I have finished watching Tiger King, and it was fascinating, sad, and crazy as all hell. Just as described. I wrote about the first episode here, if you want an intro before you dive right in: https://wheretonextblog.blogspot.com/2020/03/tiger-king-murder-mayhem-and-madness.html
If you haven't yet jumped on the bandwagon and watched Tiger King on Netflix then you are missing out. There will be spoilers below, so if you're planning on watching the series then go do that and come back.
So, where to begin? Well, the series focuses on Joe Exotic, the owner of a "zoo" which houses over 200 big cats, mainly tigers, as well as monkeys, alligators, and probably a bunch of other animals. They delve a little bit into how Joe began his love of big cats, how he experienced homophobia from his family and was in a dark place, even trying to kill himself, and when he was recuperating he found comfort in the baby tigers belonging to a friend. He started his zoo as a memorial park dedicated to his brother who had passed away, who also loved animals. At this stage of the story it is easy to be on Joe's side, and I have no doubt that he cared for the animals very much, and that he was trying to do something good, but as the story progresses something seemed to change and it didn't seem to be about the tigers at all anymore.
The other wildlife park owners in the documentary are equally as unsympathetic. Doc Antle is a wildlife trainer, known for working on movies such as The Jungle Book and Ace Ventura, as well as Britney Spears' I'm A Slave 4 U video clip. The series glosses over that, and mostly concentrates on his many girlfriends, which some may think is irrelevant to a documentary about big cats in wildlife parks, but it really feeds into the theory that big cat ownership is more about the power and control that it brings, and less about the animals themselves. And don't get me started on Jeff Lowe and his whole deal. Charged with domestic violence against his ex-wife, putting baby tigers in a suitcase to take up to a hotel room, and making a comment about his pregnant girlfriend 'getting back in the gym' immediately after giving birth really paint a picture about his character. What a guy. As well as his possible involvement in the plot to get Carole Baskin killed, he also seems to be involved in a lot of other shady dealings, so I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he ends up in jail sometime soon.
And then there is Carole Baskin. Carole runs Big Cat Rescue and is Joe's nemesis because she doesn't agree with some of his practices, namely breeding cubs to live in captivity, and taking advantage of them to make a profit. It comes out in one of the later episodes that Carole initially began breeding and selling cubs herself, but as she no longer does this I think it's fair to say that she has become more knowledgable and aware of appropriate handling and conservation methods, and it's a good thing that she is now focused on taking care of big cats that have been surrendered (from circuses, and private owners that no longer want them).
Joe criticised her for also charging admission to her park, and having volunteers rather than paid employees, but I think that's very common for a wildlife park, they need to raise money to provide for the animals in their care, so as long as no one is being taken advantage of I don't really see a problem with it.
There is of course the question of whether or not she killed her husband. I obviously have no idea whether that allegation has any basis, or whether it was just a nasty rumour started by Joe and her other enemies, but apparently the detectives have made a statement asking if anyone has any new information, so maybe one day the mystery will be solved.
Apart from that you have some secondary characters, which I won't go too deep into, but they are definitely all fascinating. I thought it was very interesting to hear from one of Doc Antle's ex-girlfriends about what life was like with him, Rick Kirkham, the producer of Joe's reality show, was probably the most sensible person in the whole show, and James Garretson could've just had a whole series of his own, because wow. Also, who keeps one lemur in a cage? In a car dealership? How is that allowed? Sick. It was also interesting to hear from Joe's employees and husbands, because although they were loyal to Joe and to the park, they seemed to be pretty fair in their descriptions of what went on.
My husband, who wasn't really interested in watching at first, but then couldn't take his eyes off the last few episodes, found this online and it is just the most perfect representation of the series:
Practically everyone that was portrayed in the show has something negative to say about how they were portrayed, so I think that means it was probably a pretty fair representation. Documentaries are always at least a little bit biased to a certain point of view, but Tiger King did a pretty good job of showing different sides of the characters, and set up the information in a pretty balanced way.
My main take away from the series was not the insanity of the plot, and the absolutely wild personalities, but the tigers themselves. While the people running the wildlife parks love them, it's easy to wonder if that is for the right reasons. In the end it really just seemed like the tigers were a casualty in this war of who could be the most famous, the person with the most amazing park, the person with the most animals. These beautiful tigers, who will never know life in the wild, but instead a life of having their cubs taken from them so they can be passed around a group of paying customers until they get too big, then a life in a cage, a Vegas hotel, or (allegedly, possibly) euthanised. There are more tigers in captivity in the United States than there are in the wild, isn't that crazy?? And in eight states in America it is legal to have a tiger as a pet. Why? I think it's a lot about ownership, about power, and about status. If only it were more about the tigers, maybe something could actually be done to help save their species. I have no doubt that this series will have helped increase donations to tiger conservation efforts.
If the documentary left you wanting more (as all good documentaries do), then firstly just Google it, because a whole heap of articles have just been written about it, as well as interviews and statements from the people involved. I also had a quick look at Wikipedia, which provided some extra information. That of course will not be enough to fill the Tiger King-shaped whole in your life, so luckily there is also a podcast! I haven't listened to it yet, as I just found out about it, but it is called Joe Exotic: Tiger King, and there are six episodes (you can find that wherever you listen to your podcasts). Also, based on said podcast, is a miniseries coming sometime soon. Which I'm sure will be a must-see because Kate McKinnon is producing and starring in it and she is amazing.
So if you have read this without watching the series and are still wondering if it's for you, just ask yourself if you:
If you haven't yet jumped on the bandwagon and watched Tiger King on Netflix then you are missing out. There will be spoilers below, so if you're planning on watching the series then go do that and come back.
