Tiger King is less fun when you actually think about the victims
There’s a sure enjoyment of watching the larger-than-life personalities of Netflix’s massively fashionable docu-series Tiger King. Many of the documentary’s topics are clearly within the fallacious, however that’s a part of the explanation folks have engaged with the present. Nonetheless, there’s a sure sticky feeling after watching it, and it’s laborious to shake that sensation off.
Tiger King: Homicide, Mayhem, and Insanity premiered on Netflix on March 20, and has been a social media sensation ever since. Following titular Tiger King Joe Unique, the proprietor of a roadside zoo in Oklahoma, the sequence dives into the world of the big-cat commerce and the ostentatious folks inside it. Tiger King has been an ideal storm of sensationalism, sweeping the nation at a time when something solely distantly chaotic was a welcome escape.
Weeks later, all everybody can discuss is Joe Unique (actual title: Joe Maldonado-Passage); his nemesis Carole Baskin, who could or could not have killed her husband; zookeeper Doc Antle, who recruits younger ladies to work at his zoo and coerces them into sexual relationships; and the scheming Jeff Lowe, who could or could not have set Joe up on murder-for-hire prices.
However whereas the Netflix-watching public is fixated on the present’s outlandish deeds and personalities, the true victims of the documentary — the individuals who labored underneath Joe, and the animals nonetheless in captivity — haven’t gotten almost as a lot press. In that method, Tiger King echoes 2019’s dueling Fyre Fest documentaries, which capitalized on the sensationalized lies of con man Billy MacFarland however spent little time exploring how the Fyre Fest organizers fully exploited their Bahamian workers. These staff supplied their anecdotes, however their story wasn’t the main target. They have been simply the thrives to make MacFarland’s dumpster hearth burn even brighter.
At the very least within the case of Fyre and Fyre Fraud, a GoFundMe raised money for Maryann Rolle, the proprietor of the restaurant MacFarland by no means paid. There isn’t the identical catharsis with Tiger King, as a result of the victims can’t be financially compensated. The harm accomplished to the zoo workers and the folks pulled into Maldonado-Passage’s sphere isn’t financial. Each non-public zoos featured closely within the documentary, Maldonado-Passage’s G.W. Zoo and Doc Antle’s Myrtle Seashore Safari, are nonetheless up and operating. Massive-cat breeding and buying and selling continues. It’s just like the way in which plenty of true-crime motion pictures, like 2019’s Ted Bundy biopic Extraordinarily Depraved, Shockingly Evil and Vile, give attention to the flashy parts and go away little to be mentioned in regards to the victims. It may be entertaining and wild for the joyride, however on the finish, viewers at dwelling have the posh of turning off the tv. The folks and animals truly affected don’t.
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Picture: JoeExoticTV
Documentary-maker Eric Goode began the Tiger King mission to initially give attention to the animals, smuggling, and dark underbelly of the exotic animal world, with a give attention to reptile trades. Goode, who runs a reptile and amphibian sanctuary, had an “in” to the scene. The way in which the mission as an alternative veered right into a circus sideshow looks like an unintentional meta-commentary on the Goode’s topics, who equally could have began with good intentions earlier than they turned to self-aggrandizement. Outdated footage of Joe Unique gushing about how he needs to cease animal breeding appears to suggest that he as soon as cared passionately about animals, however as soon as he acquired a style of the celebrity and clout that comes with the big-cat world, he wished extra. Tiger King comes off the identical method. His completed work isn’t a documentary in regards to the pitfalls of exploiting animals, it’s simply gawking on the outlandish folks round them.
Tiger King’s remaining episode shifts the main target briefly again to the animals, to the employees at Joe’s zoo who spent an enormous chunk of their lives toiling for him. It’s emotional. As zookeeper Erik Cowie seems to be over previous images and recounts how a lot he cared for his animal prices, however couldn’t defy Maldonado-Passage in regards to the animals’ poor therapy, he tears up. Joe’s first husband, John Finlay, who was coerced into the connection at a younger age, will get a tattoo to cowl an previous one that includes Joe’s title, and says Joe is a “no one” to him now. Maldonado-Passage himself offers an anecdote about seeing two of his chimpanzees embrace for the primary time, and nearly seems to have a come-to-Jesus second about the way in which he’s handled animals for years. Then the credit roll, and the juxtaposition of the sentimental moments to the garish Netflix promotional picture for the present, that includes Joe towards an American flag background and flanked by two tigers, is jarring. The larger-picture consideration of who all these sensational acts damage makes up lower than a full episode of the sequence, a bandage slapped onto a gaping wound.
Having fun with Tiger King’s sensationalism certainly not makes followers into unhealthy folks. It’s simple to get swept up within the Joe Unique music movies, to jokingly theorize about whether or not Baskin killed her husband, and to gape in any respect the twists within the story. Nobody is defending Joe Unique, Carole Baskin, Doc Antle, or Jeff Lowe, past making jokes of their favor. If something, everybody who watches the doc appears to agree that they’re all of the unhealthy guys, and that the world of big-cat breeding is poisonous. However the focus continues to be on the flashy names, not the folks and animals they took benefit of.
Tiger King is streaming on Netflix.
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