Craig West
First of all, I am very familiar with "bear" culture in both Portland, OR and San Francisco, CA.The start was interesting, nice footage, raised my expectations, but from what I saw after that, *spoiler alert* most of the film was interviewing a handful of people who were NOT bears about what THEY thought about bears.I got very bored with these "non-bear" interviews quickly, so I flipped my NetFlix to Fast Forward, looking for where the interviews ended and some actual "bears in the wild" footage of ACTUAL BEARS doing BEAR EVENTS, or maybe even some bears being interviewed. Bear culture is complex and has changed a lot since it was originally conceived as a backlash against the "shaved, coiffed, ripped, 23 year old" culture of LA gays in the 80's, and also as an anti-AIDS message of a healthy man with weight on him.So I waited as the sampled frames scrolled by. And I waited. And I waited. The entire rest of the film seemed to be interviews with non- bears. I was amazed. It would have been very easy to find bears to interview, but we did not see them.Yes, they discussed issues of body image, the feeling of being excluded from cliques, the search for a niche, and all of these are good and valid issues. But they should have been discussed by actual BEARS, not a handful of bear-chasers.If I have missed something by fast-forwarding through the non-bear interviews, PLEASE contact me and let me know. Because I would love to see that I've missed some actual value from this film.
evening1
I am a hetero female and had no idea these "bears" existed.I admit I have been influenced by stereotypical thinking that many gay males are preoccupied with their appearance and want to look model-neat and -buff.This documentary is an interesting work of advocacy for people who don't fit societal ideals of what looks good but still want -- and find -- relationships and love.The courageous and open people interviewed in this film seem comfortable in their own skin and self-aware. Though a few are quite young, most are middle-aged and have attained a refreshing sense of self-acceptance.I really liked this doc. It gives me hope that other marginalized groups - i.e., women with gray hair, a group to which I belong -- might also be viewed as worthy of attention and affection.
