Seeking Mavis Beacon is a teach yourself typing programme that made a lot of people rich. The model they approached to be its face got paid 500 dollars – her name is Renee L’Esperance. Written and directed by Jazmin Jones, alongside collaborator Olivia McKayla Ross it attempts to tackle some hard-hitting topics. From the advent of AI to identity theft, this documentary feels as much like a whodunnit without the body as anything else. As Jones and Ross search the length and breadth of America following a trail of breadcrumbs that lead to Renee, Seeking Mavis Beacon soon establishes its own agenda. If nothing else, this documentary reveals an America still coming to terms with a shifting cultural landscape, where gender and identity have moved on. A place where artificial intelligence is quickly changing everything about the way we live our lives, and some people are running to catch up.
Whether or not Seeking Mavis Beacon truly addresses any of these questions fully is another story. As much as the pursuit of Renee L’Esperance is an intriguing proposition, and her eventual reveal a revelation, this documentary soon runs out of steam. The topics of identity and the intrusion of artificial intelligence into contemporary culture fail to dig deep enough. To a certain extent, these filmmakers put too much focus on themselves and their challenges, rather than broadening the cultural playing field. As relevant as the topics of white privilege with a racial angle might be in the here and now, this documentary simply lacks the backbone to keep an audience engaged.
Many audiences going into this documentary might think that these film makers were looking to get some money back for Renee. Monies owed for years of illegal identity theft as her image got altered across numerous new editions of this typing programme, but the truth is far less sensational. Court cases had already come and gone, legal proceedings had already gone through the motions, and every avenue of compensation explored. Leaving writer-director Jazmin Jones and her collaborator on a hiding to nothing when it came to giving this documentary a dramatic conclusion. Ultimately, Seeking Mavis Beacon is quite a sad affair, revealing a woman who prefers no public recognition or financial justice. Just another victim unable to fight her corner thanks to corporations with huge legal teams willing to tie the defendant up in knots, wait it out, and consolidate their advantage until they finally give up. A sad indictment of the power of big business over the individual if there ever was one.