Crash Course (YouTube)

Crash Course^[1] is an educational YouTube channel^[2][3][4][5] started by Hank Green and John Green, also known as the VlogBrothers. Crash Course was one of the 100 initial channels of YouTube's $100 million original channel initiative. Having finished earlier courses on biology, world history, ecology, English literature, and chemistry Hank Green now teaches psychology, and John Green teaches United States history. Crash Course launched a preview on December 2, 2011. As of January 16, 2014, the CrashCourse YouTube channel has earned over 1.3 million subscribers and over 71 million video views.

John Green's Series

World History

John Green, co-creator of Crash Course and host of World History, English Literature, and U.S. History

Crash Course World History^[6] was the first series launched on the Crash Course channel, running from January 26 to November 5, 2012.

On January 26, 2012, the series launched with "The Agricultural Revolution".^[7] Crash Course World History aired a new episode on YouTube every Thursday. Throughout an episode, Green, the show's host and executive producer, elaborates on the topic presented at the beginning of the video. He also "goes" to the Thought Bubble, an animation of what he is explaining.^[8] Stan Muller is the editor and producer. Raoul Meyer, an AP World History teacher and Green's former teacher at Indian Springs School, writes the show, with revisions and additions by Green.^[9] Jason Weidner creates the music for the show. Suzanna Brusikiewicz, Jonathon Corbiere, Allan Levy, James Tuer, Nick Counter, Tyler Sammy, Corey MacDonald, and Adam Winnik form "Thought Bubble"'s creative team.

Crash Course World History features several recurring themes such as "The Open Letter," a segment where Green first opens "The Secret Compartment" and grabs whatever is in it, then reads an open letter to a historical figure, period, or concept. The contents of the Secret Compartment frequently connect to the video's main focus. Occasionally Green converses with a version of himself whom he calls "Me from the past" from which he usually responds to naive questions or statements about the topic.^[10] Arguably, the most popular recurring theme is "Unless you are (wait for it) the Mongols". This theme shows a drawing of Mongols shouting "We're the Exception!" followed by a three-second clip of a scene from the 1961 film "The Mongols" depicting a village raid. The Mongol clip entertained viewers so much that t-shirts referencing the meme are available.^[11]

In Crash Course World History, Green frequently encourages his viewers to avoid looking at history through Eurocentrism or "Great Man" History, but to be conscious of a broader historical context. Crash Course World History, filmed in Indianapolis, has a broad following, having attracted millions of viewers.^[12] It has a particular appeal to American students taking the AP World History class & exam; many students and teachers use the videos to supplement their courses.^[13][14] On May 9, November 22, and December 27, Green uploaded outtakes. Various episodes were featured in online news publications.^[15][16]

The series ended on November 9, 2012 after 42 episodes.

English Literature

John's second subject is English Literature, airing as a miniseries which premiered on November 15, 2012. Works that have been covered include Romeo and Juliet, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Emily Dickinson's poetry. There have been two outtake episodes of Crash Course English Literature.

US History

On the January 24, 2013 finale of Crash Course English Literature, John Green announced that it would be followed by Crash Course US History, beginning the following week on January 31, 2013 with "The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards". Following the series on World History, Green puts an emphasis on maintaining an open and non-Western view of American History. A new segment called 'Mystery Document' replaces the 'Open Letter'; Green takes a manuscript from the fireplace's secret compartment and reads it aloud, then must guess its author and the source work it is excerpted from. If he is incorrect, he is punished by a shock pen. The series ended on February 6, 2014, teasing the succeeding Literature series.^[17]

Literature

In February 2014, it was announced John Green would follow his US History series, with Literature.^[17] The series is set to being on February 27, by covering Odyssey by Homer.

Hank Green's Series

Biology

Hank Green, co-creator of Crash Course and host of Biology, Ecology, Chemistry, and Psychology.

Hank Green's web-based biology program, Crash Course Biology, launched on January 30, 2012 with "That's Why Carbon Is a Tramp". A new episode aired on YouTube every Monday until October 22, 2012. A recurring segment on the program is titled "Biolo-graphy", in which Green relays a short biography of a person who is usually associated with the topic of the overall episode. For the benefit of uncertain viewers, Hank Green links YouTube annotations to every specific subtopic he explains in the video at the conclusion of the episode (the annotations replay the video starting from the particular annotation the viewer selects). On February 13, 2012, Hank Green uploaded "Office Hours: Water"^[18] for the purpose of answering additional audience questions. On May 19, 2012, Green uploaded outtakes of the series. In July 2012, a Crash Course Biology episode discussing Comparative anatomy was featured on a Mashable article.^[19] In the final episode, Green revealed that the successor series, Crash Course Ecology, would follow in the spirit of the Biology series.^[20]

Ecology

As noted above, Hank's second course was Crash Course Ecology, following on from Biology. It premiered November 5, 2012, and ran for 12 episodes.

Chemistry

In January 2013, Hank Green announced he will soon begin releasing chemistry videos in the style of the biology and ecology series. He talked about the importance of chemistry to the world, and talked about the series in a brief 2 minute preview video.^[21] This series premiered on February 11, 2013 and is filmed on a new custom-built set at their Missoula, Montana studio.^[22]

Psychology

On January 3, 2014, Hank Green teased the launch of a series on psychology, before launching it on February 3.^[23]

Funding

The Crash Course YouTube channel was teased in December 2011,^[24] and launched in January 2012 as one of the initial original, YouTube-funded channels.^[25][13] In April 2013, John Green detailed that Crash Course was going through financial hardships.^[26] In July 2013, Hank Green expressed his frustration with the ways YouTube had been changing and controlling its website.^[27][28]

Funds from Google eventually ran out, and shortly after Green's A Chat with YouTube video, the VlogBrothers decided to launch Subbable, a crowdfunding website where viewers can donate, monthly, to channels in return for perks. Donating is optional, as Hank Green stated, "We ascribe to the idealistic notion that audiences don't pay for things because they have to but because they care about the stuff that they love and want it to continue to grow."^[29] Crash Course was the first series and channel to be offered on Subbable, and from this point onward, would be funded by the website.^[30]

Video release

DVD box sets of the complete run of each of the World History and Biology series were made available for pre-order on October 31, 2013.^[31]

References