Ever connected to each other via social media and the internet, it may seem like we live in a world where mystery is becoming scarce. Ryan Bergara of “BuzzFeed Unsolved” begs to differ. Together with co-host Shane Madej, Bergara explores a plethora of bizarre, astonishing and sometimes creepy unsolved cases, from alleged alien abductions and abandoned asylum hauntings to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and spontaneous human combustion.
Check out what Bergara has to say about explaining unsolved cases in laymen’s terms and how his experience as an Asian American filmmaker has informed his work:
Your “BuzzFeed Unsolved” videos are immensely popular online. What makes the series so appealing?
Right now, we’re kind of going through a renaissance for both true crime and horror media, so I think that is part of it. Also, I feel that the perspective we offer in both “BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime” and “Supernatural” is different from what’s out there in the mainstream right now.
How did your thinking behind the series develop?
I’ve always been a horror buff, as well a true crime fiend, so to make videos that involve both of those themes is a dream come true. I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of true crime shows that presented the cases in ways that regular people talk about them. I figured it would make a good video, so we made one, it was successful, and it took off from there.
The series focuses mainly on unsolved mysteries, but is there any case you think you could solve if you were free to give it all your focus?
You know, that’s something that I’ve often pondered. I’d like to think I could. I feel like I could, but realistically, probably not. There’s way too many barriers to access and there’s also a certain amount of luck that’s necessary for a case to break a certain way — and that’s on top of having to be completely dedicated to the case. Also, I’ve not exactly been trained to be a detective. But a boy can dream.
How has your personal experience as an Asian American shaped or influenced your filmmaking?
Growing up, I definitely did notice that there was a deficiency in Asian representation, especially in front of the camera. Often times, any instance of an Asian character being featured was part of an Asian narrative. Meaning, in order for an Asian to be featured on screen, it had to be as a kung fu master, an immigrant, the nerdy smart kid at school, etc. There always had to be a reason in the story for that Asian person to exist because without that it didn’t make sense to audiences. It was never Jim from “The Office” struggling with the trials of office life, who just happened to be Asian. Having observed that, I simply focused on telling great stories that just happened to have casual Asian representation. I didn’t want my stories to be Asian-focused narratives. I think, once we’ve gotten to the point where Asians in media is normalized — and we can have Jim from “The Office” be Asian for no particular reason — then I think the paradigm will finally shift.
How has making videos for the internet given you more freedom?
It’s given me freedom in the sense that nobody is telling me what I can or cannot do with my videos. All the barriers of entry that existed before for people of color no longer exist on the internet, and with that comes a wave of creators from that background. I think it’s important that this is happening on the internet because it can only contribute to the normalization of Asians and people of color in media, which will hopefully spill over to the more traditional formats like film and TV.
