even mentioning [=LeftTube=], but that it wasn't always like this, since in the mid 2010s, it was populated with SJW Cringe Compilations and was right after the controversy surrounding Anita Sarkeesian, which made feminism quite abhorred by the general internet. She mentions [[WebVideo/HBomberguy [=H.Bomberguy=]]]'s video on Davis Aurini as this trope in effect, as it would be the start of [=LeftTube=] by making people cringe at anti-feminists. |
| 126 | * GoKartingWithBowser: Has had some surprisingly civil debates/meetings with anti-SJW [=YouTubers=] such as [=Shoe0nHead=], Sargon Of Akkad and others. In the case of the former, both Natalie and Shoe have mentioned on different occasions that their meeting managed to open Shoe's mind to accepting non-binary people as a result. |
| 127 | * GodwinsLaw: Even has a "Batman"-inspired cartoon sound effect. However, since several videos look at fascism and alt-right arguments, Godwining will happen from time to time. |
| 128 | * GoldenMeanFallacy: Jackie Jackson is particularly fond of pulling this off. Natalie herself is very suspicious of this trope, seeing it as giving legitimacy to the alt-right. |
| 129 | * GreenEyedMonster: "Envy", unsurprisingly, [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] envy and the various forms it can take in life. Also touched on in "Opulence", which discusses conspicuous consumption and the visibility of class difference. |
| 130 | * GreyAndGrayMorality: Tabby and Justine in "The Left" and "The Aesthetic". Trixie and Bruce in "Punching Natsees". Nat's general approach to a lot of arguments, at least in contrast to other leftists who adapt a far more dogmatic BlackAndWhiteMorality. |
| 131 | * HalfwayPlotSwitch: "The Hunger" switches from a dialectic between characters which is centered around religious queerphobia to the start of a parable about alcohol addiction after Justine, featured in the dialectic, returns home unhappy. |
| 132 | * HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: "Shame" is largely about compulsory heterosexuality, or the behavior that a gay woman puts on out of denial of her sexual orientation, and Natalie's experiences with it. |
| 133 | * TheHedonist: Studied in "Pick Up Artists" and "Is Casual Sex Bad for your Soul?" and played up in "Degeneracy". Analyzed in "Opulence". |
| 134 | * HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Deconstructed in "Envy". Natalie discusses how much of popular perception of UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette is framed by the princess being defamed by [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution revolutionary propaganda]] and being railroaded at her trial, essentially as a scapegoat for the boiled-over resentments of the working classes against the aristocracy.[[note]]The truth is probably a bit more complicated. While almost certainly innocent of the scandalous conduct attributed to her in revolutionary ''libelles'', she did contribute to the aristocratic excesses that fueled revolutionary backlash. Even then, however, she was motivated by alienation and boredom rather than callous disregard for the poor, was not more wasteful than any other French aristocrat at the time, and likely had a minute understanding of the social context of her actions. She was likely chosen because her position simultaneously made her notorious and a far safer target than the king himself.[[/note]] |
| 135 | -->'''Natalie''': Marie Antoinette did ''literally'' nothing wrong! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Hey. How. Are You.]] |
| 136 | * HitlerAteSugar: Defied in the "Jordan Peterson" video. In spite of similarities between Peterson's concept of postmodern neo-Marxism and the Cultural Marxism theory spread by neo-Nazis (itself based on the "Cultural Bolshevism" idea of the original Nazis), Natalie refuses to make comparisons between Peterson and fascists, and instead she tries to dissect and criticize the concept itself. |
| 137 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Jackie Jackson is a caricature of Dave Rubin, a libertarian-leaning centrist anti-SJW debate show host. Her character is used to demonstrate how easily grifters like her fall for (or willfully support?) fascists, right-wing radicals, and bigots, defending their "right to a platform" by arguing for "free speech" and the "intellectual marketplace of ideas". |
| 138 | * TheHorseshoeEffect: Deconstructed in "Punching Natsees" as the debate breaks down into an argument, as Internet debates are known to do. Unlike most versions of this trope, the argument is between a far left anarchist and a centre left liberal. |
| 139 | * HypocriticalHumor: In "Cultural Appropriation", Natalie, a white woman, criticizes cultural appropriation while wearing Mexican Day of the Dead face paint. |
| 140 | * IAmNotHim: |
| 141 | ** "''Cringe''": |
