The Zeitgeist Effect of Netflix Docuseries "Tiger King"
Among the most amusing conspiracy theories I have heard from people regarding COVID-19 is Netflix plot to get all of us to watch more Netflix. Do any of us really “need” to watch more Netflix? Along with walking, knitting, writing, baking….Netflix binge watching is now a socially acceptable norm activity. I have done my fair share of binge-watching many series on many different streaming platforms, certainly I did not (and I’m certain I am not alone) need an international pandemic to allow space for this to happen. Still, the conspiracy theory did make me giggle a little…and wonder a lot……
On what felt like the 27th walk today with my dog, Layla the Wonderdog, I was thinking about the latest binge-worthy docuseries “Tiger King.” If you haven’t watched it, wait…is there anyone who hasn’t at this point? Elements of greed, sex, madness, and chaos are all present in this fascinating and heartbreaking (for all animal lovers/animal rights persons especially) new series. Seeing the animals locked up in these ridiculously small cages (in comparison to their “natural” habitats) fluctuating between pacing and languishing in their pitiful existences felt eerily similar to what many of us have been living in for the past month+.
This docuseries is absolutely the epitome of the car crash you cannot help but watch, despite the horror you are quite certain is yet to surface. I found it fascinating that so many of us were absolutely glued to this real-life soap opera, self included, leaving me to wonder if this would have been as heavily viewed if we had not been living our life in this new shelter in place existence?
Zeitgeist effect: the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.
Do we feel more for these animals, for the unnatural environments they are forced to live, because in some ways many of us are feeling caged-in as well?
Do we have more time to “binge watch” because many of us are needing a distraction, and thus this somewhat obscure topic and even more so cast of characters drew us all in, drawing our attention away from our own mundane day to day existences in social distancing?
Are many of us too busy in our “pre-Covid” existences that we fail to consider the plight of captive animals in our country?
Are we tired of all the nasty politics that we just switched to nasty Big Cat breeding/trading/sex cults to escape the negativity that has dominated our news programming for the past several years?
It doesn't seem to be random. And seems too random to have captured such a vast audience, doesn’t it make you wonder why this show? Why now? is there a parallel?
While owning a big cat, like the tigers and lions or cross-breads (no this doesn't happen in nature) known as Ligers is illegal in most states, 8 still allow residents to own them. The question I have is simple: Just because you can, does it make it right? Morally? Ethically? Humanely? These animals are majestic, regal, & stunningly beautiful. As cubs, they are simply adorable. Who wouldn’t want to have one as a pet? However…
How do you feel being restricted in your home right now, unable to go freely to your favorite watering hole or restaurant or religious service? How do you feel unable to see your family members or friends? How do you feel being limited to what you can eat/drink/do? How do you feel with the unsettling feeling that you may never return to the wild fantastic life you might have previously known?
That is precisely the parallel we are experiencing with Tiger King. Hopefully not the absolute chaos backdrop and murder for hire plot that is behind all of this, but the unnatural caging of these majestic animals and our unnatural shelter at home status. Only difference is….one day, there will be light for us. One day…we will all be free….
Will these animals, all who are healthy and young enough to be returned to their natural environments, ever feel that freedom that we all will one day again take for grated?
Layla the Wonderdog will be 9 in June. When we first got her, our youngest son was just 9 years old. Although we have always had cats, she was our first dog. I remember one day our son getting frustrated with her over chewing something, and lashing out at her sorta harshly. This very maternal instinct came over me for our dog- just as fiercely as if it was a human-child in my home. I remember the words I said to our son to this day…. “Layla is my ‘dog-ter” aka my dog-daughter. Just like you and your brother, I am here to protect her. She depends on me/us to feed her, take her out so she can go potty, to teach her how to be a ‘good dog’, and to take her to the vet to keep her healthy. But unlike you and your brother, she will need us to do this for her whole entire life. She can never grow to be self sufficient. Animals need us to help them- they depend on us to live their entire life.”
Now…my youngest son is a kind/gentle soul and sleeps with Layla the Wonderdog whenever he can, and has grown to be a staunch protector of her and our cats. However, even at that young age, he was able to understand that HUMANS have a very direct role in caring for and saving animals in our world, and for those who are meant to be WILD, if there is any chance, it is up to us to continue to make strides to provide that for them. Clean up our environments, make sure they have safe food supplies (no plastic in our waters to start), tighten up laws that allow people to freely own animals that are wild (and often dangerous) unless they are sanctuaries or educational zoos. If we don’t like to be mistreated or caged or have our freedoms taken from us….why would we think animals would like it?
Hoping this gives all of you pause….and perhaps thinking about what we can all do when our “caged existence” is replaced with freedom for those who may never know what that feels like unless we do something to help…and may be make this absolute madness of a docuseries be more than just a pandemic phenomenon.
Peace…
