A fictional but physically real world of dolls that heal a beaten man

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Iā€™ve read about Marwencol waaay back in the day and iā€™ve seen the documentary on netflix a number of years after it came out and it wasnā€™t quite what i had expected. I still donā€™t know how i feel about it to be honest. You sort of feel for the man who was beaten, and how heā€™s struggled to rehabilitate his broken psyche since. I think he mustā€™ve been a fairly eccentric man before he was beaten, and after the events unfolded heā€™s sort of gotten stranger. Its a sad documentary, and iā€™m not entirely 100% sure what the message was other than ā€œLetā€™s take a look at his craft and how heā€™s copingā€.

Itā€™s not exploitative in tone nor entirely sympathetic. It just shows you how it is, and its not glamorous nor is there a happy endingā€¦ it being someoneā€™s real life and struggles.

Not sure i could recommend the documentary itself to someone, though iā€™m interested to see what others got from watching it.

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I saw the documentary at TIFF a few years ago, and its a little mind blowing.

Very very worth watching.

His website is good too:
http://marwencol.com/

(Also I am 99% this was featured on BB way back in the dark agesā€¦)

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Snap Judgment did a piece on this a few weeks back:

http://snapjudgment.org/marwencol

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yep, on BB not long ago, and on Snap judgment which has become one of my favourite podcasts.

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I like to think there has actually been substantive progress on this front. It is no longer ā€œen vogueā€ (even for haters) to beat someone just for mentioning something that Bugs Bunny has been doing since 1939. I would, again like, to think that one could make such an utterance and not be the odds-on favorite for a rolling in the parking lot as a result. Maybe Iā€™m just feeling unusually positive about the state of things.

Hardly more eccentric than Hoover was reported to have been thoā€¦ but if over sharing while drunk is an eccentricity, that Iā€™ll grant you.

The eccentric part is beyond the crossdressing. I donā€™t really have much of a problem with it, i just got a feeling that there mustā€™ve been something odd about him. Watching the documentary was kind of heartbreaking because of the suffering heā€™s gone through since, but at least he does have a creative and positive outlet. Not everyone that goes through a huge trauma is able to communicate their feelings, i suppose thatā€™s a good message to take from the whole thing

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I remember hearing about him after some right-winger ripped off his photo trying to make a meme that backfired spectacularly.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/facebook-user-caught-out-sharing-transgender-mans-photo-in-attempt-to-shame-caitlyn-jenner/story-fnjwnhzf-1227396421307

Terry Coffey found a picture of what he thought was a war battle and posted it on Facebook with the caption ā€œThis is what real American courage, heroism and bravery looks likeā€.

But it turned out the picture was fake. The ā€˜menā€™ in the picture turned out to be toy figurines.

In an ironic twist, those figurines were created by a cross-dresser who turned out to be the biggest hero of them all.

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Not sure i could recommend the documentary itself to someone, though iā€™m interested to see what others got from watching it.

Marwencol remains one of my favorite documentaries. Youā€™re right - itā€™s neither exploitative nor sympathetic, which made it all the more powerful for me. He obviously has a tremendous amount of creativity and it almost feels like not only is this part of his therapeutic process, but simultaneously feels like it was waiting for something cathartic/traumatic to unleash it.

Highly recommend people see this documentary.

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AND then this happened:

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Delicious irony. Nom nom nom

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Please tell us whatā€™s in your link? I donā€™t book face.

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You should totes you Facebookā€¦ errā€¦ Friendface

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