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How Napoleon Dynamite Took the Edge Out of the Indie

🕑 Added 2025-07-20 14:00:16 +0000 UTC

Comments

Lootpack Jack

While you and I have different conclusions on Napoleon Dynamite, this thorough ass video essay helped me come to terms with issues I took with the movie, Pedro aside. I came up on renting Welcome to the Dollhouse, Clerks, Slacker, etc from video stores. They were independent movies with an edge, and being made outside of the system let them explore more in different ways. Napoleon, while charming, was an Indie had all of the sharp edges sanded off. I think I resented it for being more toothless than what I previously watched. It was like having store-brand maple syrup when you only grew up with the authentic one. Either way though, this was an excellent video. You've been killing it with the Patreon exclusives.

Broey Deschanel

got the shirt at a clothing swap ! a girl's bf had made it haha

googmebro

i had no idea it was such a big hit, but i distinctly remember watching it with older kids and having a similar feeling to what you described. one girl even did most of the dance, and this was like right when the DVD came out. stellar video as usual and i think it would be fun to explore post-ironic cinema or the films that shaped young millennial humor. also, i gotta know where you got that Rocket League shirt!

CelesteK

Wow, I didn't expect to come away from this video as endeared to the movie as I was. I do agree in retrospect that there was something unusually earnest about the tone of the movie, especially in contrast to the cynicism of other indie quirk movies that came before and after (ESotSM, I'm looking at you). The fact that the filmmakers came from Mormon backgrounds probably explains a good part of it, not to mention the actors themselves. I attended a retrospective live show put on by Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, and Jon Gries a couple years back, and to hear them talk about their memories of making the movie was both wholesome and just a little bit cringey. I don't have too many other observations to add, but it would be interesting to have a longer video essay tying ND to the larger context of what indie film was in those days. The fact that studios were willing to take risks on smaller movies like this back then feels so antithetical to how movies are made and distributed these days. But I agree that we could probably use a return to this type of movie-making, to provide different, more creative perspectives on the historical context of today, not to mention hope for the future of film. I for one would enjoy hearing your perspective on this particular moment and what movies like ND might have to teach us.