American Movie (1999) – it’s funny, sad, and real. Best recent example: The Alpinist (2021) – though about climbing, it nails the “artist as obsessive” theme without corporate polish. One to avoid: Most “unauthorized” tabloid docs (e.g., the dozens of I Am... series on Prime Video) – they’re recycled Wikipedia entries with stock footage.

One of the primary functions of this genre is to humanize the larger-than-life figures of pop culture.

of the videos back to the women featured in them. This allows survivors to legally demand the removal of these videos from any platform hosting them.

As we turn