
The Mind of Jake Paul

The Mind of Jake Paul is an American documentary web series created by YouTuber Shane Dawson. The web series was announced on September 11, 2018, through Dawson's Twitter account. A trailer and an extended trailer for the series was posted on his YouTube channel on September 11, 2018 and September 21, 2018, respectively. The series premiered on September 25, 2018 and concluded after eight episodes on October 18, 2018.
The series is presented by Dawson, who investigates the world and mind of controversial fellow YouTuber Jake Paul as well as the psychology of YouTubers. The series is edited by Dawson and cameraman Andrew Siwicki and produced by Jessica Buttafuoco. The series has over 175 million views in total. It follows Dawson's previous series, "The Secret World of Jeffree Star", and is similar in format. "Conspiracy Series with Shane Dawson⁠⁠"—Dawson's following project—was released in this same formatting similarity.
"The Mind of Jake Paul" generally received mixed reviews. Criticism of "The Mind of Jake Paul" was directed toward the second video, "The Dark Side of Jake Paul," as negative reviews argued he attempted to diagnose Paul with a mental illness.
Background.
Before production of "The Mind of Jake Paul" started, Dawson thought about making a video "...about the idea that YouTubers have to have some kind of personality disorder." The project started with a series of tweets from Paul and Dawson wherein they agreed they would collaborate. Dawson also told Paul the purpose of the series was to investigate if he was a sociopath, before the trailer was published.
Synopsis.
The first four episodes in "The Mind of Jake Paul" are referred to as the "research phase" by Dawson. In the first episode, "The Mind of Jake Paul," Dawson states that the purpose of "The Mind of Jake Paul" is to investigate Jake Paul's psychology. Dawson investigates multiple allegations related to Jake Paul's behavior. Namely, Dawson discusses, with fellow YouTuber iNabber, allegations of fake relationships in Paul's videos and assault allegations related to Paul's former relationship with Alissa Violet. In the second episode, Dawson interviews therapist Kati Morton and discusses Jake Paul's psychology; notably, he investigates if Jake Paul is a sociopath. As an introduction to the video, one of Jake Paul's vlogs are shown, showing him doing a "buried alive prank" with Team 10 member Tessa Brooks. Morton compares sociopaths to narcissists, and states "they have no empathy." In the third video, Dawson addresses controversy surrounding the previous video and discusses Logan Paul's response to the first two videos. The third video also discusses Jake Paul's family and criticism of his parents. Concluding the "research phase" in the fourth video, Dawson interviews Nick Crompton, a former member of Team 10. Crompton states the group still had the purpose of functioning as a business. Dawson discusses Alissa Violet's relationship with both Jake Paul and Logan Paul in the fourth episode, and Crompton also states that all pranks presented in Team 10 videos are fake.
Jake Paul first makes an appearance in "The World of Jake Paul". Kati Morton enters the Team 10 house disguised as a producer. Paul and his former girlfriend, Erika Costell, are interviewed by Dawson. Dawson compares himself to Jake Paul—they especially relate when comparing their childhoods. Morton says she "feels bad" for Paul and also stated she was suspicious about Paul. The penultimate video goes into further detail about Alissa Violet, Jake Paul, and Logan Paul. Violet confirms allegations that she had a relationship with Logan Paul. However, she also states her public relationship with Jake Paul was fake. She also called Jake Paul an "emotional abuser." The series finale of "The Mind of Jake Paul" discusses Jake's thoughts about his videos and his personal life.
Reception.
"The Mind of Jake Paul" generally received mixed reviews. Patricia Hernandez, writing for "The Verge," called Dawson the "king of YouTube," yet acknowledged the backlash after "The Dark Side of Jake Paul" was published. Steven Asarch of "Newsweek" also acknowledged the backlash, but nevertheless concluded that, by the end of the series, most thought that Paul wasn't "just a crazy 'sociopath' who screams at babies and plugs his merchandise for most of his videos." Becky Freeth, writing for "Metro", also noted most reacted positively to Jake Paul after the series. CJ Feist, writing for Bradley University's "The Bradley Scout", noted that while some criticized the second episode for seemingly trying to diagnose Jake Paul without his knowledge, no matter what, "it is an interesting watch and certainly exciting to experience." Julia Alexander, writing for "Polygon", applauded Dawson for making the series feel like "it’s unfolding in real time."
Negative reviews mostly criticized the second episode of "The Mind of Jake Paul" for its editing style and usage of the term "sociopath." Tanya Chen and Remy Smidt, writing for "BuzzFeed News", criticized Dawson for using the "outdated term" sociopath, and stated he should rather use the term antisocial personality disorder. They particularly criticized the second episode for using the term; Lauren Strapagiel, another "Buzzfeed News" reporter, concurred with Chen and Smidt. Jacob Shamsian, writing for "Insider", also criticized the second episode, stating it was edited like a "horror movie." Adam White from "The Telegraph" summarized the criticism, stating: "So far it has been Dawson who has become the target of significant backlash, emerging as a vaguely ignorant figure putting profitability before mental health, while Paul has emerged as his more level-headed mirror image, curious if slightly miffed by where this all seems to be going." Carolyn Todd, writing for "Self", did a full investigation on the topics presented in "The Mind of Jake Paul". Todd validates the criticism by Chen and Smidt, and disputes most of Morton's claims.
Jake Paul responded to the first two videos, stating that "the sociopathic stuff doesn't interest me." Logan Paul, Jake's brother, made a video in response to the word "sociopath" being "thrown around" in the videos; Logan mentions he has sociopathic tendencies. Dawson apologized for anyone who was offended, but stated his "intentions were not bad." Dawson also states he never had the intent to diagnose others. Kati Morton also made a video to respond to the criticism she received for her comments about sociopaths in the second episode: she claimed her intention was to educate those who are not sociopaths so they do not fall victim to manipulation from sociopaths and said of Dawson, "I applaud him for even reaching out to me and asking a real mental health professional to weigh in on something".