Cinemorphosis

Performance and Collapse: How Platforms Devour the Liver King and Jordan Peterson: A College Essay Prompt

Written by

Jeffrey McMahon

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In today’s algorithm-driven media landscape, individuals who achieve fame on platforms like YouTube and social media often face a hidden, corrosive pressure: the demand to become ever more extreme, performative, and detached from their authentic selves.

Watch the public mental unraveling of two figures — the Liver King (as documented in a series of YouTube videos) and Jordan Peterson (as depicted in The Rise of Jordan Peterson documentary). Compare the trajectories of their psychological and behavioral decline, analyzing how the platforms they used amplified their worst tendencies.

Incorporate insights from:

  • The Rise of Jordan Peterson (documentary)
  • YouTube videos chronicling the Liver King’s exposure and decline
  • Black Mirror episode “Joan Is Awful” (how algorithms push people toward performative self-destruction)
  • Jaron Lanier’s arguments about social media’s corrosive effects on personality (from his interviews and talks)

Your essay should argue that social media algorithms don’t just reward extremism — they demand it, often pushing creators toward psychological collapse as the price of staying visible.

8-Paragraph Essay Outline:

Paragraph 1: Introduction – Define the Problem

  • Introduce the idea that social media algorithms act as accelerants for personality decay.
  • Briefly introduce the Liver King and Jordan Peterson as case studies of public decline.
  • Reference Black Mirror’s “Joan Is Awful” as a fictional mirror to this real-world dynamic.

Paragraph 2: Thesis Statement

  • Example thesis:
    The mental decline of the Liver King and Jordan Peterson reveals how algorithm-driven platforms reward extremity and self-caricature, pushing once-complex individuals into performative collapse — a phenomenon accurately foreshadowed in Black Mirror’s “Joan Is Awful” and analyzed by Jaron Lanier.

Paragraph 3: The Algorithmic Trap (Black Mirror and Lanier)

  • Analyze “Joan Is Awful”: how ordinary people are manipulated into grotesque caricatures for audience pleasure.
  • Bring in Jaron Lanier’s view: social media turns users into exaggerated, degraded versions of themselves through engagement-driven systems.
  • Apply these ideas to real-life figures.

Paragraph 4: The Rise and Decline of the Liver King

  • Outline the Liver King’s initial rise to fame: primal masculinity, simple rules, raw liver eating.
  • Show how algorithmic rewards (clicks, virality, outrage) pushed him into increasingly absurd and dishonest performances.
  • Discuss the steroid scandal and public unmasking as an inevitable consequence of the “always escalate” platform culture.

Paragraph 5: The Rise and Decline of Jordan Peterson

  • Outline Peterson’s early rise: thoughtful critiques of political correctness, psychology, and meaning.
  • Show how algorithmic fame pushed him toward more extreme, polarizing, and messianic posturing.
  • Discuss his health collapse (addiction, hospitalization) and how his public persona hardened into something nearly unrecognizable.

Paragraph 6: Comparative Analysis – Common Patterns

  • Compare how both men became trapped by audience expectations and platform demands.
  • Emphasize the “performance feedback loop”: initial authenticity gives way to exaggerated, brittle public personas.
  • Show how neither could retreat without losing relevance.

Paragraph 7: The Psychological and Societal Cost

  • Discuss the personal toll on the Liver King and Peterson: mental health decline, public backlash, loss of nuance.
  • Discuss the broader societal cost: platforms training audiences to demand caricatures instead of complex human beings.

Paragraph 8: Conclusion – Dramatic Reflection

  • Dramatically restate that the algorithm does not merely reflect public taste — it actively degrades the performers and the audience alike.
  • Suggest that escaping the “Joan Is Awful” trap requires recognizing the hidden machinery of amplification before it devours more public (and private) selves.

Required Research List

1. The Rise of Jordan Peterson (2019) — Directed by Patricia Marcoccia

  • Why:
    Documents Peterson’s public transformation and growing extremism as he grapples with sudden fame and cultural polarization.

2. Black Mirror: “Joan Is Awful” (2023) — Episode from Season 6, created by Charlie Brooker

  • Why:
    Fictional but eerily accurate portrayal of how algorithmic platforms co-opt and exaggerate individual identity for mass entertainment and engagement.

3. YouTube Videos Chronicling the Liver King’s Rise and Decline

  • Specific Examples to Use:
    • Liver King’s public apology video admitting steroid use (December 2022)
    • Exposé videos by major YouTubers (such as Derek from More Plates More Dates) analyzing the performance pressure and false branding.
  • Why:
    Real-time documentation of how the Liver King’s public persona escalated and collapsed under algorithmic pressures.

4. Jaron Lanier’s Commentaries on Social Media’s Psychological Effects

  • Specific Sources to Pull From:
    • Jaron Lanier’s YouTube interviews, such as:
      • “Jaron Lanier on How Social Media Ruins Your Life” (WIRED, 2018)
      • “Delete Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” (TEDx, various recordings)
  • Why:
    Lanier provides critical, first-hand insight into how algorithmic platforms manipulate users’ personalities, rewarding outrage, distortion, and performance.

Optional/Recommended Supplemental Sources (Choose Two):

5. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now (2018) — by Jaron Lanier (Book)

  • Why:
    Lanier’s full-length argument about how social media platforms degrade both individual users and society at large.

6. Critical Media Analysis on Platform Extremism

  • Example sources:
    • “YouTube, the Great Radicalizer” (The New York Times, 2018)
    • Zeynep Tufekci’s articles on algorithmic amplification (The Atlantic, Wired)

Citation Format:

  • MLA Style required (author, title, publisher/site, date, and URL if applicable).

Summary:
At minimum, students would need to engage with:

  • The Rise of Jordan Peterson documentary
  • Black Mirror’s “Joan Is Awful” episode
  • Liver King’s YouTube apology and exposé videos
  • At least one Jaron Lanier video
  • Two additional credible sources on platform psychology or digital manipulation

Works Cited

Brooker, Charlie, creator. Black Mirror: “Joan Is Awful.” Season 6, episode 1, Netflix, 2023.

Lanier, Jaron. “Jaron Lanier on How Social Media Ruins Your Life.” WIRED, 2 Oct. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc_Jq42Og7Q.

Lanier, Jaron. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. Henry Holt and Company, 2018.

Marcoccia, Patricia, director. The Rise of Jordan Peterson. Holding Space Films, 2019.

More Plates More Dates. “The Liver King Lie — The Full Story.” YouTube, uploaded by More Plates More Dates, 1 Dec. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW8j9Mz3LJY.

The Liver King. “Liver King Confession… I Lied.” YouTube, uploaded by Liver King, 1 Dec. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nfiRbw2yW0.

Tufekci, Zeynep. “YouTube, the Great Radicalizer.” The New York Times, 10 Mar. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/sunday/youtube-politics-radical.html.

Notes for Students:

  • Double-space the Works Cited page (WordPress formatting may squish it, but official MLA = double-spacing).
  • Alphabetize entries by the first letter (usually author’s last name or the creator’s name).
  • If there’s no individual author, alphabetize by the organization or channel name (like More Plates More Dates).
  • Use hanging indent formatting: first line flush left, following lines indented 0.5 inches.

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