By Joshua Garrison
Memes have perpetuated the outskirts of our society for longer than most of us can remember, but what happens when they finally enter the mainstream? The new documentary, Feels Good Man, seeks to answer this question. Spoiler alert: the answer is unbridled chaos.
Feels Good Man, directed by Arthur Jones, was released in 2020 and is centered around the meme Pepe The Frog. The film also covers his creator’s journey to take back Pepe The Frog from the clutches of white supremacists and the alt-right movement.
First things first, this film doesn’t shy away from all sorts of dark and twisted subject matter. if you are simply looking for a fun and frivolous foray into the online culture, this may not be the film for you. This film is something much deeper than that, although it may seem simply about Pepe The Frog and his meteoric rise to fame, with a few hiccups along the way. The film dives into not only a lot of the misunderstood parts of the internet like 4chan and things like that but also some of the misunderstood aspects of human nature and culture in general. It provides an engaging and thought-provoking window into the minds of the people who populate the depths of the internet. People who went largely unnoticed by the mainstream for many years. For instance, in a section near the beginning of the film, they describe the beginnings of 4chan and the culture that ultimately grew from that. A culture that values being NEET(not in education employment or training)and not being in a romantic relationship or having any sort of family or aspirations. It also discusses how this culture initially meant to connect people that felt isolated from the rest of the world and give them solace ended up morphing at least partly into a sick and twisted monolith that rejects any sort of outside interaction at all.
As you can see, this sort of stuff is extremely interesting and provides excellent questions about the current political landscape and the world at large. However, this sort of material is not the entire film. Instead, it serves as a vehicle to further the story of Matt Furi and his creation of and subsequent quest to get Pepe back into the mainstream. So the question then becomes: Is his story compelling? The answer to that is two-fold because, while the directors do a lot to humanize Matt by showing his endearing family values, you can’t help but wonder: Why is he so passionate about this? As most people know, once you place something onto the internet you are essentially relinquishing control of your product for better or for worse. The second you put something on to the internet that does not have a monetary value, and that anyone can take or consume, it is no longer yours. After a while, Matt’s noble quest seems like nothing more than an exercise in futility, trying to get back a simple drawing of a cartoon frog so that it can be used as he pleases. Put in simple terms, the story is not very compelling. The film falters when it attempts to give itself a hero. when in reality, the main character is the internet and everyone else, including Matt, is just a pawn in its ever-changing game. This more objective perspective is where the strides of the story can really shine. This is where you can see the mistakes that were made on both sides, both the alt-right camp and Matt Furie sympathizers. Showing that at the end of the day we are all at fault because we fell victim to the media machine.