Belief Studio reframes masculinity

In a cultural moment where masculinity is increasingly shaped by online algorithms, fuelling extreme behaviours and viewpoints, this new project from Belief Studio aims to offer something different: clarity, honesty and presence. 

Called Here's To You My Son, and built using AI as a production tool, but driven by human truth, the film features parents and grandparents speaking directly to the young men in their lives, taking on a question many are avoiding: what does it actually mean to be a good man?

Each conversation is personal but, taken as a whole, those conversations form an unbroken, alternative definition of masculinity at a time when the loudest voices are often the most toxic. Across social platforms, young boys are being served simple, certain answers to complex questions about identity, success and manhood and those voices are often also the most reductive, amplifying toxic masculinity and misogynistic content.

As an example, in a Dublin City University study, after only two minutes of browsing as a 'teenage boy', algorithms began to feed toxic masculinity and misogynistic videos. After two hours and 32 minutes, up to 76% of recommended content on TikTok and 78% on YouTube Shorts was classified as toxic content, most of which was suggested rather than actively searched for.

Here’s To You, My Son is Belief Studio’s response to this situation, with the characters within the film saying things such as “Being a man isn’t a show. It’s a service no one claps for. It’s the apology no one asked for.” Or, “When you cross [the line], because you will, you don’t hide. You hold your hands up. You say: that one’s mine. That one’s on me.”

If I had insisted we shot it, it simply wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't have contributed anything to trying to right this cultural wrong. Hitting ‘generate’ is the least interesting and valuable part of this.

“If good men don’t define masculinity, someone else will, and right now, some of the worst of men are cultivating that definition loudly, clearly and, often, dangerously," said Elliott Starr, Founder and Creative Partner of Belief Studio, and creator of the project. "The hard part to say out loud is that they’re effective. Not because they’re right, but because they’re simple, which the algorithms like, and young boys can understand and find certainty in. Meanwhile, a lot of good men are second-guessing themselves into silence. Silence is a terrible strategy when the other side is shouting. Boys don’t need perfect answers, we all know those don’t exist. They need present ones, clear ones and honest and moral ones.”

Outside of the intellectual content of the project, when asked why AI was used for what is such as intimately human concept, Starr doesn't shirk the question. "There's a short answer and a long answer," he says. "The short answer is simple: budget. We didn't have the budget to shoot this. We could have pulled favours, but I'm counting 27 cast members, and 13 locations [and] the film - intentionally - pinballs all over the country. For a passion project, you're getting very expensive very fast. 

"The longer answer is twofold: First off, honestly, I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to see if an AI film could genuinely make me feel something, maybe even make me cry. If I invested enough of my own time and brain power in the writing of this film - painting each scene and character with words - could I get a performance from the AI that I hadn't seen anywhere else?

"Also, I believe that creative people have a responsibility to use their skills and talent to push back against the things they believe are polluting the world, culture and, in this case, people's minds. If I had insisted we shot it, it simply wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't have contributed anything to trying to right this cultural wrong. Hitting ‘generate’ is the least interesting and valuable part of this. It’s what comes before and after that matters. Same as it ever was, no different to a camera. I wish I had the budget to have shot this, but I didn't, so, I didn't.”