It’s almost confusing to know how to feel about Tiger Woods and his upcoming documentary, but walking into it without any expectations might be the best bet since otherwise, it feels as though too much personal bias could really make a person think one way or another about the show and it’s also possible that this could make a person hate it or love it too much. But there’s going to be a story here that we may or may not have heard in the papers and the tabloids since the idea of Tiger’s father making it clear that his son is his treasure and that he doesn’t want him to be used unwisely almost feels as though it’s a statement that Tiger is bound to be more important than the game, than the mistakes he’s made in his life, and the fame that he’s gained since he first stepped onto the scene. There’s some sense in that considering that his name has transcended the game and the fame that he’s taken on, but vilifying Tiger for his mistakes isn’t exactly the best way to go about remembering the guy since he did so much good for the game of golf before his life choices started putting him in the position where his fame was coming from a very negative place.
If there’s anything a documentary can show, and they can typically show quite a few things that people will question endlessly, it’s the fact that most people started out rather simply, whether they had a good or bad upbringing. Things usually start small and begin to spiral out of control the bigger they get, and while it’s not a foregone conclusion that every famous name will spark controversy of some sort, it’s pretty typical in this world since people almost expect celebrities from many walks of life to star some sort of trouble that will get them in the headlines for the dumbest to most controversial of things. Tiger hasn’t been spared from this in his career since he has made a few questionable decisions that have landed him squarely in the court of public opinion. Even if he’s made his way forward since all of the noise that became his life occurred, there are plenty of people that don’t view him as the same person any longer since it’s been made clear that he’s just as human as anyone else, which is a revelation that should have been realized in the first place. That’s the trouble when it comes to granting celebrity status to anyone though, they become infallible in the eyes of many and will for a long time after being offered any and every excuse for any ill behavior they might commit since their fans won’t accept that they’re screwing up due to their own choices.
Hopefully, this documentary will be as unbiased as possible since as we’ve seen this year and in many others before, documentaries can leave heavily towards creating an image of a celebrity as a villain, or they can glorify them in some way and turn said celebrity into a victim of circumstance that is not responsible for their poor choices. A documentary that’s unbiased and completely fair should be able to call out a celebrity for their poor choices without vilifying them and take note of their accomplishments without a rose-colored lens. But drama sells, and that’s a big reason why we’re given documentaries that either favors the individual or demonize them in some way since that’s what people want to see and that’s what networks will give them. In this documentary, it’s a big hope that Tiger will be given his due and that he’ll also be shown as a guy that’s not perfect, and that made some very poor choices along the way. It does feel as though fame gave him a bit of a big head at times and it does appear that he might have thought himself a bit above everything for a brief time. But however a person wants to argue for or against him, and there will be plenty that will do both, the documentary needs to be neutral territory where his story will play out as it happened, without any attempt to make it sound any better or worse than it actually was.
Some folks would say that celebrities act the way they do since society gives them permission to do it, and that’s not entirely wrong. When the legal system doesn’t punish celebrities for their crimes in the same manner as they would a regular citizen, there is a very big problem since, in the eyes of the law, every individual is supposed to be equal, but if one is a celebrity it would appear that justice is just as blind as some folks say. It’s not necessary to turn Tiger into a villain, but the hope is that this documentary will be even-handed in how he’s presented.
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