Bear Nation

Being a straight man who happens to fit the mold of a typical "bear" (ie: larger, hairy, bearded, etc), I have had several gay friends joke that I missed my calling. I was first made aware of the term because of Kevin Smith, who also happens to resemble the traditional "bear" type. He mentioned that Malcolm Ingram (the director of the film) & he were appearing on the cover of a magazine dedicated to the community & those who loved them. Malcolm talked about the movie & it sounded interesting. Several years passed with not a peep about the project it seemed, until I decided to check Amazon to see if it made it here yet.

I was happy to see it available for streaming, though the DVD/blu-ray release is still not set. I found the film to be a charming, light-hearted look at the bear community, & it really did a good job at taking some of the stigma of being large & hairy within the broader gay community. It was nice to see the local groups creating strong bonds amongst each other, as well as the larger events that brought international crowds. It was also nice to hear the stories of so many people who looked at themselves as outcasts from whichever society they were trying to fit in, who became immediately embraced & accepted when they found their true proper group, where they were free to be themselves without judgement. In the end, that's what most people want, & I thought that Malcolm did a good job of capturing that feeling.

I found this film fascinating, even as an outsider of the gay community. Maybe it has something to do with being a big, bearded-guy myself, but I found these stories of love and acceptance very touching and empowering. BEAR NATION is also visually pleasant, the story is well-crafted, and the film is an enjoyable watch, overall. If you liked the filmmaker's SMALL TOWN GAY BAR, you'll probably like this one too. It is ingrained with the same sensibility, but the production values are improved here. Malcolm Ingram is as exciting a queer filmmaker as I've come across and should be celebrated for his ability to always allow the character, personality, and humanity of his subjects come through in his films which, in lesser hands, could easily be overtly-political diatribes. That's not to say that Ingram's films don't have a point of view--they do--but he crafts his narrative from his characters' stories rather than simply shoving an agenda down the audiences' collective throats, which is both refreshing and the sign of a confident filmmaker. I can say, as an outsider, that goes a long way toward building empathy and creating straight allies who may otherwise be unfamiliar with gay culture and its many sub-cultures. This is an easy recommend for me. Looking forward to Ingram's next film, CONTINENTAL, as well.

"Bear Nation" is a good enough documentary which simply doesn't go far enough. It is a snapshot of the Bear movement at a particular time, 2011, over 25 years on, and mostly in a few particular places, Toronto and Chicago predominantly. There is some interview footage with the current publisher of the current manifestation of "Bear Magazine," which is apparently now headquartered in Las Vegas. The documentary depends predominately on 6-8 talking heads, most of whom appear to have probably been in grade school when the movement began. It would've been nice to see some of the history explored. The first "Bear" magazine began coming out of San Francisco in the mid-80s in a 5"x 8" format, so one can easily hold it with one hand. Interviews with original publisher Richard Bulger and/or early contributors such as Jay Shaffer, Jack Fritscher, Chris Nelson, Congo Moore, Luke Maumerman and Furr (or at least those of whom are still with us) or later editors Rich Iremonger or Scott McGillivray would have been wonderful to see and would have provided insight into the birth and early development of the movement. It would've been nice to see mention of other early publications which explored alternative images of gay men such as "RFD" which began publishing in the 1970s, "Hippie Dick" which began its brief but influential run in 1989, "S.T.H. (Straight To Hell)" which began coming out of NYC in the 1970s, and "Daddy, the Magazine" which published throughout the 1990s. All of these magazines featured photographs, artwork, essays, "one-handed fiction" and men who were not the clichéd smooth, young, pretty, slightly effeminate usually retouched/airbrushed image which was most often propagated through the media, when any image of us was propagated through the media at all in those days. The men in these publications were real guys you could actually meet and in those pre-Internet days, if one can imagine that, most of these magazines featured Personals ads through which like-minded men could hook up. Cartoonists like Tim Barela and Sean Martin gave the burgeoning movement an often touching sense of humor. All of these men and magazines, and many others, contributed to what we now know of as the bear movement. Dr. Les Wright's anthologies "The Bear Movement: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture" (1997) and "The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture" (2001) provide a lot of background and analysis gathering essays written relatively early in the movement's evolution and an interview with him would have been an insightful addition to the film. Likewise an interview with Ron Sushura, editor of "Bears on Bears: Interviews and Discussions" could have added a lot to the film. The interviews in "Bear Nation" are pretty consistently interesting, especially (for Husker Du and Sugar fans) the one with musician Bob Mould (check out his solo album "Black Sheets of Rain" - like "Husker Du's "Zen Arcade" it is a true rock masterpiece). Filmmaker Kevin Smith provides humor along with a straight man's point of view. Like Henry Rollins he seems absolutely unafraid to be embraced by the gay culture and is unhesitating in his support. But most of the real insight to be gleaned from the film comes from the regular, non-celebrity men who share their experiences. To summarize, "Bear Nation" is an enjoyable view of the current state of the bear movement. It doesn't dig very deep, touching quickly on issues like divisions within the bear community before moving on. One is almost tempted to refer to it as a "fluff piece" but it is a bit more than that. However a definitive documentary on the bear movement it is not. That, I hope, is still to come. DVD production is fine although bonus features are slight, consisting solely of extended interviews with the three celebrities, Smith, Mould and Tracy Morgan. In the spirit of full disclosure I am proud to say that the original "Bear Magazine" published three sets of my photographs, including the cover of issue number 49 (I believe the last B&W cover), and one of my poems.