THE RED PILL
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 at 5:01PM Featuring: Cassie Jaye, Paul Elam, Warren Farrell, Marc Angelucci, Harry Crouch and Dean Esmay.
Director: Cassie Jaye.
Rating: 1.5/5
The jagged histrionics of documentarian Cassie Jaye’s disjointed pro-Men’s Right advocacy film, The Red Pill, serves two masters well. Her softly-softly proselytizing and spurious arguments serve to sweeten the image of Men’s Rights mouthpieces and the ‘regressive progress’ platform they present. And speaking directly to her own camera as she journeys from feminist to ‘enlightened humanist’ serves Jaye as well, her frowns and tears recalling an acting class show reel.
As she painstakingly overstates, Jaye’s body of work outwardly presents an empathetic view of society – patriarchal rule within dogmatic Christian lives, with specific adherence to pre-marital abstinence (Daddy I Do, 2010); the impact of ‘food insecurity’ on the upper-middle class and those that serve them in Marin County (Faces Overlooked, 2010); and, the struggle of two gay white guys to raise a family as California’s Proposition 8 debate raged (The Right to Love: An American Family, 2008). But even if you include a couple of shorts about women’s issues (Blackeye, 2009; The Story of GoldieBlox, 2012), her oeuvre is one of narrow experience rife with hot button issues and moderate-right conservatism.
Jaye would have her audience believe that she stumbled upon the Men’s Right Movement with a wide-eyed innocence; we get to see her literally type ‘Men’s Rights’ into a search engine. She barely registers vile online misogyny (the kind that has seen MRA advocates labelled ‘rape apologists’) as if it was a dirty limerick. In no time at all, she is in warm conversation with the likes of Paul Elam, President of A Voice for Men, a voice that spoke the now infamous call-to-action quote, “I am proclaiming October to be Bash a Violent Bitch Month”; Dr. Warren Farrell (pictured, top; with Jaye), author of the MRA diatribe, The Myth of Male Power and spouter of wisdom pearls like, “Women are the only 'oppressed' group that is able to buy $10 billion worth of cosmetics each year,”; and, Harry Crouch and Marc Angelucci, executives from The National Council for Men, MRA heavy-hitters who once lobbied to defund domestic violence programs if men’s rights were not addressed.
So follows a whirlwind of male-perspective theories and twisty statistics eager to convince how work place deaths, suicide rates and financial hardship have impacted men since the Women’s Liberation uprising of the 1960’s (seen as a monochrome montage of screeching girl-power rallies with some laughable hippy-funk backing track). Elam and his brothers are presented as warm, composed, homely types; in one moment of un-ironic inspiration that could have come from a Christopher Guest-penned satire, Farrell (who greets his director with, “I thought you’d be a man! But I’m glad you’re a woman!”) all but serenades his director in his living room ‘man-cave’, striving to convey a portrait of perfect patriarchal stability yet coming off as desperate and smug.
Jaye will claim that non-MR dissenters are giving equal voice in her film. The likes of Feminist Majority Foundation executive director and MS. magazine editor Katherine Spillar and USC academic Dr Michael Messner get air time, but are portrayed as tsk-tsking, head-shaking elitists who simply perpetuate anti-MRA myths about it being a ‘man’s world’ and how the white male paradigm is more powerful than ever. More troubling is the footage chosen of anti-MR rallies, seemingly peopled solely by extremist gay and/or ‘feminazi’ activists bent on some form of pro-feminist anarchy. Or the extreme close-up afforded ‘male genital mutilation’, aka circumcision, used to convey how abhorrent MRA guys find it to have the fate of their body parts dictated by standards and traditions (a view probably shared by pro-choice supporters and those who have had their p***y grabbed by The President-Elect).
An extended mid-section about the lack of balance in the U.S. family court system seems to be from another documentary entirely, legitimately raising issues of gender inequality. But any insightful analysis is muted by the purely outrageous, none more so than the ‘Disposable Male’ theory. It posits that because only men traditionally take on roles such as soldier, fireman, oil rig worker, coal miner, etc., the male of the species is now perceived as disposable. A litany of statistics are presented, indicating the greater mortal sacrifice men have made in the last 100 years of societal formation (the disrespect afforded slain U.S. female soldiers, their deaths reduced to a percentage to drive home how many more men died, is breathtaking).
What Cassie Jaye and her all-white male chorus wilfully ignore is that the patriarchal stronghold on modern western life was not dictated by women or gays or lefty academics or any one else at whom Elam or Farrell or Cassie Jaye wag a disingenuous finger. It was determined by those in power i.e. the straight, white men of means who were the very forefathers of the MRA executives, who deemed that men of lesser standing be the ones who fought and died, worked and died. Once, men were viewed as warriors, not whiners, sent to die for the society, however flawed, that their leaders were forming. The best of these bygone men fought and died for the rights of every man and woman in a unified society. Cassie Jaye’s men, and by association the filmmaker herself, are not serving a greater good or inspiring discourse, but instead fuelling a social divide and dishonouring their respective genders.
Controversy, Documentary, Feminism, Men's Rights 
Reader Comments (35)
your a shitty reviewer with white knight ideology clearly you didnt go into this movie with an open mind.
SCREEN-Safe-SPACE
Fearless opinion about all things cinema.
