agmtw logo
search
Feels Good Man (2020)

Feels Good Man (2020)

A fascinating, almost dystopian look at creative ownership and hateful alt-right meme culture

7.4

Movie

United States of America
English
Comedy, Documentary
2020
ARTHUR JONES
Adam Serwer, Alex Jones, Arthur Jones
94 min

What it's about

When indie comic character Pepe the Frog becomes an unwitting icon of hate, his creator, artist Matt Furie, fights to bring Pepe back from the darkness and navigate America's cultural divide.

The take

For those of us who don't lurk on internet message boards and participate in social media culture, a documentary about memes might seem frivolous. But Feels Good Man steers the conversation into one about semiotics: the way images become symbols and can continue transforming—from a harmless expression of the self, into a hateful banner for bigotry, into a cry of protest and freedom. As his Pepe the Frog creation takes on a life of its own, artist Matt Furie attempts to reclaim ownership of it and finds that the relationship between an artist and their own work can be as difficult as any toxic relationship. It's a bleak view of how unfeeling internet culture can be, but it reminds us that we always still have some power to beat the hate.

Comments

Add a comment

Your name

Your comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Once Were Warriors (1994)

A Maori family survives in an alienating Auckland in this raw, tragic drama

8.0

Silenced (2011)

A brutal and harrowing exposé of the schoolwide abuse case that sparked outrage in Korea

9.0

My Old Ass (2024)

A pleasant mix of comedy and coming-of-age that may or may not leave you in tears

8.0

The Substance (2024)

Demi Moore swaps bodies in this standout chaotic body dysmorphia horror

8.3

Being Julia (2004)

A middle age crisis leads to a star finding her spark in this insightful comedy

7.1

The President (2014)

A dictator and his grandson try to escape the revolution in this bleak, satiric drama

7.3

His Three Daughters (2024)

Three sisters deal with life and death in this moving family portrait

8.2

Hail Satan? (2019)

Forget everything you think you know about the Satanic Temple

8.0

Wind River (2017)

Sicario's screenwriter directs this story of murder in an Indigenous reserve

9.4

Incendies (2011)

Part melodrama, part war thriller, Incendies is gorgeous and heartbreaking from the first scene

9.9

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.