Where do you go after a humiliating breakdancing performance at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics becomes the laughingstock of the internet? For Rachael Gunn, or “Raygun,” the answer was another breakdancing competition.
Netflix’s “Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly” documentary follows the dancer as she prepares to make her comeback from the Paris Olympics at a competition in Taipei, Taiwan. For those familiar with Raygun’s story, this might seem like the worst possible route that the disgraced Australian Olympian could take. However, by the end of the documentary, viewers are left wishing they were in Taipei, cheering on Raygun.
Raygun’s documentary was directed by the cream of the crop when it comes to Netflix’s go-to storytellers: Chapman and Maclain Way. The brothers directed the award-winning docuseries “Wild Wild Country” and co-created the “Untold” athletic documentary film series. Unsurprisingly, the brothers walk the line between humor and emotional depth to tell a story that will have viewers alternating between laughing and crying.
From the outside looking in, Raygun’s performance at the 2024 Olympics was horrible. The academic from Sydney, Australia, seemed in over her head as she faced the world’s best breakdancers at the Olympics’ first — and seemingly last — breakdancing event. Her routine included few attempts at “power moves” (think head-spinning and handstands), but it did include the “sprinkler” dance and Raygun’s original “kangaroo” move.
The performance instantly went viral on all social media platforms. Rachel Dratch did a spot-on impression of Raygun on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” However, the virality soon faded into malice, with armchair investigators on TikTok accusing Raygun of essentially cheating her way to the Olympics.
Before the documentary dives into the criticism, viewers are introduced to Raygun’s husband and coach, Samuel Free (or “Sammy Sex,” as he is known in the breakdancing scene). Free explains the arduous training Raygun put herself through to prepare for the Olympics and gives a play-by-play of her dance routine.
This play-by-play adds depth and context that was missing from online discourse. For example, the couple chose the “sprinkler” move because the dance originated in Australia, and the “kangaroo” was an ode to Australia’s most well-known mammal. Free explained that Raygun did not have the physical strength to perform power moves and, therefore, decided to make her performance a sincere tribute to the country she was representing.
The film also explores Raygun’s beginning in breakdancing. After befriending Free at work, Raygun was introduced to the art, which Free had long been involved in. As a Ph.D. student in cultural studies, her experience was channeled into her dissertation “Deterritorializing gender in Sydney’s breakdancing scene: a B-girl’s experience of B-boying.”
As the documentary progresses, viewers are left with the impression that Raygun is truly passionate about breakdancing and the community she has found through the sport. Raygun might be a “dork” (as she describes herself in the documentary) who looked completely out of place at the Olympic breakdancing event, but this film challenges viewers to ask themselves what exactly is wrong with that.
The truth is, there is nothing inherently wrong with Raygun’s story; she won the preliminaries fair and square. Maybe, after sitting with the guilt of publicly humiliating a harmless dork, the internet decided it needed to feel less guilty. Perhaps TikTokers drew hasty conclusions about her legitimacy as a competitor as a sort of justification for their own misdeeds.
The documentary provides a compelling narrative for Raygun’s vindication — even in the eyes of those who might have joined the insensitive pile-on against her. Impressively, the Way brothers are able to recognize the absurdity of this entire ordeal, weaving in humor throughout without dismissing or demeaning Raygun as an individual.
If the viewer sees this film as one-sided, that’s because it is. However, after two years of a one-sided narrative built on arguably slanderous information about Raygun, this documentary rightfully gives her the chance to present her side of the story.
