Dont Like Tiger King Chicken People Is Its Exact Opposite

Don’t Like Tiger King? Chicken People Is Its Exact Opposite

Tiger King and Chicken People might seem similar on paper, but one is toxic while the other is uplifting.

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Dont Like Tiger King Chicken People Is Its Exact Opposite

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness has become such a part of the zeitgeist, it’s near impossible to avoid exposure to the toxic personalities profiled in the new Netflix docuseries. The exploits of Joe Exotic and those in his orbit achieve “you have to see this” status faster than any piece of true crime media has before because Tiger King uses the tried and true formula of the genre and makes its version as potent as possible.

While record numbers of Netflix subscribers tuned in, if only to be privy to the national conversation, many just as quickly tuned out. For those who weren’t a fan Tiger King, the 2016 documentary Chicken People, now streaming on Amazon Prime, is an effective antidote.

Dont Like Tiger King Chicken People Is Its Exact Opposite

On paper, Chicken People seems eerily similar to Tiger King. The film follows three main characters who share an obsession with their favorite animal, chickens. They accumulate a lot of them, and their days are shaped by their chosen hobby to the point that animal keeping becomes a lifestyle, often overshadowing important things like paid work and human relationships. Both documentaries are even filmed around the same time and serve as a snapshot of rural America in the mid 2010s.

Trailers for both leave viewers wondering what the difference is between these narratives beyond one focusing on tigers and the other focusing on chickens. The marketing plays up the curiosity factor, making viewers believe these people are unusual, and that the point of watching them is to marvel at just how strange they are, but the spirit of Chicken People couldn’t be more different from that of Tiger King.

First, it must be said that while chickens peck and scratch, they aren’t tigers, so the danger factor is significantly diminished, giving the film a lighter tone. Chicken People plays for laughs, and a decidedly gentler kind of laughter than the cringe-worthy disbelief conjured up by Tiger King. Many critics have compared Chicken People to the mockumentary Best in Show. While it employs the conventions of a mockumentary, as soon as Chicken People begins, it’s plain to see that the filmmakers have genuine affection for their subjects.

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Dont Like Tiger King Chicken People Is Its Exact Opposite

Those subjects include Brian Caraker, a young jazz crooner and lover of Bantam Leghorns whose dream is to become independent enough to purchase his own house with ample land for his flock. Though not every Millennial reads The American Standard of Perfection for show fowl, most will sympathize with other elements of Brian’s situation: his struggle to find stable work, his complex relationship with his proud yet worried parents and his self-awareness that a hobby can mean salvation. These are subtle shades of the human condition that Tiger King can’t capture, as it paints with garish colors and a too broad a brush.

There’s also Brian Knox, a middle aged tractor pull engineer who applies mathematical precision to the breeding of his prize specimens. He has a savant-like ability to remember the genetic traits of every chick he’s ever hatched, of which there have been thousands, and he’s on a mission to perfect a detail as miniscule as the black edge of a silver laced Wyandotte feather. Brian is well known and successful in the niche world of poultry competitions and was previously dating another chicken show celebrity until it was decided he didn’t have room to prioritize romance.

Finally, Chicken People introduces Shari McCullough, a mother of five and all-around bird person who lovingly shampoos and towel dries her Silkies (a breed of show chicken whose down feathers make it look as though they’re covered in plush fur). Shari, who also takes wild fowl photographs and is a Member Chair of the Audubon Society, is one of the most calming presences on TV. She may life coach her chickens, whispering in their little blue ears that they are warriors, and she may unselfconsciously do a rooster mating dance for the camera, but this warm openness makes her a more accessible figure than anyone in Tiger King.

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The thing that most meaningfully separates Chicken People from Tiger King is the way the film portrays the poultry farmers’ interactions with their poultry. It’s not just that these chicken people treat their chickens better than Joe Exotic treats his tigers, it’s that the documentary gets at a more nuanced truth about animal husbandry.

Both Brians and Shari adore their flocks, and operate with sound practices, but they also grasp the paradoxical notions of life and death that are inherent in farm work. For example, some people interviewed for the documentary have chosen not to eat their birds, while others do with proper reverence. When Shari buries a clutch of immature chickens who died of disease, she expresses real grief as well as a sense of strength and resolution that comes with this territory.

Competition does figure heavily into the narrative, but it feels like everyone wins in Chicken People, while everyone in Tiger King loses. When compared to the latter, it’s almost shocking how cooperative and supportive of each other chicken people are. Fans are meant to chuckle at Caraker’s snarky reaction to a judge’s complaint that his bird’s comb is “too perfect”, but for the most part, Chicken People is full of good advice, heartfelt congratulations and slightly awkward hugs.

Chicken People is a recipe for how to maintain a healthy perspective. It might initially tickle the fancy of audiences because the subject matter is peculiar, but the audience warm up ot these tender characters in only 83 short minutes, and the movie will stick with them long after the grand prize has been awarded and the hens have gone home to roost.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/dont-like-tiger-king-chicken-people-opposite/

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