This is a WIP and it is the beginning to my planned video essay about the film ruby sparks and it's intrinsic link to incel culture
Incels at their core, at their most basic and molecular level are misogynists. Through and through they're entitled misogynists with quite frankly, no grasp on reality. This culture, unfortunately has gone on the rise in small echo chambers on the internet, festering in places such as reddit, 4chan and recently its stretching its putrid tendrils onto more obvious mainstream portions of the internet like Tiktok- Poisoning the minds of the male youth and greatly warping young men's perception of masculinity, what's right and proper and forcing twisted, quite frankly extremist, traditional views on these impressionable young people.Â
But that is just how I see them, my own personal definition of them lets see googles definition: Incel (an abbreviation of involuntary celibate) is an ideology, a subculture, an online community and/or a movement characterised by public displays of romantic/ sexual frustration. Some discussions on incel forums are characterised by misogyny, hatred, misanthropy, self hatred, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex and the endorsement of violence towards not only women but those who are sexually active. Incels have been described as mostly white, mostly male and mostly heterosexual.
Incels at their core, at their most basic and molecular level are misogynists. Through and through they're entitled misogynists with quite frankly, no grasp on reality. This culture, unfortunately has gone on the rise in small echo chambers on the internet, festering in places such as reddit, 4chan and recently its stretching its putrid tendrils onto more obvious mainstream portions of the internet like Tiktok- Poisoning the minds of the male youth and greatly warping young men's perception of masculinity, what's right and proper and forcing twisted, quite frankly extremist, traditional views on these impressionable young people.Â
But that is just how I see them, my own personal definition of them lets see googles definition: Incel (an abbreviation of involuntary celibate) is an ideology, a subculture, an online community and/or a movement characterised by public displays of romantic/ sexual frustration. Some discussions on incel forums are characterised by misogyny, hatred, misanthropy, self hatred, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex and the endorsement of violence towards not only women but those who are sexually active. Incels have been described as mostly white, mostly male and mostly heterosexual.
So it's safe to say they're a pretty undesirable group of people. âBut how does this link to ruby sparks!?â I hear you cry- well I'm getting to it, don't be impatient!
Ruby Sparks is romantic comedy-drama from 2012 directed by Valarie Faris and Johnathan Dayton and written by Zoe Kasan who also plays Ruby; it tells the story of Calvin Weir-Fields, described in the character wiki as the protagonist and an insecure control freak, a 29 year old author who wrote one successful book and struggled with writer's block for a decade and hasn't had a hit since. Strange how he could forget how to write but didn't forget misogyny or how to be abusive? This was until he created Ruby.
The film starts; an orange hue surrounds a lone silhouette who stands stationary for a moment before limping towards the camera a soft voice exclaims âThere you are! I've been looking for youâ She continues to limp forward towards the camera. We learn the reason for her limping is because she had lost a shoe. It's worth noting, the camera is stationary while ruby inches forward showing that even in Calvin's dreams he's not willing to put work in. Ruby is the one that has to move, has to initiate conversation as even fictional him isn't willing to go the distance.
The next sequence is Calvin waking up and realising what he saw, what the audience saw, was just his own imagination- his idea of a woman. I feel like it's worth mentioning that what we see- this snippet of Calvin's idea of a woman is someone who cannot properly function without him, who can't get by without his guidance and input- this is how we are first introduced to the mind of Calvin.
So it's safe to say they're a pretty undesirable group of people. âBut how does this link to ruby sparks!?â I hear you cry- well I'm getting to it, don't be impatient!
Ruby Sparks is romantic comedy-drama from 2012 directed by Valarie Faris and Johnathan Dayton and written by Zoe Kasan who also plays Ruby; it tells the story of Calvin Weir-Fields, described in the character wiki as the protagonist and an insecure control freak, a 29 year old author who wrote one successful book and struggled with writer's block for a decade and hasn't had a hit since. Strange how he could forget how to write but didn't forget misogyny or how to be abusive? This was until he created Ruby.
The film starts; an orange hue surrounds a lone silhouette who stands stationary for a moment before limping towards the camera a soft voice exclaims âThere you are! I've been looking for youâ She continues to limp forward towards the camera. We learn the reason for her limping is because she had lost a shoe. It's worth noting, the camera is stationary while ruby inches forward showing that even in Calvin's dreams he's not willing to put work in. Ruby is the one that has to move, has to initiate conversation as even fictional him isn't willing to go the distance.
The next sequence is Calvin waking up and realising what he saw, what the audience saw, was just his own imagination- his idea of a woman. I feel like it's worth mentioning that what we see- this snippet of Calvin's idea of a woman is someone who cannot properly function without him, who can't get by without his guidance and input- this is how we are first introduced to the mind of Calvin.
