There are few things besides the coronavirus that have made tongues as loose as Netflix documentaries in recent weeks Tiger King. Why are we so fascinated with the world of the American private zoos and the striking figures such as Joe Exotic who move in this?
Note: This article may contain spoilers.
After Netflix’s documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness on March 20, social media soon turned to almost nothing else. With much of the world required to sit at home, Netflix took advantage and the series was already viewed 34 million times in the United States within a few weeks.
Social media hookers came up with meme after meme, and Netflix soon decided to set up a reunion episode, in which comedian Joel McHale chats with some of the characters from the documentary series.
Meanwhile, petitions are being set up to release Joe Exotic, the lead actor who is serving 22 years in prison for animal cruelty and hiring someone to kill his rival. US reporter Donald Trump has already been asked by a reporter whether he plans to reopen the Exotic case – to which he did not respond negatively – and initiatives have been launched to raise money for the ‘tiger king’.
Tiger King in short
- Netflix documentary Tiger King focuses on private zoos in the United States.
- The central point is a dispute between ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue.
- Joe Exotic is behind bars for 22 years hiring someone to kill Baskin and killing at least five tigers.
- Baskin still runs Big Cat Rescue, but is suspected of being involved in her ex-husband’s disappearance in 1997.
- The zoo that started Joe Exotic still exists and is now owned by Jeff Lowe.
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“We look in Tiger King especially over Joe’s shoulder ‘
How can viewers still sympathize with a figure like Joe Exotic (real name Joe Maldonado-Passage), who according to his employees shot multiple tigers and showed blind aggression in videos in which he shot the image of his rival Carole Baskin or detonated?
“You mainly see Joe’s perspective, we look over his shoulder,” says Simone Driessen, media scientist at Erasmus University Rotterdam. “The makers have chosen to tell the story largely in the world of Joe, so it is not surprising that people feel empathy for him. As a viewer we get a little more access to his life, so we may get to know him better than the other players. “
Dan Hassler-Forest, media scientist at Utrecht University, agrees. “Viewers build an emotional parasocial relationship with the characters they experience up close. People have come to like him and see him above all as a nice guy who does not belong in prison. Apparently he knows himself in an attractive way to present, so you get fans. “
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Carole Baskin is owner of Big Cat Rescue and nemesis of Joe Exotic. (Photo: Netflix)
Class differences and sympathy for the underdog
Perhaps even more discussed than the behavior of Maldonado-Passage is the disappearance of the ex-husband of Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue, a shelter for wild cats from private zoos. The documentary expresses the suspicion that Baskin would have killed him and fed her tigers.
Baskin quickly became the subject of ridicule on social media, and several Americans put up a sign in the yard that encourages honking if you think ‘that bitch Carole Baskin ‘, as Exotic regularly calls her, killed her former husband.
Media scientist Driessen addresses a class difference to explain the seemingly large contrast in popularity between Baskin and Exotic. “With Carole you quickly get the image of a rich lady who does not hesitate to throw money in her lawsuits against Joe. Joe is the underdog in that and that arouses compassion and sympathy. He does not belong to that richer class and that certainly counts in the American context of large wealth differences. “
“Tiger King presents a dynamic that we see in thousands of Hollywood movies that push our sympathy in a certain direction and we want to see the underdog succeed.”
Dan Hassler-Forest, media scientist
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Hassler-Forest recognizes a classic underdog storyline in the way the creators present Exotic. “He is portrayed as an underdog who has built something with few resources. He is subsequently thwarted by Baskin, someone with more privileges and prosperity. It is a dynamic that we see thousands of Hollywood films pass by in which our sympathy is pushed in a certain direction. and we want to see the underdog succeed. “
In addition, Exotic does not seem to pretend to be any better than it is. “He doesn’t appear richer or more chic. The elite would probably describe him as an impudent prole. He also has no desire to belong to that elite and uses his own banality to reap success.”
“It’s easier to give a man the benefit of the doubt”
Media scientist Hassler-Forest points out a difference between how male and female characters are perceived. “We often find it easier to give a man the benefit of the doubt. Carole is not trusted from the start. We are so used to seeing men in the lead that they often have a certain sympathy in advance. Both in fiction and in true crime, a pattern is seen in which the viewer tends to forgive the man if it is between a man and a woman. “
Then the wife of the drug-manufacturing protagonist in Breaking Bad she tried to stop him, she was seen as a bitch. From a moral point of view and within the world of the story, she is absolutely right, but the idea of a woman tapping a man’s fingers is already seen as something negative. In that sense, there is still an unequal appreciation of male and female characters. “
Both media scientists believe that the makers of Tiger King have dropped ethically. For example, Driessen thinks that the makers were aware of how they play with the viewer’s sympathy. “They use the eccentric Joe to hang up a story and that is not always as strong ethically.”
“I may be an old bitch,” Hassler-Forest concludes, “but I think the creators place too much emphasis on the spectacle and ease of monkeys. The humanity behind the characters is not explored, and social, political and economic issues that raise a play a role, remain far in the background. “
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