TVFirstLook
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| Chris Crocker |
When YouTube sensation Chris Crocker burst onto the pop culture scene a few years back, hysterically crying "leave Britney alone," he was catapulted from online oddity (with a big following) to celebrity status.
His teary-eyed plea for the paparrazi to stop harassing troubled pop star Britney Spears landed him guest spots on shows like Jimmy Kimmel, daily coverage on countless websites, millions of clicks on YouTube and, from his YouTube videos, thousands of dollars a month in shared advertising revenue.
In Me @ The Zoo (HBO, 9pm), the camera swirls around Chris to reveal his real life, which, you couldn't imagine would be worthy of a documentary, but is.
Although, Me @ The Zoo isn't really it. What Me @ The Zoo is, is a documentary that, for whatever reason, doesn't delve totally into Chris's life.
Instead, it's three documentaries in one. There's an overview of how YouTube transformed from a lowly website that virtually no one paid attention to, to a massive and highly influential media company that Google purchased a few years back for more than $1 billion. Yawn.
Me @ The Zoo is also a commentary about celebrity and our collective obsession with pop stars. Why? I'd guess to fill up time in this documentary, although the topic has been endlessly explored, and more interestingly explored elsewhere.
What Me @ The Zoo should be is a full-on biodoc about Chris, who documented his teenage life online for all to see. In doing that, the transgendered teen had millions of fans and inspired many of them to live their lives as they wished, not as other people expected them to.
His life is worthy of a documentary: He was born to a 14-year-old girl, raised by grandparents and comes from a long line of prostitutes, including a grandmother murdered on the streets. Most fascinating, but least explored in Me @ The Zoo, Chris transforms from a transgendered teen to a young man who seems to want nothing to do with being transgendered.
Why? I don't have any idea. But that would be far more fascinating than hearing, again, how YouTube is a popular website where people post videos.
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