(This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s Tiger King)
Hey all you cool cats and kittens!
If you’ve been anywhere on the internet the past few weeks you may have heard of Netflix’s new documentary series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you drop everything and go binge the whole show right now.
The show spans footage from the past five years, centering on Joe Exotic of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park and his feud with Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue. Originally, the show’s creators intended on investigating the crazy world of exotic animal trade in Florida. It was there when they realized that the only thing that might be more interesting than the animals are the people who take care of them, which led them to investigate the crazy life of Joe Maldonado-Passage, who goes by Joe Exotic.
What is it about the show that’s so captivating? Let’s start with the central themes of the show. The world of big cats in captivity, murder for hire, a missing husband, and Joe Exotic himself. For most people, the subculture of big cats in captivity is a fairly hidden world. Before watching Tiger King I knew it was out there, but the show really opened my eyes to the abuse these animals face. Carole Baskin claims to fight against it, but I would argue that Big Cat Rescue falls under the same umbrella as Joe’s GW Zoo. Their feud is at the center of the show, but it goes far past the mistreatment of the animals. A key element in their feud revolves around the mysterious disappearance of her husband which led many people, including Joe, to believe Carole fed him to her tigers. How can we forget when she delivered this iconic line, “if somebody wanted to kill you, then they would put sardine oil all over you.” (You’re not fooling anyone Carole, I’m onto you). Despite Carole’s potential homicide, we have to acknowledge Joe’s somehow crazier persona. He is a gun-toting, polyamorous, “libertarian,” attention-seeking, proud gay zoo owner, and the center of many controversies. The biggest of all–plotting the murder of Carole Baskin.
If that wasn’t enough to convince you to watch it all unfold if you haven’t already, I don’t know what will. While I do think Tiger King has the potential to succeed if it was released at any other time, what gives it the extra edge is the fact that it’s the only thing right now that’s crazier than real life. 2020 has been one of the craziest years in my 19 years on this planet, and it’s not even May. A global pandemic has us shaking in our boots, and the only thing that’s mind-bogglingly crazier is the controversy surrounding Joe Exotic. Arguably, there is no protagonist to Tiger King. Every single piece of this puzzle has their own faults and we are all just trying to decide who’s the least crazy, but I’ll let you decide that one for yourself.
Did I mention he has a fake country music career?
