Lindsay Ellis
Lindsay Ellis (born 1984/1985) is an American author, film critic, video essayist, and former[4] YouTuber. Her debut novel, Axiom's End, published in July 2020, became a New York Times Best Seller.[5]
Lindsay Ellis | ||||||||||
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| Born | 1984/1985 (age 38–39)[1] Johnson City, Tennessee, U.S. | |||||||||
| Education | New York University (BA) University of Southern California (MFA) | |||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2008–2021 (YouTuber) 2016–present (Author) | |||||||||
| Notable work | Axiom's End | |||||||||
| Children | 1 | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Also known as | Nostalgia Chick | |||||||||
| Channel |
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| Genre(s) | Film criticism, video essay, science fiction | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.2 million[2] | |||||||||
| Total views | 132 million[2] | |||||||||
| Network | Storied[3] at PBS Digital Studios | |||||||||
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Last updated: July 2, 2022 | ||||||||||
| Website | www | |||||||||
Education and career
Ellis received her BA in Film Studies from New York University in 2007 and MFA from USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2011.[1][6] Along with her friends Elisa Hansen and Antonella "Nella" Inserra, she wrote Awoken, a paranormal romance parody of Twilight about a woman falling in love with Cthulhu, under the alias Serra Elinsen.[7] In 2010, she wrote and directed the documentary short film The A-Word about women's experience with abortion.[8]
Nostalgia Chick (2008–2014)
From 2008 to 2014, while also studying for her MFA, Ellis was selected to host The Nostalgia Chick as part of the Channel Awesome production company, a web series based on the Nostalgia Critic. She went on to create over 100 videos as part of the series before leaving in 2014 to focus more on long-form video essays.[1][9]
Video essays (2014–2021)
On her YouTube channel, Ellis frequently made videos about Walt Disney Pictures films.[6] Other works include "The Whole Plate," a long-running series examining the Transformers film series and the work of Michael Bay which has received more than 4 million views,[1][10] and a three-part series about the production of The Hobbit trilogy and its effect on the New Zealand film industry.[11][12] Her Loose Canon series explores derivations of literary and film characters over time. Since 2017, her focus on her channel has been on video essays about films. Ellis says she most enjoys thinking about "things that are deeply flawed but have this really interesting potential." Her videos are created with a small team of part-time staff.[1] In addition to covering film topics, she has also created videos on being a YouTube content creator.[1]
Ellis also co-hosts the It's Lit! web series, alongside fellow YouTuber Princess Weekes, for PBS Digital Studios, which explores trends in American literature as a companion piece to The Great American Read on PBS itself.[1][13]
The three-part documentary The Hobbit Duology (2018), which Ellis wrote and edited with Angelina Meehan, was a finalist for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Related Work.[14]
She was one of the founders of the Standard creator community along with Dave Wiskus, CGP Grey, Philipp Dettmer and many other creators. Through Standard, she has released most of her content on Standard's Nebula streaming video service, including an extended cut on Tom Hooper's Les Misérables.[15] She releases content early on Patreon where she has over 9,000 patrons, making her one of the top 50 creators on the platform.[16]
Throughout her career online, Ellis has been subject to multiple campaigns of online harassment.[1][17][18][time needed] One such campaign occurred after she compared the film Raya and the Last Dragon to Avatar: The Last Airbender on Twitter, which some perceived as a racist generalization of media featuring Asian people. In a 2021 Patreon blog post titled "Walking away from Omelas" (an allusion to the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin), she announced her retirement from YouTube and content creation, citing cancel culture and online harassment.[19][20] In June 2022, Ellis resurfaced publicly at Vidcon where she discussed her life following her online retirement and the impact it had on her own mental health.[19] In October 2022, Ellis announced through her Patreon that, while she still intends to never return to YouTube, she will be releasing new content exclusively through Nebula, with her patrons getting free access as a Patreon perk.
Noumena (2020–present)
In early 2020, Ellis co-founded MusicalSplaining, a podcast in which she, accompanied by director and illustrator Kaveh Taherian, discussed a different musical every two weeks. It was included in O, The Oprah Magazine's top 20 new podcasts of 2020.[21]
In 2019, Ellis announced her debut novel, Axiom's End, an alternate history set in 2007, planned as the first book in the Noumena series.[22] It was published by St. Martin's Press on July 21, 2020, and entered The New York Times Best Seller list at number 7 on August 9, as well as appearing on the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.[23][24][5] Ellis was subsequently shortlisted for the "Astounding Award for Best New Writer", which is given out during the Hugo Award ceremonies.[25] In July 2022, Ellis made a guest appearance on MusicalSplaining. In October 2022, Ellis posted her first video essay in nearly one year on streaming platform Nebula, discussing the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.[26] Ellis has since posted a subsequent video on that platform discussing the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[27]
Personal life
Ellis grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee.[1] She is bisexual.[28][29] As of 2019[update], she and her husband live in Long Beach, California.[1] In June 2022, it was revealed that she has a daughter.[19]
Works
- Noumena series:[22]
- Axiom's End (2020)
- Truth of the Divine (2021)
- Untitled third Axiom's End novel
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Hugo Award | Best Related Work | Lindsay Ellis, Angelina Meehan | Nominated[30] |
| 2021 | 11th Streamy Awards | Commentary | Lindsay Ellis | Nominated[31] |
| Astounding Award | (Best New Writer) | Axiom's End | Nominated[32] |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Raftery, Brian (March 8, 2019). "How YouTube Made a Star Out of This Super-Smart Film Critic". Wired. Archived from the original on May 4, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- ^ a b "About Lindsay Ellis". YouTube.
