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Trading cards have long held a special place in American pop culture. For over a century, these little cardboard keepsakes have allowed fans to connect more deeply with the sports heroes, movie characters, and pop culture icons they admire. Whether it’s baseball cards featuring legends like Mickey Mantle or Pokémon cards depicting fantastical creatures, trading cards tap into our childlike sense of wonder and nostalgia.
The Hobby explores how this traditionally wholesome hobby has evolved into big business driven by profit-seeking investors. While trading cards once fostered friendship through bartering, they now frequently sell at auction for millions. Director Morgan Jon Fox tries to capture the push and pull between hobbyists who collect for love and investors who see dollar signs.
However, by mostly fixating on valuable sports cards and Pokémon cards changing hands, the documentary fails to fully examine the cultural shift this $100 billion industry is undergoing. Casual viewers may feel left out of the insider trading lingo and lack of diverse perspectives. Still, The Hobby offers an enlightening, if narrow, look at how commercialization can transform personal pastimes once filled with innocence.
Trading Cards: From Childhood Pastime to Big Business
The bulk of The Hobby delves into the rapidly transforming trading card scene, contrasting old-school collectors with new-age investors. Through a series of interviews, we meet individuals who epitomize both sides.
On one end sit hobbyists like Jacques, whose basement resembles a cardboard wonderland. Jacques admits his obsession goes far beyond money: “I just love the cards.” However, the film also profiles self-proclaimed “disruptors” like stock trader-turned-Pokémon dealer Gary, who once sold a single Charizard card for $300,000. “It’s about making money, not collecting,” asserts Gary.
Reporters, shop owners, and even a “full-time Pokémon content creator” offer more perspectives on record-shattering auction prices and market volatility. One dealer shrugs that a Mickey Mantle rookie card fetched $5.2 million, more than the slugger made during his entire 18-year career. An enthusiastic blogger raves about quitting his job because covering the booming trade card industry proved more lucrative.
Amid the buying, selling, and price-dropping, we witness how a nostalgic hobby has transformed into cutthroat capitalism. However, The Hobby lacks meaningful dissenting voices or much self-reflection on this cultural shift. Besides vowing to stay true to collecting, Jacques and other hobbyists don’t bemoan the loss of childlike fandom and community. The film also ignores factors like overspeculation contributing to the card market rollercoaster. More critical examination could have balanced the glowing endorsements from those profiting off trading cards’ explosion into a $100 billion juggernaut industry.
A Missed Creative Opportunity
While clearly passionate about the trading card industry, director Morgan Jon Fox utilizes a straightforward, if uninspired documentary filmmaking approach. Scene after scene consists of people in offices or at trade show booths, rattling off card sale prices or investment advice. The repetitive interviews blend together, only distinguished by the latest shocking auction cost mentioned.
We rarely depart from these dull settings to showcase manufacturing facilities where the cards get printed, collectors interacting at trade events, or hobbyists showing off their home collections. Visually demonstrating how rapidly technology has elevated trading cards into 3D, augmented reality and NFTs gets overlooked. Even more criminal, the film wastes chances to display the creative card designs or artwork that spawned such ardent fandom.
The few motion graphics lack polish, with spelling errors like “Eclusive” popping up. Given the advancement of digital tools, it’s a shame the film didn’t better incorporate custom animations, historical footage, or other engaging visual elements. While The Hobby undoubtedly required a quick turnaround time to capture this accelerating craze, more care with cinematic craft could have further enriched this glimpse into a transforming pop culture institution. Trading cards have come incredibly far since their early days bundled with gum and garage sale swapping ― this film only scratches the surface of their ongoing evolution.
When Hobbies Become Big Business
While showcasing the trading card boom, The Hobby subtly explores several thought-provoking themes about economics, community, and preserving joyful pastimes in an increasingly commercialized world.
Trading cards clearly tap into generational nostalgia, with middle-aged Gen Xers waxing poetic about childhoods spent obsessing over sports stats and sticker collections. Yet as investor Gary acknowledges, younger generations lack such sentimentality towards physical cards. “Kids want to stare at screens now,” he shrugs. This generation gap exposes concerns around maintaining interest as hobbies evolve digitally. Just as the Internet disrupted everything from photo albums to newspapers, trading cards’ future remains murky.
The film also examines the double-edged sword of profit-seeking. On one hand, big money helps raise mainstream visibility. “Investors made it exciting again,” acknowledges card shop owner Brian. However, similar to critiques that technology distracts us from living in the moment, commercialization threatens to drain trading cards of their carefree enjoyment. As prices escalate out of reach for casual collectors, community erodes, replaced by high-stakes auctions.
Most pointedly, The Hobby asks us to consider if and when capitalism corrupts personal passions nurtured outside bottom lines. Director Fox avoids outright condemnation, instead hinting at ominous volatility resembling past speculative bubbles. But when extensive mainstream coverage results in a market nosedive soon after filming, perhaps trading cards perfectly symbolize the fleeting nature of commercialized crazes ― and nostalgia itself.
A Nostalgic Pastime Faces An Uncertain Future
While narrow in scope, The Hobby offers an insightful glimpse into the rapidly transforming world of trading cards. Viewers intrigued by record-shattering auction prices will enjoy the fascinating peek behind the curtain. However, besides dealers and die-hard collectors already embedded in card culture, the niche focus on sports and Pokémon makes the documentary best suited for business audiences. Casual hobbyists may lose interest during repetitive discussions about market value fluctuations.
The Hobby’s strength lies in candid interviews that capture investment fervor fueling massive growth. Yet besides an old-timer collector clinging to childhood nostalgia, we get few perspectives from traditionalists lamenting community loss. The film also overlooks digging deeper into digital disruption, overspeculation dangers, and sustainability. While the trading card frenzy already shows signs of declining, more context around past crazes would have enriched the bigger picture.
Still, Fox deserves credit for quickly documenting this relief from pandemic boredom before the trading card bubble showed signs of bursting. Decades from now, The Hobby will serve as an enlightening historical record of a fleeting economic and cultural phenomenon. Whether trading cards endure as a physically-collected hobby or evolve into online mediums, they will undoubtedly carry forward their legacy of connecting fans through shared joy.
The Review
The Hobby
The Hobby offers an intriguing, if narrow, look at the exploding trading card industry through the lens of big ticket sales and investments. While the niche focus limits appeal for casual viewers, director Morgan Jon Fox taps into the nostalgic appeal and economic frenzy around this transforming hobby. However, the repetitive structure and lack of dissenting perspectives leave the documentary feeling more one-dimensional info dump than thoughtful examination of cultural shift. Still, for business audiences and die-hard collectors, The Hobby captures a specific moment in time when trading cards morphed from childlike pastime into high-stakes profit engine.
PROS
- Provides fascinating inside look at the lucrative trading card industry
- Candid interviews with prominent figures on both business and hobbyist sides
- Captures zeitgeist of major economic and cultural phenomenon
- Explores thought-provoking themes around commercialization of nostalgic pastimes
CONS
- Narrow focus on sports/Pokemon limits mass appeal
- Repetitive structure with interview after interview
- Lacks meaningful dissenting perspectives
- Minimal examination of overspeculation dangers
- Visually uninspired with dull cinematography
