On Thursday, Feb. 15, UNI hosted actor and writer Dylan Marron for a presentation titled “Beta, Snowflake, Cuck: On Being a Digital Creator.” Marron discussed the unique way that he uses his digital platform to address current social issues.

“We’re so scared that if we donate empathy to someone we so radically disagree with, that we’re affirming everything they’re saying,” Marron said. “I believe we have a huge well of empathy to share with people, and if we’re willing to share it and donate it to some people, that doesn’t cosign everything they’re saying — it just acknowledges that they’re human.”

Marron works with website Seriously.tv and has produced video series such as “Every Single Word,” “Sitting in Bathrooms with Trans People” and “Unboxing with Dylan Marron.” These projects address social and political issues in a lighthearted and often satirical way.

Marron also plays Carlos on the podcast “Welcome to Night Vale,” and his projects have been nominated for a variety of awards.

Marron explained that the accessibility of the Internet makes it a perfect platform to discuss these complex issues.

Throughout the presentation, Marron displayed negative comments that some viewers had left on his videos, pointing out the humor in even the most hateful statements. He then described how he uses those responses to produce more social commentary.

“I felt like a ton of people […] were knocking on my digital doorstep. I kept turning them away, or at least not answering the door,” he said. “I finally wanted to open the door to some of them. And there were brave people who accepted my invitation and said yes.”

The resulting project was “Conversations with People Who Hate Me,” a podcast where Marron records phone conversations with people who had left hate comments on his videos.

“People don’t radically change at the end of a phone call, but what I see this podcast doing is that I see it is planting a seed,” Marron said. “And that’s because this podcast is trying to bring nuance into the internet. It is very, very hard to bring nuance into a comment section.”

Marron indicated that his interest in social issues started at a young age, when he was at a casting call and noticed that all of the children being selected to advance to the next stage were white.

“Being told no, you didn’t get this job, is one thing, but being told you’re actually not even allowed to apply for it is quite another,” Marron said. “So, I wanted to figure out what this had to do with something far beyond me.”

The result of this curiosity was the popular video series “Every Single Word.”

“‘Every Single Word’ is a series that edits down popular films to only the words spoken by people of color as a way to lay out the facts of representation in film,” Marron said. “And the results are actually pretty damning.”

The movies selected for the project, Marron explained, were all universal stories where race was not a significant plot point. Some of the films in the project contain less than one minute of dialogue from actors of color. Some examples, such as “Into the Woods,” don’t feature any.

Marron also discussed the concept behind “Sitting in Bathrooms with Trans People.” The series features conversations held in bathrooms with trans activists, to satirize the perceived danger that caused some state legislators to propose “bathroom bills.”

“He really humanizes a lot of big controversial facts and puts a lot of spins and different quotes on it,” said Natalia Carr, freshman art education major. “He’s very good at solving problems in a very kind way.”

The event was hosted in the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center by UNI’s Office of Undergraduate Studies and Cornerstone program.

Despite the heavy topics addressed in Marron’s videos and distressing comments left by some of his viewers, his presentation was lighthearted and the audience laughed whenever Marron made humorous comment.

“I’m not saying put the protest sign down. I’m not saying common ground is the only way,” Marron said. “But it does feel like a start.”