It became the talk of the event not just because of its content – eye-popping though it is – but due to the peculiar occurrences surrounding its screenings. Police reportedly interrupted the first showing to remove a person attempting to pirate the film via a camera hidden in a Starbucks coffee cup, while the following day Farrier was apparently served a subpoena.
One viewing of Tickled explains the hullabaloo. The film starts out with Farrier, who’s “made a career looking at the weird and bizarre side of life”, stumbling upon a Facebook page advertising a “competitive endurance tickling” event in Los Angeles. Male participants are offered an all-expenses-paid trip plus substantial compensation to take part and be videotaped by a company named Jane O’Brien Media.
Intrigued and baffled, Farrier reaches out for an interview, only to receive a hostile emailed response attacking his homosexuality – ironic, given the intensely homoerotic nature of the “sport”.
In no time, Farrier is threatened by absurd lawsuits for inquiring into the business, leading him only to dig deeper into the fetish empire with the help of Reeve, his computer-savvy (and straight) collaborator, in the hope of creating a full documentary on the subject. To uncover more and confront the people behind the threats, the pair travel to the US. It’s there that Tickled morphs from an offbeat caper to a disturbing exposé on the dangers of cyberbullying.
Speaking to the only former tickling-video participant willing to do an interview, Farrier and Reeve are horrified to learn about the control Jane O’Brien Media attempts to exert over its models. The man they speak to reveals how he became the victim of a vicious online slander campaign that threatened his career as a pro footballer, after he objected to Jane O’Brien Media posting his footage on YouTube.
The revelations that follow are too juicy to spoil – the pleasure in watching this documentary is derived from its countless twists. Along the way, Farrier serves as his audience’s conduit, going from amused to enraged as his journey progresses.
The film doesn’t look down its nose at those who like to engage in tickling. One extended sequence sees the directors stop in Orlando for a lighthearted visit with Richard Ivey, an entrepreneur who runs a similar fetish empire – the key difference being that Ivey fully owns its intentions (his site advertises itself as “gay foot fetish heaven”). He also doesn’t spook his models.
