Megan McLachlan reviews Rachel Mason’s An Update On Our Family. The three-part HBO docuseries follows family vlogging with a focus on the YouTube family that rehomed their adopted son from China.
One of the joys of a good documentary is when it uncovers an unknown subculture for audiences. Some fascinating, bonkers submissions have been David Farrier’s Tickled (on endurance tickling) and Laurent Malaquais’s Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony. Even HBO’s Chimp Crazy provided a glimpse at the subculture of monkey mommying.
But of all the subcultures covered (and there have been A LOT), the family vlogging in Rachel Mason’s An Update On Our Family might be one of the most disturbing and depressing.
HBO’s three-part series starts innocently enough, casually introducing us to Hannah Cho, who’s not only a fan of family vloggers like the Stauffer family (the focus of the doc) but also nurtures her own platform (she specializes in beauty). Then, the director asks Cho, “Can you tell me about the Stauffers?”
“You want me to be honest?” she responds.
The doc rewinds to more than 10 years ago when nurse and single mother Myka Bellisari started vlogging (she even filmed her first date with future husband, James) and shows the fast-track progression from “Myka Bellisari” to “The Stauffer Life.” Soon, the family gains a following after popping out one kid after another and endorsing brands like Fabletics.
The crux of the doc involves Huxley, the special needs child Myka and James adopt from China, who becomes their YouTube channel’s focus before the couple quietly quits him in 2020. Did the Stauffers adopt the child to boost their views and then get in over their head? Essentially, yes. But the doc also posits that the parasocial relationship between YouTube influencers and their audiences is also part of the problem. They push YouTubers like the Stauffers to make decisions and then decide when they’ve gone too far (it feels like a real-life Truman Show).
Interviews with adoptees add depth to the narrative and explore the trauma of adoption, Huxley’s being heightened with the addition of a camera in his face. Mason also investigates how often adopted children are “rehomed” (even if those interviewed never provide a solid reason).
While family vloggers like Channan Rose offer insight into the lifestyle, the Earls family never makes themselves vulnerable on camera without the glint of a “please subscribe” light in their eyes. It makes you wonder whether these influencers can ever turn it off.
An Update On Our Family presents the Stauffers not as an evil family who set out to exploit a small child, but a naive one who lost sight of what real life was like beyond their mobile devices. Turns out, whether you’re a content creator or consumer, it’s easy to forget you’re in a manufactured world.
An Update On Our Family debuts on January 15 on HBO.
