The artifice of the manosphere comes to the screen. It’s comedic – but also confronting
- Written by: Dante DeBono, PhD Candidate in Screen Studies, University of South Australia
The convoluted title of 5 STEPS FOR BETTER LIVING, MAXIMUM GAINS AND MANIFESTING YOUR MOST OPTIMISED SELF!! boldly proclaims its subject matter by evoking the clickbait of algorithm-obsessed online personalities.
5 Steps is a multi-channel installation that presents audiences with a satirical yet confronting look at social media’s wellness culture.
Creators Nisa East, Anna Lindner and Yasemin Sabuncu construct multiple interwoven character studies – largely played by Lindner and Sabuncu – representing differing facets of the manosphere and its emanating impact beyond the screen.
Impossible expectations
“BE LIKE WATER” demands a poster of Bruce Lee’s glistening torso while an archetypal Alpha Man shadow boxes in the foreground.
The subject of a famous quote from Lee about adaptability, water becomes a motif in the film. On the third screen, positioned behind the seating area in the gallery, is the constant rippling of ocean waves.
Water surrounds the viewers, omnipresent in the way social media has become in our lives.
5 Steps begins with the opening lines of the poem We Wear the Mask by African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the poem, he describes the façade of a smile that can hide the struggle of hardships.
With lace front wigs applied over reshaped foreheads and a muscular drag king chest plate, many of the 5 Steps cast sport visible prosthetic work in the film. This exposes the artifice of these influencer figureheads, the lifestyles they claim to lead part of a careful performance used to cultivate clicks.
A Bryan Johnson–inspired biohacker obsessively inspects himself while reciting the mantra “look after yourself”.
He is representative of the hyper-individualistic elite, using their wealth to gather expensive gadgets and personalised regimens that optimise their own wellbeing. Immortality becomes a luxury product.
This “aspiring god” is comfortable in his high-tech home – complete with AI assistant – while the world outside spirals into existential chaos.
Predators and prey
I encourage you to sit with the film more than once, to notice the details that only become apparent through rewatching again and again.
The comments that scroll past during various livestreams are a concerning (but all too real) blend of “NAMASLAY” spiritual appropriation and conspiratorial patriotic extremism. But these comments are also subtle evidence of everyday people yearning for connection.
These glimmers of isolated individuals seeking out community online echo the origins of “incel” subculture, before it evolved into the angry, misogynistic ideology we recognise today.
It also makes the influencers all the more predatory. The archetypal Alpha Man greets his “brothers” in a video promoting his shamanic retreat for “REAL Alpha Men only”.
Meanwhile, calls from a bohemian conspiracy theorist to “free yourself from the collective shadow” play into nihilism. He cultivates a dedicated following of “Sovereign Warriors” while defending himself against allegations of sexual assault, claiming he is a survivor of cancel culture.
It is not uncommon for popular influencers to be caught up in scandals of this nature. Nor is it surprising when their loyal followers view such accusations against their heroes as targeted attempts to wrongfully discredit them.
Spouting snake-oil slogans about awakening your inner hunter, and harnessing “conscious aggression” to build legacy and “crush comfort”, in 5 Steps we see how young, insecure men can succumb to the toxicity of the manosphere.
The recurring appearance of a Stretch Armstrong doll also emphasises the impossible task of living up to the standards set forth by these fitness gurus, the distorted toy inevitably falling back into its manufactured shape. (One that is distinctly muscular, male and white.)
Gender dynamics in the manosphere
Within the online incel subculture appear two stereotypical caricatures to direct vitriolic hate towards: Chad and Stacy. Blonde and attractive, these are the perceived perfect specimens of a chiselled, virile man and a voluptuous, Barbie-like woman.
In 5 Steps we see this couple in the Alpha Man with a disconcertingly square jaw and his perfectly made-up girlfriend. In white robes and green facemasks, their luxe spa day spirals into him berating her for not “forging anti-fragile confidence”. Their voices dissolve into static as the disagreement goes on.
Later, she spends almost half the installation’s screentime fighting to maintain a camera-ready smile. With a string of pearls around her neck, her tradwife guise dissolves under our scrutiny. Paired with her partner’s aggressive rendition of Dayna EM Craig’s poem, A Narcissist’s Prayer – spat into his smartphone like an accusation before he slams the device on his desk – it paints a damning picture of their relationship that is hidden from his followers.
While 5 Steps is primarily concerned with male figures from the manosphere, the female characters are equally compelling in their complicated positioning as both complicit in this exploitative venture, and themselves victims of the toxic masculinity that flourishes in these online spaces.
What happens offline become some of the most poignant scenes in the film. The conspiracy theorist lashes out in frustration. The Alpha bullies his own reflection in a harrowing monologue. A woman quietly cleans up debris from a hole punched through the wall.
5 Steps fits a multitude of messages in its brief 23-minute runtime, but feels as though it is ultimately a call to action, asking us to reach out a hand to those at risk of drowning in the falsehoods of commodified wellness.
5 STEPS FOR BETTER LIVING, MAXIMUM GAINS AND MANIFESTING YOUR MOST OPTIMISED SELF!! is at the Samstag Museum of Art with the Adelaide Film Festival until December 5.
Authors: Dante DeBono, PhD Candidate in Screen Studies, University of South Australia