- ^ "Storied". YouTube. PBS Digital Studios. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ^ Yukiko, Sarah (2021-12-29). "Lindsay Ellis quits YouTube months after igniting controversy with a tweet comparing "Raya" to "Avatar"". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- ^ a b Bestseller lists:
- "Combined Print & E-Book Fiction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
- . Los Angeles Times. August 4, 2020. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020.
- "Bestselling Books Week Ended July 25 With data from NPD BookScan". The Wall Street Journal. July 30, 2020.
- ^ a b Metz, Nina (October 5, 2017). "Video essayist Lindsay Ellis takes on Disney". Chicago Tribune. from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
- ^ Kress, Melanie (October 9, 2013). "Awoken – Serra Elinsen". CultureFly (review). from the original on October 17, 2018.
- ^ McCormick, James (April 4, 2011). "James Reviews Lindsay Ellis' The A-Word [Film Review]". CriterionCast. from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- ^ Schroeder, Audra (April 4, 2018). "Former contributors allege mismanagement and misconduct at Channel Awesome". The Daily Dot. from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
- ^ Zakarin, Jordan (July 16, 2018). "Bumblebee Peeing on John Turturro Propelled Lindsay Ellis to Film Criticism Greatness [Ep. #41]". Syfy Wire. from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
- ^ Puschmann, Karl (April 26, 2018). "Is The Hobbit trilogy really that bad? Yes – here's why". The New Zealand Herald. from the original on May 4, 2020. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
- ^ Butler, Tom (April 5, 2018). "The Hobbit actor says the films became 'a big punch up, driven by technology' after studio interference". Yahoo! News. from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
- ^ "The Case for Fan Fiction (feat. Lindsay Ellis and Princess Weekes) | It's Lit". YouTube. Storied. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ Vorel, Jim (April 2, 2019). "YouTuber Lindsay Ellis Has Been Nominated for a Hugo Award for Her Acclaimed Hobbit Duology". Paste. from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- ^ Hale, James (June 10, 2019). "Creators Can't Always Take Risks With Their Content. That's Why YouTuber Community Standard Built Nebula — A Platform For Its Creators To Experiment". TubeFilter. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ "Top Patreon Video". Tubefilter. June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Yu, Alan (January 16, 2020). "How psychology is just catching up with the effects of online hate". WHYY-FM.
- ^ Ellis, Lindsay (October 18, 2019). Lindsay Ellis, Video Essayist – XOXO Festival (2019). Archived from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b c "VidCon 22: Former YouTuber Lindsay Ellis says she's learning to live with the trauma of being 'canceled'". NBC News. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
- ^ Ellis, Lindsay (December 27, 2021). . Patreon.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2021.
- ^ Nicolaou, Elena (April 7, 2020). "The Best New Podcasts of 2020 to Get Lost In". O, The Oprah Magazine. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ a b "Noumena". Macmillan Publishers.
- ^ "Video Essayist Lindsay Ellis Announces Her Debut Novel, Axiom's End". Tor.com. September 5, 2019. from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
- ^ Weiss, Geoff (September 6, 2019). "YouTube Media Critic Lindsay Ellis Announces Debut Novel Axiom's End". Tubefilter. from the original on March 6, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- ^ O'Donnell, Emily (April 13, 2021). . Comic Years. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
- ^ Ellis, Lindsay (2022-10-11), Lindsay Ellis — How They Adapted Lord of the Rings (the good one), retrieved 2022-10-12
- ^ Ellis, Lindsay (2022-12-22), Lindsay Ellis - We Don't Talk About E.T., retrieved 2022-01-19
- ^ Ellis, Lindsay (June 26, 2015). . Real Name Brand Lindsay [personal blog]. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015.
- ^ Blaque, Kat (May 24, 2021). "Lindsay Ellis Discusses Bisexual Folks w/ 'Straight Passing Privilege'". True Tea (Podcast). Retrieved May 25, 2021.
- ^ "2019 Hugo Awards". 28 July 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ "11th Annual Streamy Nominees & Winners". The Streamy Awards. December 12, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
- ^ "2021 Hugo Awards". January 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.