Brigsby Bear

 WARNING: Spoilers ahead! Tread lightly if you don't like spoilers for movies. This is about the movie Brisgby the Bear. 

I was watching a YouTube video where this guy had watched all the Lonely Island (a production company, I guess?) films. He'd mentioned Brigsby the Bear as being a generally wholesome watch, and enjoyable overall.

I won't go over the general premise, because there's plenty of people who have done a much more compelling job than I have. The 5 second pitch is that a guy wants to make a movie, and most of the people in his life are on board to help him out, if not immediately, at least eventually. There's some diversions along the way, a weird "sexy" scene while both parties are under the influence of more than one drug, and a therapist who's out here giving therapists and therapy in general a pretty bad name. Aside from those specific issues, I really enjoyed my film. 

First, the bad. There were moments in the film where it was alluded that James (the main protagonist) did have a libido, and exercised it with the only picture of a lady outside of his "family" that he had. That was uncomfortable, but I could get where they were going with it, because people will find a way to exercise their needs when they're alone, and when there isn't explicit inspiration available, you'll get there however you can. I also like how they didn't zoom in and show any movement under the covers or whatever, and that it was an allusion rather than an outright show and tell situation. Also, the guy was in his 20s when they showed those scenes. Fine. 

What I didn't like is that he was at a party with his biological sister, Aubrey's friends, who're in high school (?) or early college. Pretty much the entire group was drinking, and doing various drugs. I'm going to call it for them being in college, because if it really was high school, there's some pretty grody stuff upcoming. There's a sex scene with James and Merideth while both are high on something or other, and most likely also drunk. I really really didn't need to see that, so I kind of skipped past it. 

There was also a scene where there was a family therapy session. The therapist they was basically this shrill character that didn't just gently guide the family to discuss their feelings, but instead used her knowledge of human psychology as a cudgel to beat James over the head with her agenda the entire time. I found her character to be insufferable, and not at all a compassionate or kind person at all. Let me say it right now: if you ever find yourself in a situation where a person in power isn't listening to you, and trying to sympathise with your needs, get away from them, and don't trust them with your thoughts and feelings. You deserve a therapist who will genuinely hear what you're saying, and help you navigate your feelings in such a way that you can get to where you need to be together. Yes, there may be an overarching agenda, but there's no reason to force you to get there on anyone's schedule but your own. Therapy can be a very useful tool to get your thoughts in order, so that you can address your challenges instead of ignoring them. 

I've known and still know a fair few people who have very specific interests. This can be anything from music to writing to TV shows to performing to video games. It can be collecting pretty things to decorate their spaces. It can be an author they love and whose characters they resonate with. It can be games of the imagination, like D&D or its various offshoots. It can be dressing up in costume and role playing. There are so many things that we as humans can get interested in, and that's a good thing. When that thing that you love so intensely ends, you have lots of people who aren't ready to let that thing go yet, so they go off and create their own versions of it. There's a very popular book series that the author took a long time to finish the story. Tons of people went out and wrote their own versions of those stories as fan fictions, and would read other fan fictions. When the actual author's final book was done, and the story completed, there were several people who felt this biting loss, because the author had published the series over a period of 10 years or so. People had read them as kids, and finished them as adults. They'd watched the movies. The series had a huge impact on folk. Oddly enough, the fanfic writers and readers never really left the world. They'd been doing their own thing for so long that the story never ended for them even when the official version was done and dusted. \

In the film Brisgsby the Bear, James is obsessed with the Brigsby character, and knows (eventually) that there is no way at all for there to be new stories unless he does his own. To be honest, he'd always been interested in writing his own versions anyway, but got shot down by his false "mother" in the bunker. Anyone who's known anyone who's passionate about the media they consume would have told the guy to at the very least write some fanfic, and do his own ending, so the he has a healthy outlet for the stuff he loves, while still functioning in the world. I can't tell you how many fanfics I've read from people who still hold down jobs or school or various other commitments, while still creating stuff they love. 

Instead, the therapist basically tells him to get over it, and move on, even though the Brigsby show was the only piece of media James was ever allowed to consume over the course of his entire life, and he had nothing else to latch on to. Let the guy do his special interest, instead of forcing him to fit your needs right away. Sheesh. 

Aside from that, the film as a whole is extremely lovely. There's a scene at the party where you think James is going to run in with a sketchy crowd, but the guy whose house it is, Spencer, sees it and immediately diverts James to go hang out with folk who will be more receptive to his vibe. Then, as James describes the Brigsby character and TV show (which literally nobody else has seen, because the show was made for and watched only by James), Spencer and the other characters are spellbound and super interested in what James is talking about. They listen to his stories, and respond positively. 

I feel like that's a sign of our times we're living in. Because there's so much media out there, people are way more understanding of folk who are passionate about the things they love. I was at a party the other day, and this person was describing this food they enjoy. Aside from a side-joke of "how much are they paying you" (because they were telling us all the cool things about it), everyone there was happy to let them talk about it for as long as they wanted. It was absolutely not something that would have happened when I was a kid. If someone is too "into" something that isn't main stream and acceptable (sports, cars, money, etc) they'd be shamed for it and told to stop talking about it. Nowadays, people are much more accepting of differences, and it's so refreshing to see.

The film reflected this attitude way more than I'd ever seen in other films with similar protagonists like James. And, much like the immigrant kid, or the home schooled kid who goes to school eventually, or the otherwise formerly lonely kid who finds friends, you see James so the listen and repeat thing. When you're trying to fit in with a new group, you code switch, and try to imitate the speech patterns of the people you're talking to. The ones who do it most successfully tend to fit in more quickly. James does it by finding phrases or references that the kids he's with make, and then repeat those phrases or references throughout the film to others. 

Either way, regardless of who the people are who meet him, folks generally look at James in a way that celebrates his passion for making the Brigsby film that will wrap up the storylines from the TV show, and do so in a way that's genuine instead of patronising. Spencer in particular goes all in, and helps James stage the scenes, edit it in the computer, and is a huge cheerleader for the project from the jump off. His sister comes around, once she realises how much James lights up and comes alive when he's working on the film. Detective Vogel gets caught up in the magic too, and helps out in huge ways. Even Detective Bander, who's supposed to be an antagonist, looks at James with sympathy when James has a run-in with the police after a particularly scary incident involving explosives. 

By the time the ending rolls around, the family sees eye to eye, and the film gets made. And throughout the movie, there isn't really a major villain. You get redemption for almost all the characters, and things get wrapped up really nicely. 

I genuinely had a good time watching this film, although I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it with young children around, as there's several scenes that are not appropriate for kids.