by FilmInk Staff
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
“For six months in 2014, I studied at the University of California, Isla Vista. I barely passed my film theory classes amidst a foggy haze of hedonism. It seemed as though everyone was having a good time. One night we ran out of beer. I walked out to get more and could immediately feel something was wrong. Just down the road I saw the police presence. I approached, assuming another privileged kid had lit a couch on fire or something. Police weren’t uncommon at UCSB. But this scene was different. Students mulled around the fluttering crime scene tape without their usual bravado. A sickening silence settled around the bright yellow barricades.
“Elliot Rodger had murdered seven university students, and injured 14 more. He had done so in cold blood. If he had been successful in his intentions, he would have killed every woman in a popular sorority house nearby. His own manifesto clearly identified him as a violent misogynist and from his perspective, a victim of a culture that didn’t accept him and allow him sex whenever he pleased. An abhorrent byproduct of this college culture American dream, I thought. An anomaly.
“I was wrong. Years later, after engaging in a stint of climate activism, I considered writing a screenplay around someone radicalised into a political ideology or activist group. I widened my research into all kinds of radicalisation. It wasn’t long before I came across Rodger again. In a group that identified themselves as ‘Incels’ (‘Involuntary Celibates’), Rodger had gained an incredible sense of posthumous notoriety and social status. The self-described ‘community’ of Incels are incredibly misogynistic and openly encourage cruelty, violence and sexual abuse of women on their online forums. This is happening basically in plain sight, with any young man able to access their forums and take the first step towards radicalisation.
“Radicalisation doesn’t solely happen in prisons, religious institutions or political groups. In fact, it is increasingly more likely radicalisation will happen in front of a screen in someone’s bedroom. So how do we respond to these people? What do you say to someone who is so deeply misogynistic? Who is convinced they are the victim despite their actions?
There’s no simple answer. But I hope Victim gives the audience some sense of what it’s like to lose a loved one to this kind of ideology and can help illustrate the way radicalisation can sow its insidious seeds in any family. As a writer, you are supposed to empathise with all your characters. I find it difficult to truly understand how these kinds of young men think. This is why the film is grounded in Chrissy’s (Kat Stewart) experience as she discovers certain truths about her son. It’s her story that holds the most power & intrigue. Ultimately for me, ’Victim’ is an exploration of love’s durability in the face of shattering reality. I hope our audiences find their own meanings in the film.” – Robin Summons
