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Louis Theroux: Surviving America's Most Hated Family

Started by Ballad of Ballard Berkley, July 14, 2019, 02:15:59 PM

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Bazooka

Yeah found this very boring, not bad film making, but we are updated about people leaving, kids still be indoctrinated and the impossibility of the main bloke agreeing, didnt tell us anything we didnt already know other than old man Phelps getting put in a mysterious tomb.

jsgibble

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 14, 2019, 10:35:00 PM
Not sure how much I bought the idea that things are mellowing post-Phelps. It felt a bit too over-emphasised, like Louis really wanted it to be the case, but it wasn't shown too much.

Yeah, in general it felt a bit pointless.

It would be understandable to cover them again if they were part of some wider story, but I'm not sure about making three documentaries on a small fringe group with no influence

sevendaughters

if anything the documentary showed how influential Louis was as an accidental propagandist for them. In terms of meaty revelation it was lacking but I thought it showed his maturation as an interviewer, he wasn't flimsy and fraudulent in front of them anymore, and he got to emotional truths rather than encouraging performances as he performed 'curious Brit' to them.

Ferris

Quote from: sevendaughters on July 15, 2019, 11:44:46 AM
if anything the documentary showed how influential Louis was as an accidental propagandist for them. In terms of meaty revelation it was lacking but I thought it showed his maturation as an interviewer, he wasn't flimsy and fraudulent in front of them anymore, and he got to emotional truths rather than encouraging performances as he performed 'curious Brit' to them.

Well, he sprung the engagements on the sister to generate some good footage, which I thought was a bit cheap and exploitative.

sevendaughters

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on July 15, 2019, 11:47:16 AM
Well, he sprung the engagements on the sister to generate some good footage, which I thought was a bit cheap and exploitative.

True enough but I can't say that I am concerned about the ethics of this; the Phelps family have enjoyed the symbiotic exploitation down the years.

imitationleather

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on July 15, 2019, 11:47:16 AM
Well, he sprung the engagements on the sister to generate some good footage, which I thought was a bit cheap and exploitative.

Yeah. That bit stunk. Not because I thought it was exploitative, it just seemed like really lazy documentary making.

I was pretty impressed with him really pressing them hard with questions and not taking no shit. But ultimately it just seemed like far too late as the Westboro baptist church just isn't something people care about anymore, and the actually interesting people have died or are too broken to yell all crazy-eyed at him anymore.

Moribunderast

I enjoyed this - certainly didn't find it boring. It definitely retread some old ground and themes but I thought the interview with Shirley was great and revealed the real human tragedy of belonging to a cult like the WBC.

I'm guessing he wasn't given any access to the Elders because I was very interested in the direction they seem to have taken the male/female relationships. I don't remember all the women and girls being covered up at the sermons in the past.

I was also wondering if new recruits were told to tell Louis his documentaries had caused them to join, as a means of fucking with him.

sevendaughters

one thing - I was waiting with a shot in hand waiting to neck it if Bradford bell-end mentioned Muslims as a reason he was scooting toward the whiter side of the tracks. it's almost too easy to trace the tracks of the lives of these people, right down to the compounding matter of dead close relative. lazy documentary shorthand or are people that traumatised by brown people and death?

imitationleather

Quote from: sevendaughters on July 15, 2019, 11:56:20 AM
lazy documentary shorthand or are people that traumatised by brown people and death?

I guess Westboro was always deep down a cult led by a man who for whatever reason was entirely driven by his hatred of homosexuals so his death was always going to cause a massive upheaval. A doc about what happens when cult leaders die and the power struggles that may ensue would be pretty interesting.

Ferris

Agree with the last few posts, except that the loony from the North was from Burnley rather than Blackburn Bolton Blackpool Barnsley Bradford

BlodwynPig

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on July 15, 2019, 12:06:33 PM
Agree with the last few posts, except that the loony from the North was from Burnley rather than Blackburn Bolton Blackpool Barnsley Bradford

He was from Bradford

Ferris

Quote from: BlodwynPig on July 15, 2019, 12:17:11 PM
He was from Bradford

He was from the Planet Mad Dickhead, the location of his earth genesis is irrelevant.

I just remembered Louis did an impression of Fred Phelps Sr to some of the church ("he's gonna split hell waaaaaide open") and they didn't like it very much. Proper laughed at that. Made the entire enterprise worthwhile. Take my license fee, BBC!

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Moribunderast on July 15, 2019, 11:53:19 AM
I was also wondering if new recruits were told to tell Louis his documentaries had caused them o join, as a means of fucking with him.