So, where to begin? Well, the series focuses on Joe Exotic, the owner of a "zoo" which houses over 200 big cats, mainly tigers, as well as monkeys, alligators, and probably a bunch of other animals. They delve a little bit into how Joe began his love of big cats, how he experienced homophobia from his family and was in a dark place, even trying to kill himself, and when he was recuperating he found comfort in the baby tigers belonging to a friend. He started his zoo as a memorial park dedicated to his brother who had passed away, who also loved animals. At this stage of the story it is easy to be on Joe's side, and I have no doubt that he cared for the animals very much, and that he was trying to do something good, but as the story progresses something seemed to change and it didn't seem to be about the tigers at all anymore.
The other wildlife park owners in the documentary are equally as unsympathetic. Doc Antle is a wildlife trainer, known for working on movies such as The Jungle Book and Ace Ventura, as well as Britney Spears' I'm A Slave 4 U video clip. The series glosses over that, and mostly concentrates on his many girlfriends, which some may think is irrelevant to a documentary about big cats in wildlife parks, but it really feeds into the theory that big cat ownership is more about the power and control that it brings, and less about the animals themselves. And don't get me started on Jeff Lowe and his whole deal. Charged with domestic violence against his ex-wife, putting baby tigers in a suitcase to take up to a hotel room, and making a comment about his pregnant girlfriend 'getting back in the gym' immediately after giving birth really paint a picture about his character. What a guy. As well as his possible involvement in the plot to get Carole Baskin killed, he also seems to be involved in a lot of other shady dealings, so I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he ends up in jail sometime soon.
 |
| The main subjects of Tiger King, (clockwise from top left) Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, Doc Antle and Jeff Lowe |
And then there is Carole Baskin. Carole runs Big Cat Rescue and is Joe's nemesis because she doesn't agree with some of his practices, namely breeding cubs to live in captivity, and taking advantage of them to make a profit. It comes out in one of the later episodes that Carole initially began breeding and selling cubs herself, but as she no longer does this I think it's fair to say that she has become more knowledgable and aware of appropriate handling and conservation methods, and it's a good thing that she is now focused on taking care of big cats that have been surrendered (from circuses, and private owners that no longer want them).
Joe criticised her for also charging admission to her park, and having volunteers rather than paid employees, but I think that's very common for a wildlife park, they need to raise money to provide for the animals in their care, so as long as no one is being taken advantage of I don't really see a problem with it.
There is of course the question of whether or not she killed her husband. I obviously have no idea whether that allegation has any basis, or whether it was just a nasty rumour started by Joe and her other enemies, but apparently the detectives have made a statement asking if anyone has any new information, so maybe one day the mystery will be solved.
Apart from that you have some secondary characters, which I won't go too deep into, but they are definitely all fascinating. I thought it was very interesting to hear from one of Doc Antle's ex-girlfriends about what life was like with him, Rick Kirkham, the producer of Joe's reality show, was probably the most sensible person in the whole show, and James Garretson could've just had a whole series of his own, because wow. Also, who keeps one lemur in a cage? In a car dealership? How is that allowed? Sick. It was also interesting to hear from Joe's employees and husbands, because although they were loyal to Joe and to the park, they seemed to be pretty fair in their descriptions of what went on.
My husband, who wasn't really interested in watching at first, but then couldn't take his eyes off the last few episodes, found this online and it is just the most perfect representation of the series:
Practically everyone that was portrayed in the show has something negative to say about how they were portrayed, so I think that means it was probably a pretty fair representation. Documentaries are always at least a little bit biased to a certain point of view, but Tiger King did a pretty good job of showing different sides of the characters, and set up the information in a pretty balanced way.
My main take away from the series was not the insanity of the plot, and the absolutely wild personalities, but the tigers themselves. While the people running the wildlife parks love them, it's easy to wonder if that is for the right reasons. In the end it really just seemed like the tigers were a casualty in this war of who could be the most famous, the person with the most amazing park, the person with the most animals. These beautiful tigers, who will never know life in the wild, but instead a life of having their cubs taken from them so they can be passed around a group of paying customers until they get too big, then a life in a cage, a Vegas hotel, or (allegedly, possibly) euthanised. There are more tigers in captivity in the United States than there are in the wild, isn't that crazy?? And in eight states in America it is legal to have a tiger as a pet. Why? I think it's a lot about ownership, about power, and about status. If only it were more about the tigers, maybe something could actually be done to help save their species. I have no doubt that this series will have helped increase donations to tiger conservation efforts.
If the documentary left you wanting more (as all good documentaries do), then firstly just Google it, because a whole heap of articles have just been written about it, as well as interviews and statements from the people involved. I also had a quick look at Wikipedia, which provided some extra information. That of course will not be enough to fill the Tiger King-shaped whole in your life, so luckily there is also a podcast! I haven't listened to it yet, as I just found out about it, but it is called Joe Exotic: Tiger King, and there are six episodes (you can find that wherever you listen to your podcasts). Also, based on said podcast, is a miniseries coming sometime soon. Which I'm sure will be a must-see because Kate McKinnon is producing and starring in it and she is amazing.
So if you have read this without watching the series and are still wondering if it's for you, just ask yourself if you:
- Love a documentary that gets crazier with every episode
- Want an insight into privately run wildlife parks
- Are interested in tales of alleged murder and hit men
- Want to see some baby tigers (even if they are not in the most ideal circumstances)
- Want to be up to date with what the whole internet is talking about
If you answered yes to any of these, then what are you waiting for? Go and watch Tiger King on Netflix asap.
Comments
Post a Comment