| 142 | *** Natalie mentions how the trans community has this problem of wondering who ''is'' representing them, and wonders whether this is part of the reason why some trans YouTubers, like Blaire White and Rose Of Dawn, are prone to making cringe content on other trans people, as a way to publicly distance themselves from the trans people they consider to not be "real trans". She particularly recalls the feud White had with another trans youtuber, Riley Dennis, purposefully misgendering her, saying she wasn't really trans, she wasn't on HRT and was just pretending to be so, and the immediate regret White felt when Dennis said she was about to undergo facial feminization surgery, and had been on HRT for a year. |
| 143 | *** She also points out that this happened with Chris-chan, a [=YouTuber=] who is an anime fan, a trans woman and on the autism spectrum and became a "lolcow" known for her cringeworthy content. Most of the people who obsessively register everything about her life and dedicate to making cringe content about her, share background traits with her, and are desperate to distance themselves from someone who shares that identity with them. |
| 144 | * IndecisiveParody: In “Cringe,” N(y)atalie points out that she dresses as a catgirl in order to make fun of catgirls so often that it probably seems like she actually is one. |
| 145 | * InstructionalFilm: In "Gender Dysphoria", the Doctor shows Natalie one about "xenomorphic gender parasitosis", a fictional disease that's a stand-in for transsexuality. The film consists of clips of Natalie in a wig and a nice dress eating strawberries and whipped cream with jazz music in the background - interrupted by [[MoodWhiplash disturbing war footage]] with fear-mongering text about this fictional illness and mechanical booming playing over it. |
| 146 | * ItIsDehumanizing: In "Gender Critical", she points out that being called "female" is better than being called "it." |
| 147 | * JidaiGeki: "Transtrenders" uses a conversation and musical composition evocative of this genre for debate between Tiffany Tumbles and Baltimore Maryland, though no combat actually happens. |
| 148 | * KangarooCourt: In "Autogynephilia", Contra gets put on trial for being an autogynephile. The judge is Michael Bailey (an author and supporter of the transphobic autogynephilia theory), the accuser is the gender-critical subreddit, represented by Abigail Cockbane. You can guess the verdict. |
| 149 | -->'''Abigail:''' Your honor, the defendant [[CallBack does not bleed]] -- I find that pretty conclusive. |
| 150 | --> '''Judge Bailey:''' As do I. Guilty as charged! ''[slams gavel]'' |
| 151 | * KilledOffForReal: In "The Left", viewers find out that Bruce and Trixie from "Punching Natsees" killed each other in their gun fight. |
| 152 | * KnightOfCerebus: The videos featuring Freya are generally much darker than Natalie's other videos. Granted she is a Nazi. |
| 153 | * LadyDrunk: Jackie Jackson in particular gets drunker and drunker as the conversation spirals into insults and arguing instead of constructive discussions (with herself!). |
| 154 | * LesserOfTwoEvils: In "Voting", she fully acknowledges that UsefulNotes/JoeBiden is this, but makes the case that more radical-minded leftists should still vote for him because that has the power to remove Trump from office (and protesting by voting third party or skipping out on it altogether does not). While she agrees that Biden probably won't do all leftists want, the alternative of letting Trump keep running the country is a much worse possibility. Biden actually came to the table to discuss issues like police brutality, climate change, healthcare, and other concerns, all issues Trump either failed to address or outright refuses to address. |
| 155 | * LostInTransmission: At the end of "Does the Left Hate Free Speech? (Part 2)" and "The West". |
| 156 | * LoveAcrossBattlelines: Played for laughs. She makes jokes about how [=RooshV=] and Armoured Skeptic are attractive men while being deeply critical of their policies and principles. Her being in love with The Golden One has turned into a RunningGag. Probably the most explicit joke is the bath scene in ''Jordan Peterson'', though. On the topic of Peterson, she also refers to him multiple times as her "daddy dom". As Clifton Mark of ''The Atlantic'' explained [[https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/contrapoints-political-philosophy-natalie-wynn-youtube/579532/ in an article about the show]], this is a core part of Natalie's approach to dealing with her opposition: |
| 157 | -->"This is not to say that Wynn is Socrates’s second coming, simply that she shares Socrates’s view that philosophy is more an erotic art than a martial one. As she puts it, she’s not trying to destroy the people she addresses, but seduce them." |
| 158 | * MadnessMantra: |
| 159 | ** "I feel fine". |
| 160 | ** "Emotional damage" in ''Is Casual Sex Bad for your Soul?'' |
| 161 | ** Tiffany Tumble's "I'm in control". |
| 162 | * MeaningfulName: Several of Natalie's characters names are references to the roles they represent. In an aside in "The Darkness", Natalie mentions how her own name wasn't quite as much, as she blurted it out early in her transition when put on the spot to give a name and decided to stick with it. |
