The Desire to Be Truly Recognized: How Incels, Don't Worry Darling, and The Stepford Wives Exemplify the Master-Slave Dialectic
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Keywords
film, feminism, incels
Biography
I am a junior at Marshall Univeristy majoring in communications and minoring in English and public relations. I am from Sissonville, West Virginia. I am the music director at Marshall’s campus radio station, WMUL-FM. I currently work as an artist relations intern for Rockfest Records. In my spare time, I enjoy mystery books, Marvel movies, and going to as many concerts as possible.
Major
Communications
Advisor for this project
Stephen Underhill
Abstract
This paper analyzes the social commentary presented in the film Don’t Worry Darling on incel culture through the characterization and motivations of Jack Chambers. Analysis is performed through feminist rhetorical theory, citing Sherryl Vint (2007), emphasizing her application of Hegel’s master-slave dialectic on a contemporary of the film, The Stepford Wives (2004). This dialectic states that self-consciousness is dependent upon other consciousnesses, though these distinct consciousnesses’ existence creates tension between them often resulting in a one-sided recognition. Master is recognized by slave and master is fully recognized because he has power over another consciousness that willfully submits. He desires love and power over a real person, not just an object. This explains the motivations of Jack Chambers in fundamentally altering his wife’s personality without following The Stepford Wives in turning his wife into a robot. In The Stepford Wives, Walter Eberhart’s decision to not turn Joanna into a robot may not be altruistic, rather it “might simply express his own need to have (some) power over another true subject” (Vint 2007). Much of incel culture stems from beliefs of entitlement and inadequacy, both beliefs that feed into the justification of slavery and is exemplified in Jack Chambers and Walter Eberhart.
The Desire to Be Truly Recognized: How Incels, Don't Worry Darling, and The Stepford Wives Exemplify the Master-Slave Dialectic
This paper analyzes the social commentary presented in the film Don’t Worry Darling on incel culture through the characterization and motivations of Jack Chambers. Analysis is performed through feminist rhetorical theory, citing Sherryl Vint (2007), emphasizing her application of Hegel’s master-slave dialectic on a contemporary of the film, The Stepford Wives (2004). This dialectic states that self-consciousness is dependent upon other consciousnesses, though these distinct consciousnesses’ existence creates tension between them often resulting in a one-sided recognition. Master is recognized by slave and master is fully recognized because he has power over another consciousness that willfully submits. He desires love and power over a real person, not just an object. This explains the motivations of Jack Chambers in fundamentally altering his wife’s personality without following The Stepford Wives in turning his wife into a robot. In The Stepford Wives, Walter Eberhart’s decision to not turn Joanna into a robot may not be altruistic, rather it “might simply express his own need to have (some) power over another true subject” (Vint 2007). Much of incel culture stems from beliefs of entitlement and inadequacy, both beliefs that feed into the justification of slavery and is exemplified in Jack Chambers and Walter Eberhart.
