I haven't watched the documentary yet, as I'm super-busy these days, but with all the debate going on, I thought I'd throw out some general points. Furry fandom, being largely self-defined by the individuals involved in it, makes it next to impossible to produce any documentary that covers all the different viewpoints ("That's not what the fandom means to me!"), or even specific viewpoints ("That fursuiter doesn't represent my take on fursuiting!") Similarly, when different furries watch the documentary or review it, we're all going to respond extremely differently.
What does the fandom mean to you? I don't mean the surface stuff, like "I like the art!", "I like being able to express myself!", "I like the sense of community!". I mean the stuff under the surface. The subconscious biases, the things you only kind-of know how to articulate. We have all this arguing and drama because we're working off completely different sets of assumptions about what the fandom means to us. Sometimes we have to figure out that person A likes chocolate, person B likes strawberry, and maybe they'll never agree. Maybe they'll agree to disagree. Maybe they'll say "I disagree, but now that I know you prefer chocolate, I can see where you're coming from". Maybe they'll create a kind of chocolate-strawberry hybrid thing.
One of the best ways to figure out what your biases are, is to figure out the exact points of someone else's arguments that make you angry.
Don't try to figure out what their biases are. Don't assume that you know. Don't say, "They're making that argument because they're (something I assume is obvious)". Don't pigeon-hole the other person. This is about you. What influences your thinking? Where are you coming from? And you may have a rational reason for your argument's position. It may be logically thought-out, and based on personal experience. And then someone else comes along and says "I find your world-view completely illogical, totally irrational, and disagree with it on all sorts of levels." And that hurts. That's why it's important for everyone to be able to explain arguments from their base assumptions, so we can see when we're going to have to agree to disagree.
And even though disagreement creates drama, and I hate drama, I would rather have a fandom with as many diverse mindsets as possible, with none of them out-numbering each other. The more people think alike, the less healthy I think any fandom becomes. We need extravagant in-your-face people. We need prudish keep-it-to-yourself people. And we need all the different subtle points of view between the extremes of whatever scale you can think of. We need tolerance for the more tolerant and the less tolerant.
Jumping back to the topic of documentaries, something to remember is that they have to entertain an audience. Sure, it would be balanced to interview 20 different people from all walks of the fandom, make sure you've got a little of everything and everyone stuffed in there - but that makes it more challenging to keep it interesting. Like 90 minutes of 2-minute clips of different gardeners, each one talking about what their favourite gardening tool is. So inevitably you end up with a selection that includes more unexpected characters. I'm not a guy with a feminine haircut and costuming passion, I don't manufacture sex toys, I'm not a mother... So yeah, whatever you stick in the documentary, it's not going to match a big chunk of the fandom. Then you've got to find a narrative to tie it together. That's why the whole bit about Kage is in there. If this was a 20-30 minute production, there probably wouldn't be something like that in it.
Another point of contention is going to be what kind of impression does it make? Who is the intended audience? Who's actually watching it? Why should we care? Do we want ourselves shown as boring and normal, normal but with a quirky hobby, quirky but ok people, quirky but kind of creepy, lifestylers or hobbyists - and do we even use the same terms the same way with the same meanings? (Answer: no)
Does the fandom's reputation - and the impression we make on others - matter? And should we care? Yes, it matters, and sometimes it doesn't matter. Should we care? Sometimes. Depends. No easy answers, alas. Some of us in this fandom over-think issues, and care very strongly about them. Some of us are in the fandom to avoid over-thinking stuff, and don't really give a shit what you or anyone else thinks. The trick is to find a workable middle ground.
I haven't watched the documentary yet, as I'm super-busy these days, but with all the debate going on, I thought I'd throw out some general points. Furry fandom, being largely self-defined by the individuals involved in it, makes it next to impossible to produce any documentary that covers all the different viewpoints ("That's not what the fandom means to me!"), or even specific viewpoints ("That fursuiter doesn't represent my take on fursuiting!") Similarly, when different furries watch the documentary or review it, we're all going to respond extremely differently.
What does the fandom mean to you? I don't mean the surface stuff, like "I like the art!", "I like being able to express myself!", "I like the sense of community!". I mean the stuff under the surface. The subconscious biases, the things you only kind-of know how to articulate. We have all this arguing and drama because we're working off completely different sets of assumptions about what the fandom means to us. Sometimes we have to figure out that person A likes chocolate, person B likes strawberry, and maybe they'll never agree. Maybe they'll agree to disagree. Maybe they'll say "I disagree, but now that I know you prefer chocolate, I can see where you're coming from". Maybe they'll create a kind of chocolate-strawberry hybrid thing.
One of the best ways to figure out what your biases are, is to figure out the exact points of someone else's arguments that make you angry.
Don't try to figure out what their biases are. Don't assume that you know. Don't say, "They're making that argument because they're (something I assume is obvious)". Don't pigeon-hole the other person. This is about you. What influences your thinking? Where are you coming from? And you may have a rational reason for your argument's position. It may be logically thought-out, and based on personal experience. And then someone else comes along and says "I find your world-view completely illogical, totally irrational, and disagree with it on all sorts of levels." And that hurts. That's why it's important for everyone to be able to explain arguments from their base assumptions, so we can see when we're going to have to agree to disagree.
And even though disagreement creates drama, and I hate drama, I would rather have a fandom with as many diverse mindsets as possible, with none of them out-numbering each other. The more people think alike, the less healthy I think any fandom becomes. We need extravagant in-your-face people. We need prudish keep-it-to-yourself people. And we need all the different subtle points of view between the extremes of whatever scale you can think of. We need tolerance for the more tolerant and the less tolerant.
Jumping back to the topic of documentaries, something to remember is that they have to entertain an audience. Sure, it would be balanced to interview 20 different people from all walks of the fandom, make sure you've got a little of everything and everyone stuffed in there - but that makes it more challenging to keep it interesting. Like 90 minutes of 2-minute clips of different gardeners, each one talking about what their favourite gardening tool is. So inevitably you end up with a selection that includes more unexpected characters. I'm not a guy with a feminine haircut and costuming passion, I don't manufacture sex toys, I'm not a mother... So yeah, whatever you stick in the documentary, it's not going to match a big chunk of the fandom. Then you've got to find a narrative to tie it together. That's why the whole bit about Kage is in there. If this was a 20-30 minute production, there probably wouldn't be something like that in it.
Another point of contention is going to be what kind of impression does it make? Who is the intended audience? Who's actually watching it? Why should we care? Do we want ourselves shown as boring and normal, normal but with a quirky hobby, quirky but ok people, quirky but kind of creepy, lifestylers or hobbyists - and do we even use the same terms the same way with the same meanings? (Answer: no)
Does the fandom's reputation - and the impression we make on others - matter? And should we care? Yes, it matters, and sometimes it doesn't matter. Should we care? Sometimes. Depends. No easy answers, alas. Some of us in this fandom over-think issues, and care very strongly about them. Some of us are in the fandom to avoid over-thinking stuff, and don't really give a shit what you or anyone else thinks. The trick is to find a workable middle ground.