Feels Good Man (2020)

Artist Matt Furie, creator of the comic character Pepe the Frog, begins an uphill battle to take back his iconic cartoon image from those who used it for their own purposes.

Director:

Arthur Jones

Writers:

Giorgio Angelini, Matt Furie (based on original artwork by)

Stars:

Robert Barnes, Samantha Bee, Jeremy Blackburn

4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Robert Barnes	...	Self - Attorney, InfoWars (archive footage)
Samantha Bee	...	Self - Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (archive footage)
Jeremy Blackburn	...	Self
Susan Blackmore	...	Self - Psychologist and Memetist
Matt Braynard	...	Self - Executive Director, Look Ahead America
Hillary Clinton	...	Self (archive footage)
Stephen Colbert	...	Self (archive footage)
Joel Finkelstein	...	Self - Director, Network Contagion Research Institute
Matt Furie	...	Self - Artist, Creator of Pepe the Frog
Ursala Furie	...	Self
Nicolette Gray	...	Self (archive footage)
John Michael Greer	...	Self - Occultist and Scholar
Lisa Hanawalt	...	Self - Artist and Writer
Emily Heller	...	Self - Comedian and TV writer
Alex Jones	...	Self - Host, InfoWars (archive footage)

Storyline

Artist Matt Furie, creator of the comic character Pepe the Frog, begins an uphill battle to take back his iconic cartoon image from those who used it for their own purposes.

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Plot Keywords:

battle | reference to barack obama | reference to pepe the frog | culture clash | reference to john goodman | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Comedy

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Directorial debut of Arthur Jones.

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Quotes

Self - Psychologist and Memetist: The whole idea of memes comes from Richard Dawkins' 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene." Most of the book is about what he called "universal Darwinism," which said, "All of biology is driven by genes, but culture is driven by memes." He said, "Look around you and you'll see, floating about in the primeval soup of culture, is information copied by imitation from person to person." So that would include chairs... trousers... hairstyles. All of these things are only here because humans have copied them,...

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Connections

References McDonaldland (1963)

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Soundtracks

In the Hall of the Mountain King
(uncredited)
Written by Edvard Grieg

User Reviews

The best internet documentary yet

This documentary has two focuses; the story of Pepe being adopted and appropriated by the internet, and the story of a cartoonist losing his creation. It is in the telling of the former story where the film excels. It follows Pepe from when it first becomes popular on bodybuilding forums to becoming the most popular meme on 4chan to eventually becoming a symbol of the alt-right in the 2016 U.S. election. The movie frames this entire story in the emotions of the people posting the meme. It is not so much about the meme itself as it is about what it means to them, and Pepe meant a lot.

The presentation of the documentary is creative and well paced, mixing animation, interviews, television footage, and screen grabs to keep from ever becoming monotonous. The result is an exiting presentation that emphasizes the empathy for the people being talked about. When the movie gets to the point where Pepe is becoming the symbol of a political movement and Trump is posting himself as Pepe, it is exhilarating. I remember this happening in real life and despising these people, yet despite myself I was getting caught up in the excitement of it all.

There is a sobering transition of tone when, after this section, the camera is back on Matt Furie, his life made so difficult by what was done with his creation. He was naive and maybe wilfully ignorant of what was happening, but he did what we wish more artists would do today, letting people be creative with their characters rather than sending cease and desists. By the time he tries to recover Pepe it is too late and he finally kills the character as 4chan rejoices that Pepe is officially theirs. It is terribly sad.

I thought about downgrading my rating to a 9 because the ending is optimistic in a way that i didn't quite buy, but I've decided to forgive it. The story of this movie is an unprecedented catastrophe that no one could have predicted. Maybe its foolish to assume I can predict where the story is going.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official Website

Country:

USA

Release Date:

28 August 2020 (USA)

Also Known As:

Feels Good Man

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ready Fictions, Wavelength Productions, XTR

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.89 : 1