Winnebago Man is about a viral star by the name of Jack Rebney, who was popular even before the existence of Youtube. He's one who I admit not being all too familiar with. With Rebney's video predating Youtube and then being one of its earliest icons once the platform was launched, I may have been slightly too young to remember him properly. But the first section of this documentary does a good job at summarising what the original video involved, why it became so popular among certain people, whilst also providing a truly fascinating look at how videos went "viral" before Youtube and the Internet as a whole made that process so much easier and instantaneous. The method of copying videos to physical tapes to spread them round looks exhausting, but I guess people made do with what they had. It may well be that in another 20-30 years, the way we currently share videos will look anarchic and far too time-consuming, thanks to unforeseen technological advances.
This part of the film was the most interesting to me for the above reasons, as well as for the insight it gave into the personal effects on a person who becomes a viral star. It delves into how there are often quite negative consequences, including unwanted attention, harassment, and in some cases even bullying. This is a fascinating subject that the documentary as a whole does somewhat deal with once the filmmaker tracks down Rebney, but not as explicitly or as in depth as it does here. There was a whole host of content that the documentary could have explored further here, and they perhaps should have taken the opportunity to split the film between more subjects beyond Jack Rebney. But on the other hand, he is an interesting person with an explosive, entertaining personality, so focusing on him was far from a bad idea.
That being said: the one main downside with this documentary may be that it had a slight lack of content, with its premise feeling stretched to what was barely feature length. It says most of what it needs to say and features most of its truly entertaining and thought-provoking scenes within its first half. That's not to say that the second half is terrible; moreso that it isn't quite as strong as what came before, although I did really enjoy the very final scene and the last line of dialogue from the film's narrator.
Overall, it's solid. There are better documentaries out there, but there are also a bunch that are much, much worse. It's a breezy, sometimes funny, occasionally touching look at an early viral star, and the upsides and downsides of having unexpected fame thrust upon you. It's certainly worth a casual watch if the premise piques your interest.
This part of the film was the most interesting to me for the above reasons, as well as for the insight it gave into the personal effects on a person who becomes a viral star. It delves into how there are often quite negative consequences, including unwanted attention, harassment, and in some cases even bullying. This is a fascinating subject that the documentary as a whole does somewhat deal with once the filmmaker tracks down Rebney, but not as explicitly or as in depth as it does here. There was a whole host of content that the documentary could have explored further here, and they perhaps should have taken the opportunity to split the film between more subjects beyond Jack Rebney. But on the other hand, he is an interesting person with an explosive, entertaining personality, so focusing on him was far from a bad idea.
That being said: the one main downside with this documentary may be that it had a slight lack of content, with its premise feeling stretched to what was barely feature length. It says most of what it needs to say and features most of its truly entertaining and thought-provoking scenes within its first half. That's not to say that the second half is terrible; moreso that it isn't quite as strong as what came before, although I did really enjoy the very final scene and the last line of dialogue from the film's narrator.
Overall, it's solid. There are better documentaries out there, but there are also a bunch that are much, much worse. It's a breezy, sometimes funny, occasionally touching look at an early viral star, and the upsides and downsides of having unexpected fame thrust upon you. It's certainly worth a casual watch if the premise piques your interest.