Watch this trailer. Or at least some of it. (Personally, I couldn't get through the whole thing.)
Now, read this post. I'm being lazy and linking to it because if someone else can say it better than I can, why should I even try?
But here's what I will say. I'm a blogger. I have been for over ten years now. I am a publicist who works with bloggers and have for almost seven years now. And while I have no doubt that all of the women in this trailer are bloggers, and that they could very well be lovely, wonderful women, and that the director could be a great guy who lovingly made this documentary because his wife is a blogger and he is fascinated by her and her blogger friends...
This documentary called American Blogger does not speak for this American blogger.
If I made a documentary about American bloggers, you might see a more diverse cast.
That's Marie on the left there. You might know her from The Curvy Fashionista. She has been featured in Glamour, Black Enterprise, the LA Times and much more... She has a Master's Degree and teaches college courses on marketing. On my other side is my dear friend Chris from What I Run Into. Also a holder of multiple college degrees. She's got an amazing sense of humor, is a KING among Social Media consultants and loves hockey. She's currently expecting her first child with her husband whom she lovingly calls "The Wife."
Xenia from Raised by Culture is a blogging MACHINE. She has four boys, an amazing husband and after eighteen year at the same job, she was cruelly laid off but it did not deter her for a moment. She is an ideas girl -- she's always coming up with ways to include others and work with bigger brands and I am proud that she counts me as a friend. We share a love of curse words, by the way.
Melissa Dell has a beautiful family, a full-time job, a business she owns on the side and a terrific blog. In addition she co-leads the SoCal Lady Bloggers with Carolyn West, who is a force in her own right. Melissa is also a miscarriage survivor and instead of making it a terrible, miserable thing that happened to her (which it is), she has made it something that helps others going through it and does not shy away from speaking out about it.
To be fair, the wife of the filmmaker began blogging following her own miscarriage - I just want to be honest about that - but this documentary has nothing to do with that - at least not that the trailer shows.
Did you know men blog, too? Charlie and Andy are the twisted, wonderful geniuses behind HowtobeaDad.com. If you've ever used the "banana for scale" meme, you probably owe Andy a nickel or something. He's high on life and a lot of caffeine, is a hugely talented grpahic designer, dad to three boys, plus the blog. Charlie is a dad to two boys himself, works for a rather large entertainment conglomerate in social media, acts (I guarantee you've seen him in a commercial) and is a beautiful writer.
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This list could be longer. You all know I have a b'zillion bloggers that I check in with regularly - I've written about that. I just want to directly address things said in this trailer and then I'll leave you alone.
"...that will change the way you see an entire industry..." // The filmmaker had an opportunity to craft how and if we see it at all. What is he changing? I am confused.
"...a new form of expression..." // Is it? I'm not sure when something stops being "new" but I think the bigger point is, blogging has been around for a long time and is still continuing to evolve. And that's probably where the change comes in.
"...beautifully filmed and artistically crafted... with stunning cinematography..." // It's nice he mentions that in his own trailer. How adorably self-serving. But I guess he did include sprawling landscapes. And he got to restore a vintage AirStream, so that's cool.
"...range of bloggers..." // Said right as he sat down with the single African-American blogger you see in this trailer. Never mind the glaring omission of male bloggers.
The filmmaker told The Daily Dot he selected bloggers based on "who said yes." That's really what he said. And if that was his only criteria, he missed a huge opportunity. There are more than 7.3 million blogs in America and this is not how I want my craft represented.
For the record, if this documentary had a better title and different branding, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Because I spent time in film school and work in the entertainment industry, I can't devalue how hard it must have been to get this film made. But for those same reasons, for all of the reasons I've mentioned in this post, and many more, I can't say I'll be downloading a copy of this film, or even give a shit about it once I hit the "publish" button.
