Watch American Juggalo Documentary

23 minute film packs more, er, punch than most movies 8 times that long...

By Fred Mills

It's not exactly The Last Waltz but it's still a pretty fascinating rock ‘n' roll (sorta) movie: American Juggalo, a 23-minute documentary by director Sean Dunne that takes a look at the Juggalo subculture. It was filmed at the annual Iinsane Clown Posse-hosted Gathering of the Juggalos and features interviews with band fans while offering an up close and personal view of the subculture. Put on your clown makeup, kick back with a liter of Faygo, and enjoy!

American Juggalo from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

Incidentally, no less a pop pundit than Bob Lefsetz is praising the movie, albeit in possibly in more glowing terms than it deserves when it compares it to the likes of D.A. Pennebaker. "Here you have an endless supply of what society calls losers. And they all seem to know it," writes Lefsetz. "This film is as powerful as the great documentaries of Frederick Wiseman and D.A. Pennebaker. It captures a vibe, a feeling, which you don't find too often in today's mainstream media."

Lefsetz also tries to extract a deep political-philosophical message from the film when he says, "I can't imagine many of these people are Democrats. They want every dollar they earn, because it's not many. And where's the better life, the jobs Obama promised? It's an endless carnival of the disenfranchised. An underbelly pushed under the rug, joining together to have a good time. What happens when your parents aren't rich, when your life has taken a wrong turn? You get tattoos and become a Juggalo. This certainly ain't the beautiful people."

Fair enough. But it's also possible that some of these people just like to party and raise hell...