TSN created a documentary about Toronto FC's fan culture as a part of their "Engraved on a Nation" series, which profiles interesting stories in the history of Canadian sport. I could not watch the initial airing of this documentary due to other responsibilities, but I did manage to catch a repeat airing a couple of days later, and so I am ready to give my thoughts. I did not have any high expectations going into watching this documentary, but I hoped that everything presented about the club's fan culture is in a fair and balanced way. I will be watching this documentary in the lens of someone who has been entrenched in the Toronto FC fan culture since the beginning.
I will keep this in bullet-point form. Therefore, here are my thoughts:
- Easily, the best thing about this documentary were the stories shared by the profiled Toronto FC supporters about how they became a fan of the club. Every Toronto FC supporter has their own story, and it is important that at least some of these stories be shared on this documentary so that there can be a creation of a human connection between the documentary and the viewer.
- The production quality of the documentary is outstanding. If you have ever watched the "All For One" episodes that the club produces, then you are in for a similar level of production quality. Related to this, there is too much usage of the slow motion camera for dramatic effect.
- I think the title of the documentary is too vague and basic. Instead of naming the documentary "The Northern Touch", maybe name it something more Toronto FC-centric, such as "The Lakeshore Terrace", or "The Red Army", or another Toronto FC-related title that is cleverer than what I just thought.
- Most of the dialogue for this documentary centered on what Toronto FC and the fan culture means to the city, the league, and to the individual supporters. However, when watching this documentary, it felt to me like many people were using different words to try to say the same thing. The documentary felt stale and felt like it was repeating itself at many points of the documentary.
- There was an odd narrative that I noticed when I was watching the documentary. The documentary did not directly come out and say this, but the documentary was implicitly trying to convey that Toronto FC supporters are among the best in the world. I have to disagree with this assertion. Although there is a uniqueness in Toronto FC's fan culture, there are many other supporters of clubs in Europe and South America who engage in similar activities as Toronto FC supporters do, but on a much grander scale.
- The documentary used a lot of exaggeration and hyperbole in the presentation of the south end of BMO Field and the supporters who reside there. I thought the part of the documentary where the comparison of the south end supporters to a magnet to force the ball into the south end goal was especially awkward to hear.
- Footage from Toronto FC's run in the CONCACAF Champions League was used to complement the exploration into TFC's fan culture in showing the raw emotions of triumph and heartbreak in the faces of TFC supporters, which I thought was a nice touch.
- I was surprised to see the profiling of the incident in Ottawa and the termination of the Inebriatti supporters group in this documentary. However, did the makers of this documentary have to put in overly serious and dramatic music that is reminiscent of watching Godzilla movies? The information presented in regards to those situations are factual, but the choices in music and video footage (particularly the connection to hooliganism) paint the Inebriatti in a worse light than I was expecting. The portrayal of the Inebriatti in tandem with the hooliganism footage was sensationalist, and it was in direct contrast with the positive message that the documentary was trying to send.
I realize that I am probably not the target audience for this documentary, as this documentary explains things that I already knew about Toronto FC, the supporters, and the supporters groups. The casual sports fans that may not necessarily know much about TFC are the target audience of this documentary, and there is much for them to learn. The documentary has elements of awkwardness, as well as elements of being a propaganda piece to paint Toronto FC in a more positive light, but it was still satisfactory to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment