History is a polarising subject. You either fanboy over it or you can’t stand to see it. There’s no in-between.
Endless dates, stupid politics and old rambling men, that does not sound like a recipe for a good experience.
I couldn’t stand history but recently I saw an unorthodox video about the Punic Wars, what’s special about it? Well instead of the Macho man the real Hannibal was, in the video he was a stick figure and Rome farts and “poops their pants,” all courtesy of Oversimplified.
But who is this historian who has no legs, no facial features, just two sticks as arms and two dots as eyes? How does he make the same boring old history into something that is a cross between Game of Thrones, a Michael Bay action movie and Monty Python? More importantly, how does he get away with so many bathroom jokes?
A hidden treasure
I stumbled upon Oversimplified when I was tasked with writing on World War I for a school project. The thumbnail on the video contained a very flustered-looking Chamberlain with googly eyes. A stark contrast to all the other videos available back then, which had a lot more serious tone to them. And moreover, it was only six and a half minutes long. Short and funny? Well, count me in.
As soon as the video started, I understood it was going to be much different than what I was expecting. Oversimplified, as his name suggests, simplified the era’s political and technological advancements into a few spoof pictures, and surprisingly, it was more than enough to grasp the historical concepts that he was aiming for.
The video went on, and I found myself deeply fascinated with the topic and, dare I say, more knowledgeable too. I checked his other videos out, and they were all in the same vein.
Sub twenty-minute videos that crammed a lot of information in them, but all were incredibly fun to watch. The running gags, the inside jokes, the pop culture references, and most importantly, the simple childish humour, he took on incredibly complex topics dealing with geopolitics and war and made them into something akin to a Tom and Jerry episode. He seemed like a magician.
Trending, once in a long while
But like all good things, there is a caveat. Oversimplified is inconsistent. You never know when the next video is going to come out. At the time of writing, the 3rd part of his Punic Wars video came out two weeks ago, and nobody knows when the next one is coming. You never know if there is another video coming.
Oversimplified, like my favourite “jhalmuri” seller who refuses to give me more than one Bombay chilli pepper, believes in quality over quantity. Once a year, my favourite caricature historian comes out from his cave and delivers on his promise. His videos on the Napoleonic wars and the Punic wars were in the top 5 YouTube trending at the time of their release. But alas! Our cries for a consistent upload schedule have fallen on deaf ears, or no ears since he doesn’t have any.
When he uploads, we watch right away
Stuart Webster, the guy behind Oversimplified, is a pioneer. He has given birth to the cartoon genre of history videos, and he is still the best at it. Nobody knows when he’ll upload again, but I argue that adds to his charm.
The inconsistency, the childish humour, and the oversimplification of complex socio-political events that caused suffering to millions of people over the span of human history, it all adds to his charm. A charm that has seen him develop a cult following and certainly a space in every student’s mind who has a history paper due the next day.