Louis Theroux defends featuring 'Manosphere' influencers in new Netflix documentary

Almost a year on from Louis Theroux's last documentary, he is now fronting his first feature-length film for Netflix, taking a closer look at the 'Manosphere'.

Across 90 minutes, Theroux travels to Miami, New York and Marbella to meet influencers who have been reshaping young men's ideas about masculinity and fuelling a resurgence of the men's rights movement.

Throughout the equal parts interesting and disturbing documentary, Theroux meets with Harrison Sullivan (AKA HS Tikky Tokky), Myron Gaines, Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy (AKA Sneako), Justin Waller and Ed Matthews, as he immerses himself in their "ecosystem" while each of them present their own interpretations of traditional gender roles and values.

As much as Theroux challenges the individuals on their views, questions have arisen surrounding the ethics of platforming their voices while holding them to account.

During a recent Q&A ahead of the documentary's release, Theroux admitted he took issue with the term "platform" in the context of Inside the Manosphere, describing it as a "clumsy descriptor of the different ways in which you can feature someone in a programme".

He said: "You could have someone on a podcast and say, 'Just tell me what you think for an hour.' Or you can put them in a documentary and work really hard to give it a sense of context, of proportion, and push back with appropriate questions, which is obviously what I think we do."

Theroux noted that a programme such as this one, about people creating disturbing content, couldn't exist without featuring "what the content is and why it's horrific".

He added: "So I think it's appropriate for the film to feature moments judiciously in which they express the version of what they really believe."

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This documentary topic is a first for Theroux, and it's one he became interested in during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, which saw plenty of people turn to social media, including his sons.

Speaking of his decision to develop the idea, Theroux said: "We needed to also play to my strengths, which [is] participation. I can get involved in worlds and build relationships [and] so we needed to get access to the 'Manosphere'.

"As a father of three boys, [it] was something I was aware of. Like a lot of parents in lockdown, I saw my kids' social media content, and Andrew Tate was a name that came up, and I think it felt like this subject just combined a lot of things that I'm interested in. I've been joking that it's like the final boss of subjects in my career.

"And it combines obviously homophobic, misogynistic, racist content, also kind of adult content, adjacent and cult-like mentality and media self-presentation.

"So many things I do about people kind of creating their own personas in a world, inventing personalities for themselves to compensate for something lacking that they have inside. So basically, it just seemed like the most obvious and best choice to make a film."

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is available to watch on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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