One harmless cartoon frog. Millions of memes. A presidential election. And one artist desperately trying to save his own creation.
Shout-out to Thomas West of ScreenRant for including this one on his list of the 10 Best Obscure Documentaries According to Reddit.
Trailer for “Feels Good Man”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Pepe the Frog started as a goofy character in Matt Furie’s 2005 MySpace comic “Boy’s Club.” His well-known line, “Feels good, man,” came after another character saw him urinating with his pants down.
- By the 2016 U.S. election, internet trolls, alt-right groups, and white nationalists had used Pepe so often that the Anti-Defamation League added some versions of the frog to its hate-symbol database.
- Furie tried to stop the takeover by killing Pepe in a comic. The frog was later reborn as a pro-democracy symbol during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests.
Watch “Feels Good Man”
You can watch “Feels Good Man” on Apple TV and Prime Video. Check the latest options at JustWatch.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDb Rating: 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 82/100 (Users); 95/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: Arthur Jones directed this 94-minute documentary. He focuses on Matt Furie, a quiet underground cartoonist.
Release Date: January 27, 2020 (Sundance Film Festival); September 4, 2020 (U.S. release)
Other Unique Stuff
- “Boy’s Club” began online before it became a printed comic. Pepe lived for years as a small underground-comics character before the wider internet found him.
- Furie’s fight was not only about his reputation. Others made money from posters, books, clothing, and online products with his copyrighted character.
Wrap Up:
“Feels Good Man” turns a silly cartoon frog into a sharp story about art, ownership, politics, and the internet.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc