In light of recent situations, many students have been turning to Netflix to cure their boredom and blues. One show that has blown up on social media is Netflix’s “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” a limited miniseries that came out in March. The series is a tell-all documentary about the life of Joe Exotic and his crew, who reside in Oklahoma. Joe Exotic owned a cat park for big cats called Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park and takes pride in his large collection of big cats. Exotic will do anything and everything he can to keep his cats and keep his money, bullying and illegally breeding tiger cubs, which has caused a stir in the animal rights community and has raised questions about the possible abuse the animals could be facing.
Exotic exposes his eccentric personality to viewers in this series and makes it known that he will never be forgotten, even as he sits in jail. The series is rated TV-MA, and features seven episodes averaging about 45 minutes each. Each episode contains footage of Exotic’s daily routine running the park.
One of the main plotlines of the show is Exotic’s interaction with other big cat park owners and animal rights activists. Carole Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida, is Exotic’s enemy in the series and is the topic of much of his conversations and over-the-top rants. Baskin owns the largest exotic animal sanctuary in the country and has competed against Exotic for decades.
Exotic is notorious for his lavish lifestyle in this series, and is regarded by his employees and friends as very eccentric and rule-bending. He always seems to be on the hunt to make more money, which drives much of the events in the show and encourages many of his enemies to try and take his business down.
Each episode includes a variety of interviews that feature past employees of the zoo, Exotic’s family and friends and his romantic partners. Exotic and his lifestyle have been the inspiration for a number of memes on social media, mocking him for his eccentric personality and unique country music performances. He has also been the focus of public critique in his aggressive treatment of Baskin and the videos he has published online taunting her.
Exotic uses humor and drama to captivate the people in his life and to keep them coming back to work for him. He is a gun-wielding patriot who takes pride in having freedom and being able to defy the law and get away with it. Ironically, Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for a variety of charges including a murder-for-hire conspiracy. There is currently talk on social media about Exotic’s request for pardon from the president of the United States, as well as talk of a second season of “Tiger King.”
Although Joe Exotic might not be the most honest or morally virtuous man on the planet, he is definitely entertaining.
