I might be really late to the party on this topic, in fact I know I am, but I have just started seeing the excess of "the ending explained" or "what *blank* really meant" type videos online. They haven't quite reached the level of "Top 10 *whatever*" click-bait titles, but are certainly elbowing their way in there. There are entire channels dedicated to explaining the ending of movies, and as someone who really enjoys watching film analysis videos, I gave a couple of them a try. Let's just say the disappointment has been overwhelming.
First off, I want to make a distinction between a click-bait title, and one that is straight up lying. A click-bait title is just a title meant to prey on a person's curiosity in order to get them to read or watch some content. Well, not even read it, just click on the link. A false title promises to do the same, only fails to actually deliver what was promised. While the answers found in a traditional click-bait article are hardly ever as exciting as the title promises, they at least deliver what was advertised. These "explained" videos, for lack of a better term, have predominantly been about everything but what the title promises. I don't want to call out any specific channels, although finding them would be incredibly easy since a lot are very popular and get hundreds of thousands of views per video, so I'll be vague in recounting my experience.
I tend not to stay on my YouTube homepage very long, mostly just using the subscription tap to only see who I subscribe to, but occasionally will take a glance at the recommended videos. Usually they're not worth the .75 seconds I spend glancing over them, but occasionally it can uncover some good stuff. Anyway, I did my quick glance a little while ago and saw a "ending explained" video for a film I had recently seen. I didn't think the ending was too confusing, I had already come up with my own conclusions about the elements left ambiguous, but, as previously mentioned, I enjoy hearing other people's analysis and other possible interpretations. It wasn't a terribly long video, about 20 minutes if I remember, so not long enough to be a complete deep dive into the entire movie, but probably long enough just to cover the ending in depth. So, the fool that I am, I fell for the title's trap. The video began, after an obligatory spoiler warning despite how obvious that should be to anyone who read the title, by recapping the entire narrative of the film. Only after minutes went by did I realize it wasn't so much of a recap as a truncated retelling of the entire plot point for point. Okay, that wasn't what I signed up for, but at least they went in depth on why certain things mattered and things like foreshadow...oh wait, they didn't. It was a literal, objective, recap of what happened in the movie with no insight, critique, or commentary of really any kind (except for some little jokes or whatever here and there to keep the viewer engaged).
Okay, a lot of time was wasted, but there was still hope, a tiny sliver of time left to salvage the promise of this video...but no. The ending is "explained" in the same way a witness would explain a crime. They'll say what happened, and maybe point out the lingering questions, but never provide any answers, let alone evidence to back any implied theory up. What I explored of these videos always end up so spineless, never taking as hard of a stand as their title promises in providing an actual explanation for the ending to a movie. Maybe that's because they don't want to alienate people who disagree. Or maybe it's because they make these types of videos for every movie that comes out and a lot don't have endings that actually need explaining, and those that really do have endings open to interpretation would take too much time and effort to dissect.
I understand why click-bait titles exist. It's all about catching people's attention and triggering their curiosity enough to read that article or watch that video. In a world where people get paid just based on getting that view or click, the titles have been designed to be more and more exploitative just to get that click. That alone crosses the line of shady business practice, but if the trend of making click-bait titles actual lies becomes more commonplace, then it's all over. We're back to the days of getting "Rick-rolled", only this time people will be getting paid to do it.
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