‘Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution’ (2024) Netflix Review - Changing the World

The new documentary on Netflix starts by telling the audience about May 7, 2022, and why it's important. Top LGBTQ+ comedians from around the world converged on the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles for a historic night of comedy. Getting to the Greek Theatre took 100 years, several generations of determined comedians, and a countless number of jokes.” There were 22 LGBTQ+ performers and it's the same time period that the interviews shown in the documentary were recorded.

The documentary starts with how comedy played an important role in the LGBTQ+ movement. It's, again and again, emphasized how if you wrap important things like the acceptance of this community in-jokes, people might hear you. This too in a society where people lost their jobs just for coming out as gay or lesbian or transgender. Many comedians go back in time and tell how the movement started and how the Stonewall Rebellion played a pivotal role.

Initially, people weren't accepting individuals who came out as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. As per the interviews shown by these renowned artists, it was in the 1920s that things started to shift. Some comedians came out and made their place in the hearts of the people and many went unnoticed. World War II kind of proved to be a setback and so did AIDS.

When AIDS broke out, the blame was shifted to homosexuals and whatever acceptance they achieved too went away. I did not know much about how the LGBTQ+ community comedians helped in shifting the perspective, and this documentary has shed enough light to educate the audience.

Wanda Sykes, one of my favorite artists who I came to know through The Upshaws when I shared her story, really hit hard. How difficult it might be for her and the other featured comedians to live a life that's shielded from the world. When these artists speak, there's one thing that I noticed and it's about how at peace they are with themselves after accepting their truth.

A lot of history, references, and video tapes have been included in Outstanding and though I'm a sucker for these things, the recap of the essential steps appeared enlightening. What's currently going on with the transgender community and how even which gender’s washroom they use is being put into question, ridiculed me. There's increasing violence towards the community and there's one thing said by Wanda Sykes that caught my attention, and it was how she had to face more struggles because of being a lesbian than being a Black person.

The ending of this documentary is overwhelming and it gives a chance to the people to refine and redefine their perspectives. In all this almost hundred-minute-long documentary deserves a watch and unlike many, it doesn't bore you. In addition, I wish this documentary had more performances from the Greek Theatre so that we could have witnessed this great moment on our Netflix accounts. The contribution given by every artist matters and so do all the lives who have felt marginalised at some point in their career for not being straight.

Final Score – [7/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
Follow @_riyasinghhh_ on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times