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The Red Pill

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This article is about the 2016 film. For the phrase "the red pill", see red pill and blue pill.
The Red Pill
Promotional release poster
Directed byCassie Jaye
Produced byEvan Davies
Cassie Jaye
Nena Jaye
Anna Laclergue
CinematographyEvan Davies
Music byDouglas Edward
Production
company
Jaye Bird Productions
Distributed byGravitas Ventures (DVD)
Release dates
  • October 7, 2016 (2016-10-07) (New York City)
  • March 7, 2017 (2017-03-07) (DVD release)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Red Pill is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Cassie Jaye. The film explores the men's rights movement, as Jaye spends a year filming the leaders and followers within the movement. The Red Pill premiered on October 7, 2016, at Cinema Village in New York City, followed by several other one-time screenings internationally. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 7, 2017, by Gravitas Ventures. Controversies over the documentary led to the cancellation of several screenings due to protests.

Content

The Red Pill chronicles Jaye's journey beginning as a skeptical feminist investigating what she believes to be a hate movement. She goes on to discover that the movement is different from what she expected and begins to question her own views on gender, power, and privilege. The film discusses numerous issues facing men and boys such as male suicide rates, workplace fatalities and high-risk jobs, false allegations of rape, military conscription, lack of services for male victims of domestic violence and rape, higher rates of violent victimization, issues concerning divorce and child custody, disparity in criminal sentencing, disproportionate funding and research on men's health issues, educational inequality, societal tolerance of misandry, and men's lack of reproductive rights.[1][2][3] It includes interviews with men's rights activists and those supportive of the movement, such as Paul Elam, founder of A Voice for Men; Harry Crouch, president of the National Coalition for Men; Warren Farrell, author of The Myth of Male Power; and Erin Pizzey, who started the first domestic violence shelter in the modern world. It also includes interviews with feminists critical of the movement, such as Ms. magazine executive editor Katherine Spillar,[4] and sociologist Michael Kimmel.[2] It also contains excerpts from Jaye's video diary.

Funding

Director Cassie Jaye initially struggled to find financiers who did not have "an agenda."[5] Jaye got the film off the ground with her own money as well as money from her mother, a co-producer, and her boyfriend.[2] After it became known that the film would not condemn the men's rights movement, Jaye was unable to find funding to cover the cost of the movie from traditional sources.[1][6] She instead started a campaign on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, which she called a last resort.[5] The Kickstarter project promised to be a "fair and balanced" look at the men's rights movement.[5] The effort was strongly criticized by some feminists[who?] but received support from Breitbart News columnist Milo Yiannopoulos.[7][8] In the end, the campaign exceeded its goal of $97,000 as well as two stretch goals to raise a total of $211,260.[9]

Alan Scherstuhl's review for The Village Voice suggested that many of those providing funding for the film may have themselves been men's rights activists, thereby creating a conflict of interest.[10] Jaye has said that the suggestion the film was funded by MRAs (men's rights activists) is "a common lie that keeps spreading."[2] One of the largest pledges to the film was by Mike Cernovich, who pledged $10,000 to the Kickstarter project. In a blog post he stated he was "not funding The Red Pill to help MRAs" but that the film will "help all men, and all women, and all children."[5] Jaye stated that "our five highest backers ... are neither MRA nor feminist. I would say three out of five of them didn't even know about the men's rights movement, but wanted to defend free speech,"[5] and that the film's backers and producers would have no influence or control of the film.[2][5]

Release

The Red Pill had its world premiere on October 7, 2016 at Cinema Village in New York City. It played there for a week before opening in Los Angeles on October 14, 2016. One-time screenings were also scheduled at various locations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.[citation needed]

Screening cancellations

The Australian premiere at the Palace Kino cinema in Melbourne cancelled their planned November 6 screening after a petition circulated that called the film "misogynistic propaganda".[11][12] The Change.org petition was declared victorious with 2,370 signatures.[11] A counter-petition to reverse the decision gained over 8,000 supporters in the following days[citation needed], characterizing the original petition as an "effort to close down free speech in Australia" by those who wish to prevent "a screening of a movie that discusses issues that they fear might interfere with their agenda."[11] Organizer David Williams was critical of the original petition, stating that nobody who signed the petition would have seen the film.[13]

The Mayfair Theatre, in Ottawa, cancelled a private screening of the film.[3][14] Lee Demarbre, co-owner and programmer of the theater, said long-time patrons and a sponsor threatened to stop doing business with the venue if the film screening went ahead.[3] The screening was organized by the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE).[3] Justin Trottier, co-founder of CAFE, said that the screening was an attempt to find common ground instead of polarizing the debate.[3] Julie Lalonde, who runs Hollaback! Ottawa, was one of several people who made complaints to the theater.[3] She said the idea of freedom of expression was being abused, and that "no one has the right to have their film shown."[3]

A screening had been planned by the Wildrose on Campus club at the University of Calgary, an organization for student supporters of the Wildrose Party of Alberta, but was cancelled after an email about the screening was sent out by the club with the subject line "Feminism is Cancer" and beginning "You and I both know that feminism is cancer. To create a dialogue on campus, we have decided to take action." The club later posted an apology to Twitter and cancelled the screening.[15] In response to the controversy, Jaye said she would never equate feminism with cancer but "would be curious why do they think that."[16]

After initially agreeing to finance a student screening, Sydney University's student union has defunded the event, claiming the film promotes violence against women.[17] In a public post on its website, the union said "We believe there is the distinct possibility that the planned screening of this documentary would be discriminatory against women, and has the capacity to intimidate and physically threaten women on campus".[18] The screening was moved back a week and had to be financed privately by the clubs that had initially organised it.

