Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Contemplating The Red Pill

Two years ago, I found myself looking into GamerGate, a cultural conflict revolving around video games. Before looking into this, I would have considered myself if not a complete feminist, then a supporter of feminism for the purposes of creating gender equality. But during my conversations with both sides of the conflict (as feminists came down en masse against the movement), I found that feminism wasn't as clear-cut as I had been taught it was. Perhaps that is why I found myself rather interested when I heard about The Red Pill from an Arthouse Legends listener who requested that we do the film (as the critical response has not been passing for the film, it doesn't meet the criteria so don't be expecting that episode any time soon). But my interest was piqued and so when it became available, I made sure to give it a watch.

I want to discuss this film in two mind frames; the first being as a film enthusiast that is impartial to the film's message, the other as a politically-interested individual who has looked at both sides of the issue and how this film stacks up from what I've read and seen on the issue (which is quite extensive):