That hadn't occurred to me, but I wouldn't put it past them. However, I daresay those guys probably did first become aware of Westboro via Louis' previous documentaries. He sounded slightly perturbed by this during his chat with the pansexual fella, but it's really not his fault if people choose to wilfully misinterpret his work.

QDRPHNC



Fred Phelps looked like a (slightly) aged pornographer and noted rapist Max Hardcore.



Twed


BlodwynPig

He looks like Wim Silker's long lost buddy, Joe Pesk (pic below)


Jumblegraws

Caught up with this last night. I agree that he was pushing the 'mellowing doctrine' angle hard for no good reason. It seemed to me that the departure from Fred Phelp's style was mostly down to the departure of Fred Phelps. Beyond that I just got the impression - from the doc and the response - that everyone is mostly bored with the WBC, including the WBC themselves. Steve Drain and the rest of the boys' club really could do with having their shirts unstuffed, I hope they get milkshaked regularly at the pickets.

I agree with the comments about the engagement revelations coming across as a cheap tactic to generate drama. I've probably watched less Theroux than other people here, is he usually above that sort of thing? I also found myself wondering if and how the V/O where he describes Shirley as seeming fragile at the picket would have changed if the subsequent one-on-one interview had gone differently.

That streak of piss from Bradford struck gold as far as I'm concerned, marrying into the infamy of the WBC probably feels like an absolute bargain after giving up his previous

On the whole though I thought this was significantly more interesting than the second film, there was more insight into the mindset of both the departures and the newer inductees, aspects that were explored to a lesser degree in the previous follow-up.

sevendaughters

I admit the second time Louis pushed the mellowing thing to Steve and he said it was growth and maturity, but in a defensive way, I felt like I was watching two people with head injuries talking to each other.

Al Tha Funkee Homosapien

The main thing I felt other than things already expressed better by other posters (slightly pointless etc.) was how out of date standing in the corner with a placard seems now compared to 10+ years ago. Why go through all that effort when you can just make a shitty meme photo and get it shared on social media. A much more powerful way of spreading your message, heck it'll even get you out of the EU and a president elected.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Al Tha Funkee Homosapien on July 17, 2019, 02:55:11 PM
The main thing I felt other than things already expressed better by other posters (slightly pointless etc.) was how out of date standing in the corner with a placard seems now compared to 10+ years ago. Why go through all that effort when you can just make a shitty meme photo and get it shared on social media. A much more powerful way of spreading your message, heck it'll even get you out of the EU and a president elected.

Hey! this kind of meme culture has destroyed every other thing that I enjoy in life, don't let it destroy this last reminder of a more gentler, innocent time.

bgmnts

Quote from: Al Tha Funkee Homosapien on July 17, 2019, 02:55:11 PM
The main thing I felt other than things already expressed better by other posters (slightly pointless etc.) was how out of date standing in the corner with a placard seems now compared to 10+ years ago. Why go through all that effort when you can just make a shitty meme photo and get it shared on social media. A much more powerful way of spreading your message, heck it'll even get you out of the EU and a president elected.

I guess its a show of commitment?

Ferris

Do they have much of an online presence? They missed a trick with the internet, nobody gives a shit about irl any more.

Replies From View

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on July 17, 2019, 03:52:12 PM
Do they have much of an online presence? They missed a trick with the internet, nobody gives a shit about irl any more.

I assume they consider the internet to be a false prophet.

bgmnts

They did have a website on their roof that was 'godhatesfags.com' I think.

Replies From View

I think my favourite aspect of this documentary was the wording on the toned-down placards.  "MOST PEOPLE GO TO HELL" for example.

Ferris

Quote from: bgmnts on July 17, 2019, 04:51:58 PM
They did have a website on their roof that was 'godhatesfags.com' I think.

Had a look, it's not amateurish enough (and is a bit too unpleasant) to be amusing.

Not able to recommend, I'm afraid.

olliebean

Quote from: Replies From View on July 17, 2019, 05:00:41 PM
I think my favourite aspect of this documentary was the wording on the toned-down placards.  "MOST PEOPLE GO TO HELL" for example.

That one needs updating for the modern world. Most people are already there.

backdrifter

Quote from: Jumblegraws on July 17, 2019, 09:32:42 AM
I agree with the comments about the engagement revelations coming across as a cheap tactic to generate drama.

I read on her twitter that Megan likes the fact that her true response was included in the show. Her family refuse all her attempts at communicating with them but they will definitely watch this.

Bazooka

God actually hates figs, gives him/her the shits, but the typo has still not been spotted to this day.