Eric Goode's new five-parter focuses on the lucrative and illegal business of trafficking exotic snakes, tortoises and lizards.
Documentarian and animal rights activist Eric Goode has a formula, but he’s been steadily refining it — diminishing the sensationalism, focusing on substance and gradually making more respectable, if not more entertaining, series as he goes along.
The thesis of pandemic sensation Tiger King (co-directed with Rebecca Chaiklin) could be boiled down to: People who own and traffic exotic animals are criminals and lunatics and rubes. Let’s laugh at them!
The thesis of 2024’s Chimp Crazy could be boiled down to: People who own and traffic exotic primates are criminals and lunatics and rubes, but there’s something relatable and human in the desire to want chimpanzees in our lives. Heck, even Alan Cumming thought it was cool to befriend a chimp, until he learned better, so maybe we should mix our laughter with a trace of compassion?
The thesis of Goode’s new documentary series, HBO‘s five-parter Monsters of God, can be boiled down to: Actually, I [Eric Goode] once owned exotic reptiles, so maybe let’s not critique the people who own exotic reptiles, especially since a lot of perfectly normal people probably own turtles. But can we all agree that it’s bad to illegally traffic them, even if it’s really exciting and fun and a bit like an addiction?
