Culture is a funny thing. It is constantly created and re-created all around us, and it takes a seriously open mind to try and understand what draws people to group together around a set of ideals and practices that are so far from your own. For example, the American Juggalo. The words that come to mind when I contemplate this disciple of Insane Clown Posse are silly, strange, somewhat terrifying – and yet I find them thrilling in their weirdness. I’m sure when some people see my husband and I on the street, they think the same things about our long hair and black ratty tees and jeans. So I just want to make this clear – I acknowledge that I am not in a position to judge. Part of me watches Sean Dunne‘s short documentary, American Juggalo, in utter incredulity, and part of me with a kindred spirit. It is filmed at The Gathering, a massive festival put on by ICP, and it reminds me of festivals I have been to in the forests of BC and Alberta, camping among the trees, swimming in icy cold rivers and wandering from tent cluster to tent cluster, fucked up on booze and drugs and making friends with weirdos you may never see again. A good fucking time. But when you throw in the clown paint, smoking preggo girls and their meth head moms, rampant obesity, twig hairdos and WOOP WOOP, it becomes a completely foreign landscape of odd personalities. It is touching that the Juggalos and Juggalettes have created a family of mutherfuckers that all believe in the same shit, and practice free sloppy naked love with each other that one weekend, but I feel like an anthropologist watching them interact with each other. Dunne does an amazing job of letting the culture speak for itself, and it has a resounding message to send the world – woop woop, mutherfucker.
Watch American Juggalo after the jump…
American Juggalo from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.
ElRoi
December 2, 2013 at 7:56 am
“One
of us! One of us! One of us…WOOP WOOP!” I bet those forest areas
are left completely trashed by these morons. If you want to devote your
life to a particular genre of music or artist, I’ll chose John Coltrane
or Miles Davis or Phil Ochs or the Stooges or any number of far more
worthy artists. And who are the poor, deluded woman involved in this idiocy? “It says ‘titties for a dollar.’ My boyfriend wrote it. Yeah, I show my titties to everyone. Gettin’ money.” And this future serial killer, “I’m me man. I’m insane! I like to stab people! Ya know what I mean?!” and last but not least, “We have alcohol and explosives.” Enough said.
I guess you can’t exactly get high and bone your buddies underage ol’ lady while her toddler watches to this sort of stuff, huh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvcNZ-KOEcg
MVLLET
December 10, 2011 at 7:02 pm
I’m glad you showed some self-awareness when you posted this. I’m tired of fringe sub-cultures ostracizing other fringe sub-cultures.
Casper
October 14, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Thanks for sharing this, i couldn’t agree more with the post. Felt like looking at a freak show, yet, how many people feel the same way about me?