Only thing is you are not being fearless. You will say what ever you Feminist overlords tell you to say. Never mind the statistics. Never mind the true testimony. Never mind the actual behavior of the feminist in the movie. You know they don't act like that. You know it is a rape culture. Why do you know these things? Because a woman told you so. Maybe you should do yourself a favor and watch the film again and then look up, or fact check, the findings. Bet you won't! Bet you will do what your feminist boss tell you what to do.
Beta male is Beta.
A completely bias review. A complete lack of empathy for half of our species by the reviewer. This reviewer has bitten down hard on the blue pill and ironically can not 'see' the reality through his ideological feminist lens. Men ARE disposable and they have been since our species began and they complain little (and the time stamp the reviewer refers to, that being 60s women's liberation movement, is irrelevant). Feminism is the divisive , the harmful, the toxic ideology...not the Men's Rights Movement. The MRM is so small that it could not possibly have any serious influence on Western Societies. It is feminism that has ingrained itself into all levels of government, all campuses, most institutions, the media and it is feminists who have wormed their way into positions of power and influence, it is feminists who inform and implement bad and harmful public policy (based of fallacious theory and bias studies), it is feminists who advise people with power and influence, it is feminists who write the 10s of thousands of misandristic and bias articles, papers and books, it is feminists who try and brainwash the public (esp. the children and young people). And it is this reviewer who wants to blame "white men" for the problems of this world?!! Good grief Charlie Brown!
As a female I am disgusted by this review. How someone can be so dismissive of the real issues many men (human beings by the way) face, not just white men but black men too. I'm disgusted. May this movement continue so we can reach true gender equality for all human beings. I urge other women to join this movement too and fight for all gender equality. I care about people. As a female I believe in women's rights and men's rights. I have a message to all the men out there suffering these abuses, we stand with you. Please continue your fight. There are many women out there who will stand with you. Have faith in humanity.
Thank you for a review that highlights the film's shortcomings. It could have been a good documentary had she been more willing to examine both sides of the MR movement: both the genteel "man cave" dwelling founder who is very obviously putting his best foot forward, and the demented basement dwellers who believe the reason they can't get laid or land a decent job is because of feminism.
TLDR of the review: I am a cuck and differing point of view and facts offend me
I recently watched the documentary after a gay male friend of mine recommended it to me. I really enjoyed it and thought that it did attempt to present both sides of the argument, even if it was slightly more sympathetic to MRAs. I saw the review score for this film on RT and thought we must have watched different films. After reading this review, it is very obvious that the reviewer is extremely biased. Why? You mention this:
"Paul Elam, President of A Voice for Men, a voice that spoke the now infamous call-to-action quote, “I am proclaiming October to be Bash a Violent Bitch Month”
Sounds like a horrible person right? Except you forgot to mention that Paul Elam wrote this parody piece as a direct response to a Jezebel article where women owned up to smacking their significant others titled "Have You Ever Beat Up A Boyfriend? Cause, Uh, We Have". There are many women in the comments who thought it was okay for a number of reasons, but thankfully many others had common sense and put those who thought female on male abuse was ok in their place.
To anyone interested in the film, I suggest you watch it. It doesn't deny female issues, but tries to highlight that "patriarchal" power doesn't exist in the way many feminists believe it does (just because you're white and male, doesn't mean you have power), and that there are many issues negatively affecting men that simply get ignored or pushed to the side.
In the comments JR said:
I suggest readers of this review, which I found fair and objective, check out the men interviewed and quoted.
Well I suggest readers watch the movie themselves and make up their own minds, rather than be put off by someone with an obvious agenda. It's no surprise that feminists love to slander those with whom they disagree. If you do find a feminist quoting an MRA, please do the research and find the original quote in context as it's probably satire.
Yes men have higher suicide, work related and violent deaths than women but don't blame us. Blame a system that has socialized, even insisted, that men be strong, brave, not cry hide their feelings.
Never heard of #male tears?
Women are not the enemy. You are our fathers, brothers, sons.
Yes, we know. We never said women were the enemy. In fact, many MRAs are women.
We care about you; we recognize that there are some injustices to men in this world. We want a better world for everybody
Really? What have YOU done for male victims of domestic abuse? What have YOU done about male genital mutilation? What have YOU done about the male suicide rates? If YOU haven't done anything to help, why do you complain when men raise these issues? After all, you do WANT us to talk about our feelings, right?
I think the degree of hatred toward women reflected in the above comments is frightening.
Okaaaay.... and which comments are those?
Very little of this review is logical. The author obviously watched this documentary with a pre-conceived notion, and probably with this review already prepared. Some of his points do hold some validity, but most do not. I'd ask my fellow commenters to refrain from the insults. They aren't necessary; logic is on your side. Remember people often read these reviews (and the comments on the reviews) as a way to determine if they should watch and some of the comments are polarizing to the extent that those who have not seen the documentary will think the documentary itself may have an agenda or be propaganda. To anyone reading: you should watch. Draw your own conclusions with an open mind. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.
Just another leftist prostitute film critic spouting logical fallacies, hypocrisy, racism and sexism.
He's a useful idiot for the Cultural Marxist elite looking to destroy the family and the West to remove barriers to their desired global governance.
By confusing gender roles and destroying traditional gender roles that stem from innate biology they make men and women's roles no longer compliment each other leading to less marriages and less families. families form the social cohesive backbone of society and destroying this fragments society making it easier to manipulate and control. Divide and Conquer is the 'elite's' modus operandi.
It also serves to create less parental influence, especially fatherly influence and leaves children open to be brainwashed by the state.
Critics like this are serving the agenda of these people, I hope he's proud of himself.