Iāve read about Marwencol waaay back in the day and iāve seen the documentary on netflix a number of years after it came out and it wasnāt quite what i had expected. I still donāt know how i feel about it to be honest. You sort of feel for the man who was beaten, and how heās struggled to rehabilitate his broken psyche since. I think he mustāve been a fairly eccentric man before he was beaten, and after the events unfolded heās sort of gotten stranger. Its a sad documentary, and iām not entirely 100% sure what the message was other than āLetās take a look at his craft and how heās copingā.
Itās 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 someoneās real life and struggles.
Not sure i could recommend the documentary itself to someone, though iām interested to see what others got from watching it.
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¦)
Snap Judgment did a piece on this a few weeks back:
yep, on BB not long ago, and on Snap judgment which has become one of my favourite podcasts.
I like to think there has actually been substantive progress on this front. It is no longer āen 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 Iām 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 Iāll grant you.
The eccentric part is beyond the crossdressing. I donāt really have much of a problem with it, i just got a feeling that there mustāve been something odd about him. Watching the documentary was kind of heartbreaking because of the suffering heās 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 thatās a good message to take from the whole thing
I remember hearing about him after some right-winger ripped off his photo trying to make a meme that backfired spectacularly.
Terry Coffey found a picture of what he thought was a war battle and posted it on Facebook with the caption āThis is what real American courage, heroism and bravery looks likeā.
But it turned out the picture was fake. The āmenā 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.
Not sure i could recommend the documentary itself to someone, though iām interested to see what others got from watching it.
Marwencol remains one of my favorite documentaries. Youāre right - itās 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.
AND then this happened:
Delicious irony. Nom nom nom
Please tell us whatās in your link? I donāt book face.
You should totes you Facebookā¦ errā¦ Friendface
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