| 163 | * MenAreTough: Mocked in "Alpha Males". Then it takes a MoodWhiplash as she realizes The Golden One is a downright Nazi... |
| 164 | * {{Metaphorgotten}}: The watermelon metaphors in "The Apocalypse" are a parody of scientific analogies that never work on the intended audience anyway, and as such are already off-track by the second sentence. |
| 165 | -->"Imagine the year is 2100. I want you to picture the earth as a vagina and imagine you're a gynecologist and you're using a speculum to examine the inside of a watermelon. ''How does that make you feel, kids? I bet you wish your irresponsible gas-guzzling parents had done something to stop this!''" |
| 166 | * MirroringFactions: {{Discussed}} in "Incels", in which she notes that despite apparently being on diametrically opposed sides of the political and cultural spectrum, large segments of Incel culture share uncomfortable similarities with several of the pre-transition trans groups she used to frequent. In particular, both are rather insular communities with their own specialized language populated by those who feel shunned and excluded by a hostile world. However, despite supposedly being spaces to bring lonely, vulnerable and insecure people together for help, support, and defense against abuse from outsiders, both end up becoming self-reinforcing echo chambers for the most toxic, harmful, and self-loathing impulses of their members. |
| 167 | * MisaimedFandom[[invoked]]: In "Justice (Part 1)", Natalie brings up the love of cops for ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'', and shows how they often miss the point that the comic makes several criticisms of the cycle of violence the character keeps stuck in. Later on, she brings up the fact that cops seem to like the BlackAndWhiteMorality of the character, and how simple it is to make justice in the comic, as he can simply kill the bad person, and ignore the gray morality and due process involved with an actual arrest. |
| 168 | * MoodSwinger: Peter Coffin's voice over work in "Autogynephilia" takes it to the extreme, where they fluctuate between a highly sexual tone and a cold monotone, often within the same sentence. |
| 169 | * MoodWhiplash: "Alpha Males" video starts as a light-hearted TestosteronePoisoning video. Then the Golden One starts to talk about the Jewish Question. That said; It still retains a light tone throughout. |
| 170 | * NonNudeBathing: All bath scenes since Natalie has come out as a trans woman. Even Abigail wears a slip in the tub as part of her "moon ritual". Completely justified though, since a full-on nude scene would surely get her video removed from Youtube. |
| 171 | * NoPeriodsPeriod: {{Parodied}} in "[=TERFs=]". And how. |
| 172 | * NWordPrivileges: A lot of Natalie's comedy has a self-deprecatory edge which extends to her experience as a trans woman, resulting in jokes and some word choices that wouldn't be funny coming from a cis person. She's acknowledged the phenomenon before, discussing how people outside a group usually fail to make good comedy about them in "The Darkness", and saying she's allowed to describe the mean-spirited usage of a less-passing trans person in a typical Blaire White thumbnail as a "dump truck" because Natalie herself had been "one of her dump trucks. One of [[HashtagForLaughs #HerDumpTrucks]]". |
| 173 | * OneSteveLimit: Acknowledged in "J.K. Rowling", where Natalie mentions having a problem with Joannes, given that she used Joanne as the alias for her former crush in "Shame" and is now talking about Joanne Rowling the author. |
| 174 | * PropagandaPiece:[[invoked]] Natalie analyzes in "Cringe" how [=YouTube=] can be used as this through the use of cringe. Demonizing your opponent has always been a tool of propaganda, but it always had the accidental side-effect of perhaps portraying your opponent as an extremely powerful super villain-like being. Using cringe, however, allows you to instead ''ridicule'' your opponent, make them look imbecile and pathetic instead of villainous, which she argues was what was used to attack trans people, non-binary people, feminists, etc. |
| 175 | * RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in "Western Rape Cultures". She also points out that while Western culture demonizes rape and rapists, consent is a more complicated problem. |
| 176 | * RepetitiveAudioGlitch: It happens during her laugh at the beginning of "Does the Left Hate Free Speech? (Part 1)" for some reason. |
| 177 | * {{Retraux}}: Contra uses a lot of 80s aesthetic, from the neon lights to VHS film filters. |
| 178 | * {{Revenge}}: "Justice (Part 1)" extensively talks about revenge, and how it was the only form of justice humans had for a very long time, how it is pleasing to people to see revenge, and how it even influences the justice system that still exists. Even when justice systems started being implemented in ancient times, the idea of an eye for an eye was very much the basis of the system. |
