Fantasia Festival 2020 Film Review: Feels Good Man
The quest to free Pepe the frog
One of a handful of documentary features in this year’s Fantasia Festival lineup, Feels Good Man chronicles the evolution (or devolution) of an innocuous cartoon character into an uncontrollable symbol of racism, misogyny, and the alt-right. As told by documentarian Arthur Jones, the film paints a tragic portrait of meme culture and of artist Matt Furie as he grapples with his corrupted creation. Despite some odd pacing and a tonally inconsistent focus on Furie himself, Feels Good Man is a timely and gripping examination of the dark side of the web. Minor spoilers ahead…
In 1976, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term “memetic,” or “meme,” in his book The Selfish Gene. A way to describe the proliferation of ideas, behavior, or cultural phenomenon through non-genetic means, the phrase was popularized in its “Internet meme” form by author Michael Godwin in 2013. As an engine of duplication and distribution, the Internet is a powerful enabler: from “Chuck Norris Facts” to “Harlem Shake” to “doge,” the Internet meme has a storied - and oftentimes hilarious - evolution that is mostly fun and harmless, but it also has a dangerous underbelly that can only be described as a primordial swamp of chaos and nihilism. Enter Pepe the Frog. An anthropomorphic amphibian that started out as a good-natured, pees-with-his-pants-down, zine character by artist Matt Furie, Pepe would soon become an uncontrollable and inescapable presence on the web, a presence that would eventually be appropriated by the likes of incels, 4chan, and the alt-right. Feels Good Man, director Arthur Jones’ directorial debut, aims to chart Pepe’s descent into the swirling void that is Internet meme-dom, and how a beloved artist creation became an unkillable symbol of hate.
Jones, as a documentary filmmaker, is nothing if not thorough. While most of us have encountered Pepe in some form or other, the film’s meticulous and detailed account of the character’s saga is sure to be revelatory, even for those of us who are well-versed in Internet culture. From the cartoon frog’s innocuous roots as an indie Boy’s Club comics character, to its appropriation by bodybuilding enthusiasts, to its horrifying status as incel and spree-shooter mascot, and finally, to the national stage as a right-wing hate symbol, Feels Good Man leaves no stone unturned in the story of Pepe the Frog. And in parallel with Pepe’s dark journey, the documentary periodically checks in with the character’s artist, Matt Furie, as he grows more and more dismayed at his creation’s corruption.
Feels Good Man has no shortage of colorful characters for Jones to interview - from Matt’s sympathetic friends to kooky druid author John Michael Greer, there’s a variety of talking heads that all have their own takes on Pepe’s horrifying transformation. Most strikingly, the film enters a frank and surprising conversation with a 4chan incel, who laments Pepe’s entrance into the mainstream political stage, and wistfully reminisces of a time when Pepe “belonged” only to his kind. It’s an ironic statement about a character that was never “his” in the first place, but irony soon turns to shock as he declares solidarity with Elliot Rodger, the misogynist spree-killer who killed six people in 2014. Along with a narrative thread of Pepe’s role in Donald Trump’s 2016 election, it hammers home how dangerous this cartoon frog has become, and how far he’s strayed from his creator’s original intentions.
“Feels Good Man, director Arthur Jones’ directorial debut, aims to chart Pepe’s descent into the swirling void that is Internet meme-dom, and how a beloved artist creation became an unkillable symbol of hate.”
It’s here where Feels Good Man becomes a little tonally inconsistent. It’s hard to feel anything but sympathy for Furie, who hopelessly watches from the sidelines as his creation takes on a terrifying life of its own, but it all feels a little incongruous and jarring next to all the hate crimes and political discord that Pepe has sown. Undoubtedly, it’s emotionally traumatizing to see one’s work turned on its head to promote violence and bigotry, but to paint Furie’s “golly-gee” positivity and attempts to reclaim Pepe as victories is naive at best, and tone-deaf at worst. This, of course, is no fault of Furie’s - whose friends describe as just a good guy who wants to author and illustrate children’s books - but he also isn’t the only victim in this story, and it’s clear that this lopsided dichotomy could have been explored more deftly and with a little more nuance.
Feels Good Man is a winningly produced documentary, even if its bleakness makes its 92-minute runtime feel longer than it is. Jones, an animator by trade, punctuates his tale with evocative cartoon vignettes of Pepe and his Boy’s Club compatriots that run parallel to the film’s narrative; sometimes surreal and emotional, sometimes humorous, these animated asides inject a levity that makes the tragedy of Pepe just a little less unbearable. But not every attempt at lightening the mood works: A third act tangent into the the world of a Pepe-based cryptocurrency, PepeCash, feels too inconsequential to the themes at large, and too obtuse to bear any substance.
For all of Feel Good Man’s unevenness, it still feels like an urgent and vital examination of information age history. Vivid and revealing, the film just might be the only in-depth exploration of the modern adage: “No one truly owns anything on the Internet.” Feels Good Man engrossingly conveys an out-of-control meme, its creator’s angst, and a few grace notes of hope (no matter how futile they might be). For all of the ghosts, monsters, and ghouls of Fantasia Festival this year, the real-life monstrosity of a maliciously repurposed cartoon frog just might be the scariest.
