Big Vape: Netflix Docuseries Flips the Narrative on Juul

October 06, 2023 by filtermag.org

Big Vape: Netflix Docuseries Flips the Narrative on Juul

I was prepared to hate-watch the new Netflix limited docuseries, Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul, directed by R.J. Cutler. The name alone pissed me off because of its implied conflation of Juul, which is not a tobacco company, with “Big Tobacco.” The trailer is a feverish montage of talking heads and voiceover accusing the company of being “wildly irresponsible,” photos of hospitalized patients with bloody chest tubes, and a clip of James Monsees, one of Juul’s founders, being called “a marketer of poison to young people” at a congressional hearing.