| 179 | * RevolutionariesWhoDontDoAnything: In "Voting", Natalie points out that social media leftists who refuse to vote for Joe Biden because he's not their ideal presidential candidate don't really have any solid plan for making their ideas come to fruition; they love to fantasize about overthrowing capitalism through a radical revolution but [[MissingStepsPlan aren't making any concrete preparations]] for violent conflict with the powers that be, especially compared to the many RightWingMilitiaFanatic groups in the USA who ''are'' arming and training themselves with every intention of making their wishes for a second American Civil War come true. |
| 180 | * RightWingMilitiaFanatic: Parodied with Fritz/Freya. |
| 181 | * RunningGag: |
| 182 | ** Whenever the words "as a trans woman" is used as a qualifier for Natalie's point of view, it's always said in the same incredibly high-pitch, nasally voice. |
| 183 | ** Natalie throwing milk on herself in a bathtub. |
| 184 | ** Natalie's weird crush on The Golden One. |
| 185 | ** Referring to herself as variations on the phrase "biologically female", said in full SarcasmMode due to the fact that she's not cis, which is what the phrase is generally taken to mean, and has indicated issues with the phrase itself likely due to its somewhat exclusionary tones. Similarly, when her identity as a trans woman comes up (generally [[OnceAnEpisode once a video]]), she pulls out the coming-out routine, acting like it's "super hard" "a really vulnerable moment for her" and she's "opening up" about something that she "never talks about on her channel," even though her videos have always been open about her trans identity and have used it as a frequent theme and angle for insight across her content. |
| 186 | ** Natalie's fascination with catgirls. Her character Tabby dresses as one, and Natalie started exploring the more cutesy type outside the role of Tabby, cringing at herself while deliberately making the act cringeworthy. The end of "Justice (Part 1)" even teases the return of Tabby after Natalie has spent the entire video dropping in inappropriate cutesy catgirl talk in costume. This even extends to the Team Natalie pins from her "feud" with Creator/LindsayEllis, with the symbol on her pin being a pair of cat ears. |
| 187 | ** "Envy" features numerous references to [=MILFs=]. |
| 188 | * SanitySlippage: A sequence in "Psychiatry". Then pretty much immediately lampshaded as she points out how she's doing a [[DeadpanSnarker great job]] destigmatizing mental illness by pretending to be a psychotic dangerous lunatic. |
| 189 | * {{Satire}}: |
| 190 | ** The first part of "What is Wrong With Capitalism, Part 2" is a clear jab at Jordan Peterson, particularly his use of [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness overly sophisticated language]] to obfuscate his meaning, although this applies to many academic philosophers. |
| 191 | ** "The Freedom Report" with Jackie Jackson is a parody of The Rubin Report. |
| 192 | * ScrewYourself: There are a few jokes about Natalie lusting after her pre-transition self, such as admiring some old {{Shirtless Scene}}s and referring to her past self as "a real yum-yum". If you count the various characters she plays, then there are plenty of them that actually engage in this, such as near the end of "Pick Up Artists" (where she gets her dick sucked by Cupid). |
| 193 | * SelfDeprecation: Prone to making fun of herself and describing herself as "trash". It's mostly played for laughs, but on occasion becomes quite serious, as she actually struggles with depression and gender dysphoria. |
| 194 | * ShoutOut: Here and there, for example to Music/{{Falco}} (Foppington's "Clock me, Amadeus!") in "Jordan Peterson", or "Try the wine!" from Film/AClockworkOrange as a RunningGag. |
| 195 | * ShowWithinAShow: "The Freedom Report" with Jackie Jackson. After an episode ends, the respective characters of the dialectic then often comment on how they presented themselves in a given episode. |
| 196 | * SmartPeoplePlayChess: Justine and Tabby play chess in "The Left". |
| 197 | * SoapboxSadie: {{Played with}}, as each character presents an argument, but each argument is also flawed. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQPWI7cEJGs "[=TERFs=]"]] features "Abigail Cockbane, Radical Feminist." |
| 198 | * SophisticatedAsHell: Natalie positively revels in this trope. She will often address the audience in a highly articulate and formal manner, using sophisticated words and phrases, but then casually throw in profanity or informal neologisms without batting an eyelid. |
| 199 | * StealthSequel: "Envy" seems to be its own topic at the start, but segues into "Justice (Part 2)" for its second half. |
| 200 | * StrawmanPolitical: {{Subverted}} and critiqued. She's good at presenting multiple points of view, although she's clear where her political compass points. Tabby as the straw Antifa communist is a good example of this. A lot of her characters and personas invoke this for comedic effect. Lady Foppington, for example, is a highly exaggerated, flamboyant depiction of a biological, and Abigail Cockbane is designed from the ground up to be as StrawFeminist, right down to the name. |
