2 things to know about women
Published March 16, 2021 · 4:57 · 666,750 views
About This Video
One of Van Neistat's most-watched films is also his strangest. Five minutes and ten seconds, narrated entirely in the third person, about a man who bugs out to Mexico and comes back with two things he understands about women.
The setup is a departure. "The spirited man" has had it, can't afford to leave, feels he'll die if he doesn't, and goes anyway. He seeks counsel from a spirited woman who is not a lover but an old friend from far away, a sailor twice around the world. Her proximity gives him perspective, and he carries it through Mexico in what Van calls "the year of no winter." Truck, motorcycle, mountains, water. Books, music, paper, solitude.
The two lessons land plainly. First, his whole concept of lovers had been wrong: without knowing it, he had treated women as drugs, as medicine to fix his ailments and his chemistry. Perceiving women as drugs caused harm. Women are not drugs. Second, he finally understands a line he had carried from another writer: women are the other half of the sky.
The drug-as-medicine framing is not incidental. It is the same recovery lens Van brings to his writing on sobriety, applied here to relationships instead of substances. The third-person device does the rest of the work. By never saying "I," Van turns a personal reckoning into something closer to parable, which is exactly what the channel's namesake, the spirited man, was built to be. For the maker behind the voice, see about Van Neistat, and for the same attention turned toward objects rather than people, Why Do Details Matter?
Related: 3,597 Days of Sobriety, Why Do Details Matter?, the manifesto.
FAQ
What are the two things to know about women in Van Neistat's video?
First, that treating women as drugs, as medicine for your own ailments, causes harm, and women are not drugs. Second, the meaning of a line Van had carried from a poet: women are the other half of the sky. He reaches both during a solitary trip through Mexico.
Why is the video narrated in the third person?
Van tells the entire story as "the spirited man," never "I." The distance turns a private reckoning into a parable, and it is the same device the channel is named for.
Where was "2 things to know about women" filmed?
In Mexico, during what Van calls "the year of no winter," traveling by truck and motorcycle, through mountains and water, with his books, music, and paper.
Transcript
on occasion the spirited man will feel the need to bug out to leave the situation not to escape no but for a break at times the spirited man has had it perhaps he cannot afford it but he feels he'll die if he doesn't so he goes anyway perhaps it is a woman a lover who has inspired the bug out perhaps it is two women two lovers perhaps three perhaps all of them what can i do anything perhaps the spirited man has been unfair perhaps he needs solitude for a while perhaps he needs a break from lovers
the spirited man seeks counsel counsel from a spirited woman this particular spirited woman is not a lover this particular spirited woman is a friend an old friend from far away an adventure a sailor twice around the world proximity to this particular spirited woman gives this particular spirited man insights and reflection gives him perspective he will carry this perspective these insights all through mexico in this year of no winter he will be an adventurer in this land of strangers
in truck on motorcycle in mountains in water he will think about women in mexico with his books and his music and his paper and his solitude this spirited man will learn two things has learned two things learned two things in this year of no winter first he has learned that his entire concept of lovers has been wrong before his bug out he had unbeknownst to himself seen lovers as drugs as medicine to treat his ales and his chemicals to bring him joy he has learned that perceiving women as drugs has caused harm he has learned that women are not drugs the second thing he has learned well not learned but understood finally
was the meaning of the words of another spirited man the words of a poet he finally understands what the poet meant and the poet said this the poet said that women are the other half of the sky women are the other half of the sky this the spirited man has come to understand alone during the year of no winter you