Draft:What?! I Think I'm An Animal

What?! I Think I'm An Animal is a 2013 documentary about otherkin and therians co-produced by Logo TV and Zig Zag Productions. It is almost universally regarded as innacurate and sensationalist by alterhumans.

The program is notable for a seven second clip in which Naia Okami states that "on all levels but physical, [she is] a wolf". The clip went viral on multiple sites, propelling her, and the otherkin and therian communities, into internet infamy.

Synopsis

(who wants to watch it to provide this lol)

Announcement & casting

In January of 2011, a message was posted to a large number of otherkin mailing lists, forums and other communities. The poster claimed to represent Animal Planet, and was looking for five people to represent the "lifestyle and beliefs" of the otherkin community for a new TV show. The post was initially believed to be a hoax by many, until multiple community members reached out to Animal Planet for confirmation, as well as Zig Zag Productions, who had revealed themselves to be the sender of the original message. In May of 2012, furry news site Flayrah published a quote from Zig Zag Productions associate producer Farrah Jaufuraully, inviting British otherkin to participate in a phone interview.

Many people reacted pessimistically to the prospect of the show. They posted warnings against getting involved, or else gave advice on how to behave on set for those who they anticipated would apply despite the warnings. One poster made reference to the documentary Animal Imitators, which featured coyote therian Coyote Osbourne, and which similarly manipulated footage to achieve a sensationalistic end product.

Naia Okami was initially among those who condemned the production. However, she went on to announce her own involvement with the documentary on November 3rd. She stated that "the production company was going to interview a group of people anyway" and that "by appearing in this film, [she] can assure that at least one perspective of a reasonable person in the community is represented". Users on the Werelist forum were positive towards the announcement, crediting Naia as a "respectable" member of the community. Savage echoed her sentiment towards controlling the potential damage the documentary could do, stating that "anyone from our community doing this is effectively throwing themselves on a grenade that otherwise would have struck somewhere else".

Production

some of the details on how the documentary was manipulated

Release and reception

Otherkin News reports that the documentary was released first in Russia, then Norway and Sweden. The documentary was aired on Logo TV on April 23rd, 2013, and simultaneously available to watch on Logo's website.

Reaction by alterhumans

polls conducted by vcn

lots of furry discussion here

Luna, one of the documentary participants, spoke about her experiences

yourdeer attests that one person did find their way to Werelist after seeing it

Reaction by the general public

thread on cringe channel, possibly the first outside mention on the web?

first big thread about it on reddit

trying to find some proper reviews from news outlets that aren't complete tabloid shlock

Meme and aftermath

(enough for its own section?)

places where naia has talked about it since:

personal blog

those two anthony padilla videos

what has the lasting impact been on the community?