Do Worry Darling: Dangers of Men in Online Extremist Groups
*Contains Spoilers for Don’t Worry Darling*
Whether you are a die-hard Harry Styles fan or not, many viewers of Don’t Worry Darling were shocked by the reveal of his character, Jack Chamber’s actual appearance. No matter how much you liked the movie, this switch from Styles’ portrayal of a charming 1950’s gentleman to a reclusive online incel was a real surprise for many. After seeing the film in theaters three times, I can confirm that each time, the audience was always overtaken with audible gasps when they saw the reality of Jack’s character. This harsh portrayal of Jack Chamber’s reality, while amusing for some, was a true wake-up call surrounding the realities and dangers of men in online extremist groups.
Are you lost yet? Let’s go back to the beginning.
Alice Chambers, played by Florence Pugh, is the protagonist of this new-age psychological thriller. From the start of the film, Alice lives the cushy life of a 1950’s housewife. She makes her husband, Jack, breakfast each morning, sends him off to work to the tune of some upbeat jazz, goes shopping with her neighbors, and lazes by the pool until her husband returns from his mysterious job with the Victory Project. For the first half of the film, Alice is entirely unassuming about the reality of her life. She asks her husband a question or two about what his job entails, but at the end of the day, she appears to live in a happy state of ignorance–that is, until she gets curious and wanders into the nearby desert that all the wives are warned not to enter.
After stumbling upon the Victory Project’s headquarters in the desert, Alice experiences what everyone else describes as a state of psychosis. She begins to hallucinate, see memories that she doesn’t recall, and begins to grow paranoid. Of course, it is later revealed that she is actually far from psychotic, but rather, is viewing images from her true reality, where she lives in the modern day as a doctor. She quickly learns that she is trapped in a virtual reality coined “the Victory Project,” where she has been placed in a medically induced coma that projects her into this 1950s traditional virtual reality. The biggest piece of betrayal, however, is when she realizes that Jack, her (former) partner in real life, is the one that is holding her hostage.
While it takes Alice most of the film to figure out what is really going on, the audience gets many hints leading up to the film’s climax. One scene, in particular, takes place in modern reality when Alice returns home from work to find Jack on his computer. The camera placed behind Jack slowly zooms out from his computer activities. While the image is somewhat blurry, you see that Jack is perusing a lively Discord chat while listening to a podcast about the Victory Project. In the podcast, Chris Pine’s character discusses how men must embrace their true potential by joining his utopian experimental community.
This scene does more than just reveal to the viewers what is going on. It also makes great commentary regarding the platforms that incels and alt-right extremist groups use to entrap young men. Online platforms like Discord and Reddit–as seen in the film–are used by these groups to trap and persuade young, impressionable men and boys. This works because they make it rather easy to create digital communities, but also because the platforms are often already used by young men that play video games.
The Victory Project is a clear example of a group of online incels that ultimately took action to trap women in their artificial reality. For context, the director of the film, Olivia Wilde, described incels as “basically disenfranchised, mostly white men, who believe they are entitled to sex from women.” This is certainly the case for the majority of the characters in the film, with the exception of Bunny, who willingly joined the Victory Project alongside her husband. The other men, however, went to much more disturbing lengths to trap their wives in this reality, with many of the men not even having established relationships with the women they kidnapped.
Chris Pine’s character, Frank, is the one that forged this community and is ultimately a prime depiction of an extremist group leader. Through online channels, he convinced countless young men that they were a special exception to modern society. He took hold of their desires to be seen and exploited them by making them believe that they deserved whatever they wanted in life–even if it had to be taken non-consensually. He placed these dangerous opinions in an echo chamber and merely amplified their angst and hatred for modern society.
Many negative reviews of this film cling to the idea that the plot isn’t original. Putting plot originality aside, though, this film begins to explore a societal danger that no one else is really addressing. Of course, many people harp on the dangers of the patriarchy, but this film specifically highlights a very new and relevant danger–extremists in online communities. This is something that has only been heightened with increases in technological advances, and while our society isn’t yet advanced enough to project us into a permanent virtual reality, this film just warns of the dangers of what is to come if this issue isn’t addressed systemically.
Writer: Shawntia Nicholson
Artist: Sophia Jusino