Reception

Critical response

Cathy Young of Heat Street gave the film a positive review, saying it raised important issues that often go undiscussed and made "well-deserved" criticisms of feminism. However, she criticized the film for failing to devote attention to "the dark side of the men's movement", and stated that the film would have benefitted from onscreen discussion of the subjects in which MRAs are on "far shakier ground".[19]

Corrine Barraclough, of Australian paper The Daily Telegraph, said "the message of The Red Pill is compassion" and the film made her "wonder why feminists tried so hard to silence this crucial conversation."[20]

Alan Scherstuhl of The Village Voice was critical of the film, describing Jaye as a "propagandist" and its cinematography as "amateurish", and claiming that the film fails to demonstrate a systemic cause for men's issues. He states that "the author of men's troubles here is always that vague bugaboo feminism, which we're told is designed to silence its opponents".[10] Bettina Arndt stated that after the successful Change.org petition to cancel the Australian premiere of the film, this criticism was "pretty ironic, given this 'vague bugaboo' persists in trying to silence Jaye's attempts to tell this story."[1]

Katie Walsh of LA Times also gave it a negative review, saying that the film exacerbates the divide in gender politics with its "uncritical, lopsided presentation", and that the film is "tilted in favor of the MRAs".[21]

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review, calling it "an admirable attempt at evenhandedness whose journalistic and aesthetic failings dilute its arguments."[4]

Awards

The Red Pill won three awards at the 2017 Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema: "Best of Festival", "Excellence in Directing Documentary", and "Excellence in Producing a Documentary".[22][23]

References

  1. ^ a b c Arndt, Bettina (October 29, 2016). "Cassie Jaye's Red Pill too truthful for feminists to tolerate". The Australian.
  2. ^ a b c d e Liberatore, Paul (November 8, 2016). "Bay Area filmmaker's new film, 'The Red Pill,' is a bitter one for feminists to swallow". Mercury News.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Mayfair Theatre cancels showing of men's rights documentary The Red Pill". CBS News. December 2, 2016.
  4. ^ a b DeFore, John (November 2, 2016). "'The Red Pill' Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Scott, Catherine (November 10, 2015). "Meet the feminist who is making a film about the men's rights movement". The Daily Dot.
  6. ^ Hunt, Elle (October 26, 2016). "The Red Pill: Melbourne cinema drops men's rights film after feminist backlash". The Guardian. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  7. ^ Daubney, Martin (November 12, 2015). "The Red Pill: the movie about men that feminists didn't want you to see". The Telegraph.
  8. ^ Lee, Benjamin (November 11, 2015). "Feminist film-maker criticised for making 'balanced' men's rights documentary". The Guardian.
  9. ^ Jaye, Cassie. "THE RED PILL - a documentary film". Kickstarter.
  10. ^ a b Scherstuhl, Alan (October 4, 2016). "Warning: You Can't Unsee 'The Red Pill,' the Documentary About a Filmmaker Who Learns to Love MRAs". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  11. ^ a b c Noyes, Jenny (October 25, 2016). "Melbourne's Palace Cinemas cancel screenings of MRA documentary 'The Red Pill' after petition". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  12. ^ Gillespie, Katherine (October 26, 2016). "Why Australian Men's Rights Activists Had Their Bullshit Documentary Banned". Vice.
  13. ^ Powley, Kathryn (October 25, 2016). "Men's rights group vows to push ahead with documentary screening". Herald Sun.
  14. ^ Mas, Susana (December 2, 2016). "Film on men's rights activists finds new venue at City Hall after Mayfair cancels screening". The Ottawa Citizen.
  15. ^ "'Feminism is cancer': Wildrose on Campus fires communications director over email". CBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  16. ^ Anderson, Drew (March 21, 2017). "Red Pill director says men's rights issues being drowned out by mudslinging". CBC News. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  17. ^ Bolt, Andrew (April 15, 2017). "Union Stops Woman Screeing Woman's Film. Says Bad For Women". Herald Sun. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  18. ^ Akerman, Tessa (April 15, 2017). "Uni of Sydney Union in hot water on Red Pill film ban". The Australian. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  19. ^ Young, Cathy (October 20, 2016). "New Film 'The Red Pill' Asks Whether Men's Rights Activists Have a Point". Heat Street.
  20. ^ Barraclough, Corrine (January 17, 2017). "Feminists, you're wrong. The Red Pill is not a hateful film". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  21. ^ Walsh, Katie (October 13, 2016). "'The Red Pill' only makes worse the divide between men's and women's rights activists". The Los Angeles Times.
  22. ^ "Awards – IIFC 2017". Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  23. ^ Smith, Marshall (January 18, 2017). "IIFC awards ceremony takes place before packed house". Idyllwild Town Crier. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
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