Jake Fittipaldi

The gangster genre has long been known for its leading men — brooding, violent, hypermasculine leaders of their respective families and crime enterprises. While this character archetype has certainly laid the way for some of the most iconic performances in film and television history, its overuse reinforces a harmful stereotype of how men in powerful positions should behave and interact with those around them.

In recent years, trigger warnings have become an increasingly integral part of much of the media that audiences interact with on a daily basis. Social media content, podcasts, and television episodes commonly feature warnings before their content begins, offering a simple way to inform audiences about potentially harmful or distressing content. Despite this, trigger warnings have yet to become common practice in the cinematic world.

There are very few contemporary documentaries that have mirrored the cultural phenomena that Netflix’s Tiger King created, particularly ones that are structured more like a television show than a movie. Whether its success was born out of heightened pandemic-era streaming habits or the sheer ridiculousness of the story, Tiger King was able to capture the world’s scattered attention and ultimately offer a story that viewers could not look away from.