Rascaroli’s article on the film essay was intriguing, but seemed to be a little narrow minded citing only ‘major’ films and legendary directors. The film essay – I assume that is an essay in video form – seems like it could apply to much more than simply 90 minute films.

I regularly watch videos on YouTube – of lengths varying from 8 to 15 minutes – that explore an idea in a logical and musing way. Two particular channels are Vsauce , and PBS Idea Channel.

The presenters cite many scholarly sources for the ideas they present, as well as non-scholarly ones, to follow a line of thought that doesn’t always necessarily reach an end point, but thoroughly elucidate each point.

While these are not peer reviewed pieces, they seem to have a strong affinity to what the traditional essay aims to achieve, that is, explore and share new knowledge, or restructure existing knowledge to propose an idea.