I’m saying that that too can be driven by misogyny.
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“Celebrated?” I’m honestly not even sure which specific a-hole you’re referring to (there are so many to choose from) but I don’t think that anyone in that documentary was presented in a positive light, other than maybe Saff, the one who lost his arm. Did Saff have relationships with young women that weren’t shown in the documentary?
A big one being that even Lewis’s ex and daughters don’t actually think Baskin was responsible. Their complaints in that direction have to do with the fact that the case was never investigated properly. Including not a single thing having to do with Baskin, their relationship, or any of the rumors that have cropped up since ever having been vetted or checked out.
What I remember is that every interview I’ve seen with them, even Tiger King, they specify that the are not convinced of that. And don’t neccisarily think it’s particularly likely. They believe it’s possible however unlikely and want it properly investigate and vetted. Because whatever the results it will lead to answers.
They’re smart people and seem to know how and why these things are properly done. Looking at the significant other is step one. For all the minimal space given to it by the film makers they even say this in Tiger King.
This gross piece of shit:
And Exotic clearly was exploiting young men, too.
Saff seemed like an awesome person who the producers consistently misgendered.
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I edited that for brevity and clarity.
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I understand that, it’s a trainwreck. People will always enjoy watching wild human dramas, so much so they manage to watch ones that are not dramatic at all and just edited that way like essentially every serialized reality TV show.
Plus private exotic animal breeding and abuses is a world most people don’t even know exists or only know it exists and don’t know how it happens.
I personally thought the documentary made it perfectly clear that that man is a gross, manipulative, misogynist POS cult leader, so I’m not sure what you mean that he was “celebrated.”
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YMMV, but I thought the documentary clearly depicted Doc Antle’s relationships with young women as gross and exploitative. He came across at least as horrible as anyone else in the series.
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So… I never watched Tiger King, and I dont watch DWTS; maybe its just me, but all this seems like manufactured drama for drama’s sake.
That makes two of us.
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They quickly downplayed any allegations and focused on Baskin based conspiracy theories. Pretty much all the men were played in a far more sympathetic light for the majority of the show, even when they were still actively engaged in harmful practices.
It’s telling that she’s still considered the biggest villain by many people.
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Drama and ratings. 
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I don’t disagree that they could have spent more time focusing on that specific POS, and that misogyny probably contributed to the fact that they spent so much time on the salacious rumors about Baskin, but that is NOT the same as saying that they “celebrated the guy,” which was your claim.
Okay. You’re all correct.
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As someone who didnt watch the show what strikes me is the mass negative reaction to the ex wife, when it sounds like everyone involved is a horrible person.
From a completely external perspective, it does sound like all the usual misogyny is hard at work…
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I will probably get flagged no matter what, I rewrote this twenty times to make it civil, but I can’t.
From the 90’s on, we’ve been shoving incredible amounts of horseshit like this into our cultural psyche. It’s seems perfectly normal to me that a nation who waits expectantly to see what happens next on Honey Boo Boo and Tiger King would worship a big orange pile of shit, and want our politics to be as much like professional wrestling as possible.
We are what we consume. Maybe when we as a culture are more concerned with the victims, and not the zany hijinks of the lurid filth that makes the victims, it will be projected upward.
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For context: the documentary is centered on a tiger breeder/self-promoting loon named “Joe Exotic” who is currently in prison for trying to have a longtime nemesis named Carole Baskin killed. So while there are lots of other “colorful” characters throughout the series the documentary naturally centers on those two figures more than anyone else.
You are 100% correct that all the major figures in the documentary come across as horrible people, with a handful of supporting figures who come across as the victims and/or toadies of horrible people.
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(Presumed) widow, not ex wife.
For sure nearly everyone in the show comes across as a horrible person, and that very much includes the people making the show. And misogyny certainly is playing a part in the demonization of Baskin. But to be fair I think she’s also the only character in the show who is being presented as an actual murder suspect. As @Brainspore mentioned, misogyny or no, it would be weird if she wasn’t as least considered as a potential suspect just due to the timing and details surrounding the restraining order that her husband took out against her.
See that’s a major part of the issue with the Tiger King. It’s not just selective editing, it’s selectively framed from top to bottom.
From what I can tell Baskin’s history in the exotic pet trade has always been acknowledged and it’s an integral part of the story of how she came around to her current position. Big Cat Rescue is a very well regarded non-profit and exotic animal sanctuary.
The claims that the animals they have are only the ones she already had, that it is simply a rebranded private collection etc. Come directly from Joe Exotic and other for profit zoo owners and have been disproven on multiple occasions.
It’s pretty weird to condemn some one for changing and trying to fix past mistakes. And it’s and interpretation of the situation popularized and largely cooked up by Joe Exotic.
There’s serious sketch around Baskin. But much of that has to do with her and her missing husband’s businesses. They were basically major slum lords in a significant part of Florida. And the pet trade business was driven by Lewis, and he never stopped even as Baskin shifted into the sanctuary field.
The series is also very careful not to dwell on the fact that Exotic provided meth to his teenage husbands as part of the grooming process. And doesn’t even mention that much of his prison sentence resulted from shooting Tigers and selling parts of the bodies.
Joe Exotic Tiger King in no way gives a clear or complete understanding of this wack ass story. And though it’s subtle about it, it’s absolutely pushing Exotic and his associates take on things.
And glossed over the FBI raid that happened at his facility while they were making the series.
2nd husband. The first one was the rapey abuser she left the same night she met Lewis.
Lewis’ sketchy connections involved traveling back and forth to Costa Rica and a publicly known plan to relocate there. A country known for human trafficking among other things. Several people have reported, in detail, that one of the major reasons he liked Costa Rica so much was “women”. And he’s been described as abusive by multiple people, including his ex-wife and daughters.
But a charming meth head said she killed her husband so none of that is pertinent.
That much was obvious just from the previews.
I do have Netflix, I just can’t fathom what made so many other people so invested in something so obviously atrocious.
Maybe it’s the perverse compulsion many folks seem to have that in order to feel better about their situation in life they need to look down on others?
Wait…
Are the main character Joe, and his ex Carol, not both still alive?
I am aware that there is a previous spouse who is missing and presumed dead.
And what little I do know topically is still too much.
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Carol was married to a different man who went missing. Never had a personal relationship with Joe other than the fact that he tried to have her killed.
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