Critical Reflection

The student-made short film, Circus Monkey, is an introspective character-led story that depicts the dangers of seeking validation from social media in the worst of media subcultures.  The film, which can be described as a dark drama, illustrates one man's descent into madness as he desperately corrupts himself in an attempt to provoke shock value.  

One of our major inspirations when drafting the character of Diego was David Fincher's The Social Network (2010).  This major feature film follows the story of a young Mark Zuckerberg, and one of the most intriguing aspects of the film is how Fincher doesn't shy away from depicting Zuckerberg as a nerdy, self-righteous asshole.  This characterization was a great influence, especially when writing the dialogue for Diego and Ericka's final conversation towards the end.  

Another major inspiration for Circus Monkey was Eugene Kotlyarenko's Spree (2020), which revolves around an attention-hungry Uber driver who embarks on a killing spree that he live streams in a desperate attempt to gain an internet following.  This film serves as an inspiration for the character of Diego, and the depravity that is often illustrated (albeit, to a lesser extent than in Kotlyarenko's movie) by those who discard their morals for popularity.

However, our biggest inspiration when drafting the character of Diego was the research that we conducted on incels and the enormity of their internet subculture.  We researched several incels who have been made famous by the internet, most notably the story of Chris Chan.  Chan began posting on YouTube in the late 90s, and his obsession with his fans and fame completely took over his life.  He began to make more and more concerning content as his popularity grew, ultimately resulting in the rape and murder of his own mother.  We also looked into the case of Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old gunman who murdered 6 university students as an act of "revenge" for his inability to lose his virginity.  Rodger rose to fame for his infamous video manifesto, which we used as inspiration in our film.

Elliot Rodger

Diego, our protagonist

Our film appeals to the target audience of 15 to 25-year-olds, as this age group tends to have a deeper understanding of social media culture and the incel mentality.  Circus Monkey could be consumed by both men and women, as there are elements in the production that appeal to both.  On one hand, the harsh criticism of this overtly male-dominated sphere paired with the feminist ideology portrayed by the character of Ericka help to market the film to a female-oriented audience.  On the other hand, the film is heavily led by male characters whose interpersonal relationships aid in building a male audience, considering that they know first-hand about both the incel mentality and the video game banter.

It is very evident that Circus Monkey offers a negative representation of self-titled "involuntarily celibate" (or, incel) men.  As I've explained previously, incels are men who are incapable of getting a girlfriend, and blame that fact on women as a whole rather than taking the time to reflect on themselves.  Our film depicts these men in an undeniably unfavorable fashion, and I believe that we were accomplished in our portrayal of this subset of people as disgusting, misogynistic, and deeply insecure.  This is demonstrated mainly through Diego's last conversation with Ericka, but also in the way that he is so reliant on the validation of others.

The target audience is constantly being engaged throughout the production, whether it be with the mention of multi-player video games like Fortnite, social media apps like TikTok and Twitter, or just generally being aware of how a need for social media fame and attention drives one to extremes.

One could argue that Circus Monkey serves as a sort of "warning sign" for oversharing online, but in reality, the branding created for this film is more representative of the dangers of the incel mentality and the dark truth about the many men like Diego.  When advertising our film, we stuck with a constant gray, black, and dark blue palette; representing both the tone of the film and the loneliness and isolation expressed by our main character.  This color scheme can be seen in all the components of the project - from the social media, to the postcard, to the film itself.  We maintained continuity in all three components by incorporating the monkey illustration in both the Instagram account (as the profile picture), and also in the back side of the postcard, as well as using dust textures for both.  Additionally, we used a screengrab from the film itself as inspiration for our key art, and maintained continuity with the font choice.

The film includes a montage of Diego's deranged TikToks, which are symbolic not only of his growing fame, but also of his loss of sanity.  As the film progresses, his self-exploitation incites him to transform into the titular circus monkey, performing exponentially more outrageous acts in an attempt to grow his social media following.  The importance of TikTok as a platform is highlighted in our Instagram account, where we use one of these videos as a marketing tool.  Finally, there is a very obvious monkey motif that is followed meticulously in all elements of the project.  The monkey is unmistakably a significant element of the film, as it is this dreaded animal that inspires sexual thoughts in our protagonist, initiating his entire spiral.  The monkey can be seen in Diego's calendar in the film, as well as in the reflection of his glasses on the postcard, and as the profile picture on the social media.

After a stressful nine weeks spent thinking solely about monkeys and incels, I'm happy to say that we've finally crossed the finish line.  Working on this project has provided me with so much stability and motivation, and I am so grateful to have been able to do it with two of the most talented people I know.  Although we suffered several time constraints and filming issues (and we could've afforded a couple of extra weeks to edit), I am beyond proud of Virginia, Clara, and I to be able to say that we made this incredible short film from scratch, and I'm so excited to share Circus Monkey with the world.