The history of furries and their fans is not something that is often discussed. Most of what is assumed to be known about furries is that is people dress up in animal suits and have sex with each other, like how wild animals would do out in nature. Artwork that often gets shared is of a sexual nature. The concept of it is so taboo that people don’t talk out loud that they are a part of the community. This documentary works to fix the image problem that the furry community continues to have.
Not only is the film able to trace the absolute origins of the community, but many of those founders are still active in the scene and seemed to have rigorously documented everything giving an unprecedented access into a group that has been so maligned for so long. It all started back in the 1970’s, when some young people were going to comic conventions and had simultaneous inventions, where multiple people started drawing anthropomorphic animals, meaning creatures that featured human characteristics. Slowly these people started finding each other and realized they weren’t so much fans of intellectual properties like comic books, movies or video games but of a style of art.
The film documents the rise of what was deemed “furry parties” where at conventions there would be a designated hotel room for people who like this kind of artwork to all gather and share what they had been working on for all to see. They often traded art with one another too, something that the big animation studios did not like as they saw art as something to be profited on. As people started to make more and more art, they realized they could draw themselves into this style, creating what was dubbed a “fursona”. Fursona’s became a way for people to truly immerse themselves in the world. They could add in features and traits they wished they had, while also adopting some that the creator already had themselves.
As these furry parties got bigger with each respective convention they crashed, eventually it became time to start their own fan-centric experience. The first show dedicated solely to furries was ConFurence Zero, named zero because they weren’t sure if they would get another chance to do something this out of the box again, so instead of numbering it “One” with the expectation that there will be a “Two”, they named it “Zero” to gave the power back to the organizers. Surprisingly the convention was a success and led to it to come back the year after and onwards. Other cities started to notice and started up their own conventions too, like Anthrocon, and plenty of others.
But what started out as a small insular community of outsiders, soon grew to numbers much larger and that is when things got tricky. There was no denying that drinking, partying and sex was happening when these groups were getting together, but as the number of attendees rose, so did the darker side, which eventually led to the image problem furries got. The film goes over the image problem they received not only from the news but from shows like CSI, that did an episode about furries that only seemed to refer to them as deviants. Soon people were losing their jobs if their employers found out they were furries and artists being black listed by bigger companies. Then came the alt-right movement within the community making things seem even more toxic.
The film does a great job covering the history of the community, all the major players and how they view themselves versus what the outside perspective is. Learning that about 80% of the furry community identifies as LGBTQ+ adds a new dimension as to why they are so misunderstood considering the rampant homophobia that is only starting to lessen over the last several years. Another fascinating stat is 12% of the furry community are trans, while the American national percentage is only 0.2%, meaning the trans community are by and large extremely attracted to the furry community. This all makes sense, as being a furry is about putting your idealized version of yourself out there, when in reality members are mostly shy and introverted making furry conventions and meet ups the best place to live their true lives.
The documentary is a typical talking heads one, we get interviews with convention organizers, artists, furry costume makers, and general fans of the community. We often don’t find out someone’s involvement in the story until much later, making the viewer wonder about their involvement at times. Many subjects only seem to get surface level attention, especially once they start talking about the alt-right infiltration. It gets a cursory mention and a response that they aren’t welcome in the community and that is all. We also get conflicting reasonings behind the importance of sex in the community. We are told that people shouldn’t be ashamed of sex and of course people with similar interests will likely be attracted to one another, but there seems to be some trepidation on how the furry community received the designation that they are a sex group and they only participate because they are so horny. As a viewer you’ll learn a lot about a misunderstood community and their origins, but also leave with plenty of questions you really wished were answered so you don’t walk away not knowing what you might have wanted to know.
The Fandom was seen during the 2021 Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Thank you to the festival for the screener. The Fandom does not have a North American release date at this time.
