Karl Puschmann: Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere and DTF St. Louis

Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere 

Louis Theroux immerses himself in the world of extreme online influencers and content creators who are redefining modern masculinity. He examines the appeal of these ideas and attitudes, and how these figures are influencing young men's values (Netflix).  

  

DTF St. Louis  

A love triangle between three adults experiencing middle-age malaise that leads to one of them ending up dead (Neon). 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's screen time time. If you are looking for something
good to watch or stream from the comfort of your
place this weekend. Carl Pushman has his recommendations for us.
Get O Carl, Good morning Jack. Let's begin with the
latest special from Louis Theroux tell us about Louis Throux
Inside the Manisphere. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
I was really excited for this one because if there's
anyone capable of not only going inside the Manisphere but
then escaping and tact out the other side, it's Louis. Now,
if you don't know the Manisphere, this is the name
given to the podcasts and social media communities that champion
this toxic idea of masculinity. It's really poisonous stuff, just
horrifically misogynistic and as we see, exploitative of its fans.

(00:59):
And what makes it so dangerous is that it parayed
under the banner of self improvement helping, claiming to help
men get financially dependent and rich and get super fit
and all that kind of things, which, you know, self
improvement is good, but this takes an incredibly dark, dark turn,
and you know, it's scary how massively popular it's become.

(01:20):
The documentary shows thirty to four year old kids running
up to these four manispare influences that Louis spending time with,
asking for soeltheast and buzzing around with you know, genuine
excitement at meeting these guys, and it's really worrying, especially
as a parent. You know, if you're a parent of
a young boy, you don't want them going anywhere near
this stuff because the views and the ideas are just horrible.

(01:43):
And if you're the mother of a daughter, I mean
a father, a parent of a daughter, it's just as
bad because these guys are teaching young men just awful,
awful behaviors and ideas and philosophies. So you know, it's
not pleasant stuff at all. Louis goes in and you know,

(02:04):
he's the master of giving people enough rope to hang themselves.
And what I loved about this documentary in particular is
that this time he's dropped his bafflement. You know, that's
sort of his stick. You know, he looks all surprised
and all what's going on here and does it that way.
This time is a bit more hard edged and he
sort of goes in a little bit more aggressive in

(02:27):
exposing these guys, you know, and they're all puffed up
and acting as alpha as they can around him, and
he just deflates them with you know, a single line
or quip and sometimes just a smirk is enough to
completely derail them. It's really brilliant stuff. So, you know,
he's Louis just just great and he is just there

(02:48):
taking you know, taking them down. But in that Louis
through way, which is just wonderful to see. Yeah, they
don't really know what to make of them, actually, and
the documentary shows heaps of their social media footage where
they're talking to their Instagram followers, whatever, and just freaking
out about their interactions with them while still trying to

(03:08):
come across as these big, alpha, alpha manly men. So yeah,
in that regard, it's great. It's really impactful, and it's
a really powerful documentary. But at the end of it, sadly,
Louis doesn't have any answers really for how to combat
the stuff or how to take it on. He shows
that laughing at them, yeah, is very effective and works.

(03:31):
But they're so big now that the audience doesn't know
we're laughing at them, and that's that's where it all
sort of there's no answer, which maybe it's that's unfairter
to think he could provide, but it would have been
good just to have a little bit more depth in
there still and engaging and engaging what so I highly recommend.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, okay, it sounds interesting. It's sort of like, yeah,
you wonder sometimes too if mocking people like this actually
ends up just contributing to the you know, to the
issue or to the phenomenon a. So that'll be really interesting.
I can't wait to see it. As soon as I
saw he was in the Manisphere, I was like, yeah,
that's gonna be a bit of me. So that's lowly
through inside the Manisphere. That's on Netflix. Speaking of Louis

(04:13):
or Lewis, tell us about DTF Saint Lewis. This is
on Neon.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yes, Now, if you know the acronym, it's a very
attention grabbing title. However, I'll explain it for more innocent
people like yourself there, Jack, it's a more explicit way
of saying that you're open to engaging in relations of
an adult nature. Piece together diplomatic yes, yes, the risky
titled you know, it appealed, but rather it was the
show's stars, Justin Bateman and David Harbor that made me

(04:42):
want to watch this thing. You know, put those guys
into anything, and I'm going to give it a shot.
It's an HBO show and it's a bit of a
genre bender. It's a darkly comedic crime series that mashes
midlife malaise with a murder mystery. In that regard, it's
very unique, and it has that same vibe as a
Coen Brothers film, which you know, I that's high praise.
I love the Coen Brothers and this has that same

(05:05):
those deep realistic characters, but everyone's got their quirks to
them and it's a little bit offbeat and weird, so
it's yeah, it's really great. It follows the friendship and
love triangle that develops between a local weatherman played by
Justin Bateman, his on screen sign language interpreter, which is
David Harbor, and the interpreter's wife. This is all sparked

(05:25):
when the two men start in their words exploring the
hook up app DTF saying Lewis. Things spiral from there,
ac culminating a highly suspicious murder in episode one, and
this has when the show introduces two detectives and they
pulled dynamic which really pushes the series forward. Is it
sort of splits into two timelines, the events leading up

(05:46):
to the murder and the present day investigation. These two
investigators are wonderfully dry. It's very very funny. Nose surprises
are two leagues are great. Justin Bateman is one of
the most likable actors on TV. You just can't help
but like that guy, and here he really works at gift,
introducing a very sleazy side, sort of creepy to his
every man person owner as the Jim hickyesque with a

(06:08):
man in the show so star David Habe Harbor, his
betrayal of the protective dad Jim Hopper made him one
of the big breakout stars of Stranger Things, and here
he double downs as the good natured sign language interpreter.
The big irony being, of course, that he's playing a
man who downloads a hook up app to escape a

(06:29):
stagnant marriage, which was actually doing in real life while
they filmed this series while he was married to pop
star Lily Allen, who then went on to write all
about it in great personal detail in her last album
Western girl, but we won't gossip. I'll just say DTF
sac Lewis is really really good. It's quirky and funny
and intriguing. The mystery just keeps you guessing at what's

(06:49):
actually going on. And I will warn that it does
live up to the crude rat suggestions of its title.
So if you're a bit more of a sensitive nature,
you might want to give it a miss. But for
everyone else, yeah, I love it. It's great.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Oh, very good. So there's DDF and Lewis that's on Neons.
Sounds very quirky, so crack. Thank you very much for that, Carl.
Carl's first show, of course, Louis throu Inside the Manosphere.
That's on Netflix, and you can hear more from Carl
on his substack screen.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Crack For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen
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