Common Sense Media Review
By Melissa Camacho
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Positive YouTube docu addresses mental and physical health.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
How to Be Behzinga
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
HOW TO BE BEHZINGA is a YouTube Originals documentary featuring YouTube celeb Ethan Payne, a.k.a. Behzinga, as he prepares to run the April 2020 London Marathon. Payne, one of the seven members of the popular YouTube group Sidemen, spent his teens and early adulthood struggling with his weight and mental health. After making the decision to live a healthier lifestyle and shedding over 50 pounds, he is now an endurance athlete. When asked to run the 2020 London Marathon in support of the the British charity, Teenage Cancer Trust, he happily commited himself to training for the race. But when the COVID pandemic cuts his training short and the marathon is postponed, he wonders if it's ever going to happen. Luckily, he receives lots of encouragement, and with the help of his trainers and other fitness experts he participates in challenges designed to keep him mentally and physically fit for the race. Throughout it all, Ethan, along with his mother Ruth, and other members of the Sidemen tribe, talk about the challenges he's faced growing up, his mental health, and what it's taken to turn himself around.
Is It Any Good?
This positive series features a young man who found the courage and strength to turn his life around by making healthier choices and improving his mental wellbeing. Ethan Payne and his mother talk frankly about his troubled youth, his weight gain, and how he struggled with depression and alcohol dependency while maintaining his upbeat YouTube persona. His fellow Sidemen also discuss the frustrations they faced when being unable to help him.
These aren't lighthearted conversations, but they successfully highlight how much Ethan has overcome. Meanwhile, the training challenges he participates in, although a little over-the-top, are designed to highlight how it's possible to develop the inner-strength and positive mindset needed to accomplish great things. But it is Ethan's honesty and openness about his personal journey that makes How to Be Behzinga humanizing. And it's the willingness of Ethan's friends to express their genuine love and pride for him that makes it heartwarming.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the importance of mental wellness. Why is good mental health essential for healthy living? Why are there social stigmas attached to getting help? Do media depictions of mental illness or the mentally ill challenge or reinforce these attitudes?
Through How to Be Behzinga, Ethan Payne uses social media to share how he overcame some of the personal challenges he faced over the years. Is this a good way to share his message? What kind of impact can his story potentially have on his fans? Is there also a promotional aspect to what he is doing?
TV Details
- Premiere date : October 19, 2020
- Cast : Ethan Payne , Ruth Payne , Joshua Bradley
- Network : YouTube
- Genre : Reality TV
- Character Strengths : Communication , Compassion , Courage , Perseverance
- TV rating :
- Last updated : January 19, 2022
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