In the documentary American Troll, director Saturnin Kondratiew (who goes by the mononym “Saturnin”) presents two sides of an argument around a case in Canada where a young singer with Treacher Collins Syndrome was ridiculed for laughs in the performances of stand-up Mike Ward. Between 2010 and 2013, Ward targeted Jérémy Gabriel by mocking his physical appearance and voice. Gabriel’s family sued Ward and won.
Over the course of the next decade, the appeal wound through the courts, and the judgment was ultimately overturned by the Canadian Supreme Court. The prolonged legal battle was an expensive ordeal for everyone involved. Astonishingly, in an interview with City News Everywhere, Gabriel said he feels empathy for what Ward went through.
Saturnin’s interviews range from the sublime to the ridiculous. “Ben Brown, average Joe” speaks wearing a Punisher face covering and Mickey Mouse ears, with his voice masked. This is hard to take seriously. Anti-feminist professor Janice Fiamingo argues that oppressor groups should be provided equal “safe spaces.” That’s like arguing that sheep are discriminating against wolves by seeking a safe pasture.
Gad Saad, a Canadian marketing professor, makes intelligent points about dispassionately seeking the truth, but his hardline approach leaves no room for compassion. Bizarrely, one comedian, Rhasaan Orange, is interviewed as his character “Renato Laranja,” an outlandish Brazilian athlete whose comically poor command of English is played for laughs. The only advocate for a rational common sense approach is Black comic Aries Spears.
There’s a clip of one of my favorite stand-ups, the late Ralphie May, asserting that Gabriel being a public figure made him an acceptable target. Despite saying that, May himself didn’t have to stoop to punching down. He was brutally honest, but never hateful.
“What does ‘free speech’ really mean?”
Ward is an unscrupulous guy who makes his living appealing to the nastiest impulses of his audience. It’s despicable, but it is protected speech. Gabriel wasn’t the only vulnerable person Ward ridiculed. His sets throw red meat to infantile fans who revel in cruelty pretending to be humor. So, Ward can say what he wants, sure. However, as comedian David Lucas points out, freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. There’s a hint here that we should feel sorry for Ward in this difficult experience, but he’s crying over the fact that people got pissy when he made fun of a disabled kid. That is deserving neither of empathy nor respect. In current slang, he’s in the “FO” phase.
The marketing description for the film paints him as a free-speech warrior: “… American Troll explores the cost of standing your ground. In the face of relentless adversity, it reveals how conviction can lead not only to personal growth, but also to public backlash, online cruelty, personal struggles, and very expensive lawyer bills.” Let’s be clear, Ward is not convincing as a martyr standing on principle. He comes across more as an attention-seeking, narcissistic bottom feeder.
Saturnin has created an informative, thoughtful, well-produced documentary, but most of his interviewees reach the wrong conclusion. He presents both sides of the argument in intelligent balance, but it’s framed as aggressive outrage farming. The interviewees bemoan the state of a culture that freaks out at every perceived slight, while doing that exact thing themselves.
Much of the coarseness that has surfaced in society is the result of Social Media, which has morphed into being just one long, stupid episode of Jackass. In a culture with deteriorating decorum, pushing back against incivility is arguably the most important expression of free speech. Using words provocatively has repercussions. American Troll illustrates definitively (if not intentionally) that free speech is sacred, and it is working precisely as it should.
Learn more at the official American Troll website.
"…Free speech is sacred and it is working precisely as it should..."
