Exotic animals, eccentric zoo owners, murder plots and a hint of true crime are some of the ways you could describe the new Netflix’s new docu-series 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness'.
Amid the global shutdown, the series has become an unlikely hit and is currently the number one show on Netflix in Australia.
It centres around the mind-boggling world of former private zoo owner Joe Exotic, the ‘Tiger King’, and how he wound up in prison over an alleged murder plot. He’s currently serving a 22 year sentence and recently filed a $94 million lawsuit over his prosecution.
Along with detailing his polygamy and his collection of tigers, pumas, lions, as well as ligers and tigons, the show's main tension is the simmering feud between the Tiger King and animal rights activist Carole Baskin. Baskin wants to see a shutdown of the exotic animal trade and the closure of private zoos that engage in this with her organisation ‘Big Cat Rescue’.
As the feud intensifies across the series, Joe Exotic alleged that Baskin murdered her late husband multi-millionaire Don Lewis. Since first airing, a slew of fan theories have been shared across the internet, and the show’s popularity has even prompted a Florida county sheriff to call for new leads on the case.
Luke Buckmaster, a film and TV critic for Guardian Australia and Flicks.com.au, told The Feed audiences today like really quick entertainment, and Tiger King produces that in spades.
“People love true crime stories and they love stranger-than-fiction stories. Tiger King is an orgy of both,” he told The Feed.
“You kind of can't believe there would be so much drama around such an unusual topic, but then you get totally wrapped up in the politics of it.”
The cult of personality of Exotic has seen children and maybe even celebrities dress up like the gun-swinging self proclaimed redneck.
Buckmaster says the memes are a way of exploring the show in shorthand, and drawing attention to some of the absurdity of characters like Exotic.
“Joe Exotic is a quintessential love-to-hate character. You're not sure if you want to slap him in the face or buy him a drink,” he said.
“He's heavily armed, completely paranoid, owns hundreds of wild and dangerous animals - what could go wrong?”
Some have even tried to figure out how they can incorporate a little of the Exotic into their working life.
A fictionalised mini-series of the Tiger King is already reported to be in the works, and the man who created the podcast that triggered the Netflix series has suggested Australian actor Margot Robbie should play the role of Joe Exotic. If Robbie decides to make America exotic again, her potential nemesis in the role of Carole Baskin would be SNL star Kate McKinnon.