| 201 | * TakeAThirdOption: When Natalie describes her inability to identify with any gender in an early video ("Non-Binary Genders"), she says a now-famous quote: |
| 202 | -->"I look inside myself and I ask, 'Do I feel like a man or a woman?' And the answer is that I feel like shit." |
| 203 | * TakeThat: "J.K. Rowling" features several overt statements that Natalie actually read Rowling's book ''Troubled Blood'' "as opposed to ''some'' [=YouTubers=]", referencing Blaire White's controversial defense of the book, which had many viewers questioning if she actually had enough time to consume the entire book before responding to it given the information she provided [[labelnote:Explanation]]Blaire claimed to have read the book's hundreds of pages within a span of less than a day and found only one reference to the villain being coded as transgender, where as Natalie can provide multiple passages of it.[[/labelnote]]. |
| 204 | * ThoseWackyNazis: Freya is a fascist and the rise of fascism is discussed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx4BVGPkdzk&t=229s "Decrypting the Alt-Right: How to Recognize a F@scist."]] |
| 205 | * TransEqualsGay: |
| 206 | ** Debated on "The Freedom Report" in the episode "Tiffany Tumbles". |
| 207 | ** Deconstructed in the "Are Traps Gay?" video. |
| 208 | * TransTribulations: A recurring theme in her videos. |
| 209 | * UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: |
| 210 | ** "Gender Dysphoria" is a very personal short film about gender dysphoria and coming to terms with being trans. It was essentially Natalie's coming out on her Website/YouTube channel, and it explicitly addresses her feelings of self-disgust, how deeply uncomfortable she is with her body, that nobody understands or accepts her for being trans and that she fears she will never be loved. These issues are also topics of "Tiffany Tumbles" and "The Aesthetic", although there more in the form of MoodWhiplash and DownerEnding. |
| 211 | ** "Cancelling" and "Shame" aren't politically driven, but instead the result of a mental health crisis Natalie went through after simultaneously becoming victim to an online hate mob and losing an important friendship to reciprocated romantic feelings on her part. "Cancelling" gets especially dark, discussing suicide and alcoholism. |
| 212 | * UnnecessaryMakeover: |
| 213 | ** [[invoked]] PlayedForLaughs in "The Left". In this case, the "Marx Engels Reader" gets a neon pink cover to appeal to the youths and the liberals. |
| 214 | ** Pointed out by Tabby in "The Aesthetic", as Justine is telling her she needs to present more femininely and try harder to pass, and thus forces Tabby into a role she's not comfortable with. |
| 215 | * TheWarOnStraw: |
| 216 | ** In ''Cringe'', Natalie proposes the idea of "mascotization", in which one side of a divide (mostly political) picks a random member of the opposite side, the worst one possible, and uses it to symbolize the entire side. She brings the example of "Big Red", a red haired Canadian feminist who became a meme when she spoke about patriarchy, in a short video posted online where she talked about the points raised by Men's Rights groups in a protest of theirs in Toronto. Her actual arguments are never addressed, she is simply used as a symbol for the crazed feminist stereotype, and all feminists, no matter what the arguments used are, are represented through her by those who ideologically oppose to them. |
| 217 | ** Also in "Cringe", Natalie discusses Jessica Yaniv, who trans [=YouTubers=] like Blaire White and Rose of Dawn have called out as a trans predator. Natalie admits that Yaniv's behavior has been demonstrably abhorrent and criminal, but Natalie objects to the way Yaniv has been described as "the biggest character" of the moment, pointing out that nobody would have known who Yaniv was without the [=YouTubers=] giving her that status as the face of bad trans people, demonstrating an in-group version of mascotization to prove how unlike the bad example they are as fellow trans women. |
| 218 | ** Well before this, she had called it the "Trigglypuff argument" (referring to another example),[[note]]An infamous video of a university student erratically protesting during an event at U Mass Amherst[[/note]] where a StrawmanPolitical was used to silence real arguments from reasonable people and force them to defend others from "their side" who they often didn't agree with in the first place, and who certainly had no relation with them anyway. |
| 219 | * WhiteMaleLead: Mentioned in passing in "How I became a Feminist SJW". |
| 220 | * WorthyOpponent: Natalie believes that The Golden One is a genuinely funny and adorable guy who just unfortunately happened to get involved into various neo-Nazi stuff (though she would later condemn him more strongly). The Golden One himself has had some nice things to say about Natalie as well, admitting that he likes her content despite not thinking much of her politics. Interestingly, neither has interacted with the other much at all since The Golden One rebranded his channel and excised it of all political content. |
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