Daniel Simpson, Artsci’17, MA’19, PhD’24, vividly remembers the transformative moment when he became a true cinephile.
At 14, he started a review of the American Film Institute’s Top 100 films. One of the films on the list was 1962’s The Manchurian Candidate.
“Within five minutes, I was utterly transfixed, and by the end of the film I was completely absorbed and sucked into it,” he says. “It was different enough, and enough of a challenge, that it really sparked this idea that there can be some really great art that’s outside of what you’re looking for now, and you should make an effort to expose yourself to that.”
Born in Halifax and raised in Munster, Ont., Dr. Simpson has been part of the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s for a decade. But he didn’t take the traditional academic route of writing and teaching. Instead, he’s been running a burgeoning YouTube channel, Eyebrow Cinema since 2017, publishing video essays on a variety of media-focused topics and having a growing impact on the world of film criticism.
In fact, Dr. Simpson is making waves both online and offline, even hosting a classic cinema night at Kingston’s iconic Screening Room.
Over the years, he has seen his YouTube channel subscriber numbers boom, going from just 10,000 subscribers in 2020 to 101,000 by March 2025. His channel’s considerable growth might be attributed to its mix of sharp, analytical approach and a fun, accessible style.
Each video essay is a time-intensive process, taking about a month on average from initial research to writing, recording, editing and publishing, and they cover a range of subjects – everything from “Food in Taxi Driver” to “The Graduate and the Perpetuation of Loneliness.”
While he says there are considerable issues with YouTube, his direct experience in using the platform has given him a unique perspective. He says the internet is still, many years on, changing much of how instructors interact with students.
“I think, for some young people, a substantial chunk of their education was done online and remotely.”
For Dr. Simpson, his channel’s success is instructive to the benefits (and pitfalls) of digital technology at a place like Queen’s.
“YouTube is a large platform. And for a lot of younger people especially, it’s the primary place they’re engaging with any kind of criticism or analysis,” he says.
