Craigslist Joe is a road film documentary that challenges the viewer to reflect on his or her own generosity. In this film Joe Garner voluntarily leaves his home for 31 days with only a laptop, cell phone, and the cloths on his back; with the hopes that he can rely on the generosity of people through Craigslist ads to travel the Unites States. Through Craigslist, Joe comes across a large (an odd) spectrum of people, including businessmen, hippies, a compulsive hoarder, Iraqi immigrants, and a dominatrix. Towards the end of his trip he even gets to meet the founder of Craigslist himself.
The road film genre of Craigslist Joe, paired with the many collaged videos of Joe's adventures, made the documentary feel like a scrapbook of Joe's journey. As Joe narrated the scenes, it made me feel as though I too was along for the ride. This film was entertaining throughout and because of the unpredictability of Craigslist, I never knew what to expect next.
Having used Craigslist before, I was curious about this film to see how and if it is possible to live off of the website. Craigslist is notorious for being dangerous, because you never know who you're trading with and I personally have been put off at times by the potential of coming across a "bad" person. After watching this film I think I would feel a little more open to the idea of using the site, because a large majority of the people (although bizarre) were kind and charitable.
The were a few technicalities that hindered the practicality of this experiment working. The fact that Joe was a clean-cut, attractive, white male, with a camera following him around, may have contributed to the ease in which he found assistance. It would be interesting to see how this experiment would have worked if done off camera, and or with someone of a different race and gender. With that said, the help that he received came from ads that people had posted regardless of Joe and his film. Although Joe's presence may have heightened peoples warmheartedness, there generosity was there to begin with.
The road film genre of Craigslist Joe, paired with the many collaged videos of Joe's adventures, made the documentary feel like a scrapbook of Joe's journey. As Joe narrated the scenes, it made me feel as though I too was along for the ride. This film was entertaining throughout and because of the unpredictability of Craigslist, I never knew what to expect next.
Having used Craigslist before, I was curious about this film to see how and if it is possible to live off of the website. Craigslist is notorious for being dangerous, because you never know who you're trading with and I personally have been put off at times by the potential of coming across a "bad" person. After watching this film I think I would feel a little more open to the idea of using the site, because a large majority of the people (although bizarre) were kind and charitable.
The were a few technicalities that hindered the practicality of this experiment working. The fact that Joe was a clean-cut, attractive, white male, with a camera following him around, may have contributed to the ease in which he found assistance. It would be interesting to see how this experiment would have worked if done off camera, and or with someone of a different race and gender. With that said, the help that he received came from ads that people had posted regardless of Joe and his film. Although Joe's presence may have heightened peoples warmheartedness, there generosity was there to begin with.