Baby Reindeer: The chronicles from an artist's relationship with fame

“Because, fame encompasses judgment, right?”

A person’s sense of humor is an amalgamation of very personal life experiences. It encompasses life itself and sugarcoats it to be softer to look back on. Hence, to be a comedian is to show the world the biggest part of your personality. To then be rejected as a comedian in front of the world is to be rejected as a person itself. Facing rejection as a comedian can be the most vulnerable moment of an artist’s life. To be looked at with admiration through the person’s humor is mostly what a comedian craves and hence any gaze from that direction is welcomed without any prejudice which can sometimes lead to the most terrible choices. 

 In this instance, the stand up comic is the show’s leading star Richard Gadd who is also its writer and creator. It is a retelling of his personal experience of being stalked by a woman during his initial days as a comic. The show not only delves deep into this harrowingly fearsome experience but also manages to be a meditative exploration of the relationship of a struggling artist with the concept of fame. In the show, the lead character named “Donny Dunn” works at a pub while dreaming of a career in comedy. The dreams appear lofty as there is no tangible success in sight that would quantify a career in comedy. This leaves him with grim thoughts that come with being a failed comedian. He seeks validation in a moment of total vulnerability and he finds it in people who are willing to use it for their sickening desires. His anecdotes with 2 different people who used his vulnerability to turn his life upside down, is what forms the crux of the show. 

 There is a freedom that the medium has lent to this man to retell his terrifying life story. He has penned it all down as a cautionary tale. The writing is adequately rewarded with stunning direction by Weronika Tofilska and Josephine Bornebusch, who manage to build the intensity in a very methodical way. The cinematography for example, closes down on the protagonist in a slow, yet unending manner. The sound design is particularly exquisite in the manner it manages to make basic everyday sounds alarming. Even the sounds of an email notification ets horrifying as the frequency increases, allowing audiences to understand the nature of the crime he’s facing. The screenplay also strings together untimely circumstances in a manner that is designed to cause anxiety for both the current event and the dire circumstances that follow. Coupled with narration that serves as both a representation of guilt and fear, the show is a necessary watch to understand the perspective of a victim. To create it as a show, has not only given the creator a chance to look back at the events that transpired but has also been able to give watchers a cinematic look at being the victim to such horrific yet unnoticed crimes.