Arthur Jones’ “Feels Good Man” seeks to have animator Matt Furie reclaim his creation “Pepe the Frog,” a stoned animated amphibian that has become a symbol of rebellion for many within the “alt-right” movement. Unfortunately for Furie, he will never get back his prized possession. You see, back in 2016, during the US Presidential Election, the image of Pepe the Frog was hijacked by the internet, more specifically, anti-establishment Trump supporters, and was ensuingly mass-shared among Redditors and Chan4 users. Pepe not only went viral, but became part of a mass Trump-supporting movement.
“Feels Good Man,” which I saw at Sundance 2020, has Furie, who was a non-political underground cartoonist, being immersed through a hellish legal battle for the soul of his animated character. The problem is that when millions on the Internet take an image and make it their own, good luck getting it back. The democratization of the internet has become both a blessing and a curse for our society, the mixture of ideologies and open-debate forums has led to countless movements, both good and bad, which, as a result, has jeopardized and flipped the meaning of images into inter-connected meme madness. That, in a way, is what “Feels Good Man” is, or should, be about.
The film currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I dug it when I saw it at Sundance. This was a sweet and uniquely funny take on a miserable animator. Director Jones uses archival footage, testimonials as well as creative and beautiful animated imagery to tell the unfortunate story of how one artist’s creation slipped through his fingers and fell into a giant online rabbit hole. [B]
“Feels Good Man” is now available on VOD.