Director Shaun Dunne has put together a fascinating twenty-minute documentary on the Gathering of the Juggalos; that polarising music festival that occurs every August in the fields of Illinois USA, which attracts the oft-made-fun-of, face-painted community known as juggalos.
What Dunne does with
American Juggalo is terrific: through a series of interviews with festival goers, he manages to unpick some of the stereotypes of the much maligned sub-genre, even when so many of them initially reaffirm it. And while there's a great many confrontational scenes — a pregnant girl smoking, one dude spitting a disgusting, gory rap, another hoping to lose his virginity but saying he never gets anywhere because he "stabs people" — there's a weird, heart-warming undercurrent to the festival goers, very rarely seen (or at least, openly acknowledged) at music festivals. Let alone fans of Insane Clown Posse.
"I'm on dialysis.", says one punter, struggling to contain his emotions. "My kidney's have failed me. I can't get a transplant right now. It's just a bad luck story. Hopefully I'll live another five years so I can get a transplant. If not, I'm gonna live my life the best I can right here with the people I love. Life...is something special that you can only have one time. Enjoy the
shit out of it."
It's a must watch. If only for it being an amazing random quote generator:
"Somebody told me there's nothing good left in the world. And I actually believed that shit until I came here and seen all the titties. All the weed...all the fast food. I mean, this shit's the bomb."
[Big guy after talking about how good a cook he is] "I want to find a skinny ass little bitch, make her fat. Then we'll lose weight together and we'll bond."
"The gathering of the motherfucking juggalos. I love you guys, and you guys, and you guys. We have alcohol and we've got explosives. Let me put the beer down.
[Throws firecracker that explodes like a bomb, visibly shaken] That scared me. I don't usually get scared. That was pretty fucking cool though."
Also, everyone saying "WOOP WOOP" all the time is really disorientating.
Watch (via FilmDrunk):
American Juggalo from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.
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