Feminism and Wounded Men: Masculinity in Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon

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This article is part of the 53rd issue of LEAP — Voices of Youth e-letter. Subscribe now.

In August 2023, the animated film Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon was published on YouTube. The film portrays a young man frustrated by work, friendship, and love life, who eventually meets his end in a mountain road accident. The film’s entertainment value coupled with its portrayal of masculinity within society, resonated deeply with many male viewers, who found parallels between the storyline and their life experiences. Characters in the story also reminded some of the real-life women often referred to as “buffet feminists”. With a plot so close to the current social zeitgeist, this film swiftly grew in popularity. In this essay, this animated feature film is analyzed from a gender studies perspective.

A street racer tormented by love

The protagonist of Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon is a young man with a love for mountain road speed racing who works at a convenience store. At the beginning of the story, his friend talks him into taking out a bank loan to buy a motorbike despite his meager NT$37,000 paycheck, outstanding student loans, and credit card debt. With the new purchase, glamour shots of him racing were posted to online biker forums, quickly garnering fans, which led to his encounter with his first girlfriend, Pink Highway 7.

Pink Highway 7 was a member of the online biker forum. She asks Speed Demon to lend her money to revamp her motorcycle. Despite his financial difficulties, the fear of appearing incompetent and unmanly pushed him to take out another loan for his girlfriend, while working extra shifts to pay off his debts.

However, Pink Highway 7 cheated on him. Since borrowing money was only an oral agreement, SpeedDemon had no way of getting his money back. In an attempt to speak up for himself, he turns to Facebook, uploading a post ridiculing his ex in a biker group. However, all he got was mockery.

As his next relationship ends in a similar fashion, the combination of financial stress and frustrating interpersonal relationships leaves Speed Demon feeling defeated. The story ends with a still shot of a deceased Speed Demon after a fatal mountain street race accident.

Masculinity in Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon

In Taiwan, people who enjoy souping up their motorcycles and racing on mountain roads are nicknamed “monkeys (or speed demons)” to reflect their daring, reckless behavior. This animation employs dark humor to portray the biker subculture. This is most evident in the constant pissing match of masculinity between the protagonist, his “bros”, and other bikers.

Masculinity studies is a subdivision of feminist studies that have emerged recently. Australian sociologist R. W. Connell is an influential figure in this field. She has posited that masculinity is neither determined by biology nor purely a social construct. She rejects the notion that men are inherently masculine, and she disagrees with the perspective that masculinity is merely the mark of society.

In a patriarchal society, one of the ideal ways to enforce compliance and exert dominance over others, particularly though not exclusively over women, is to exhibit masculinity. However, as the connotations of masculinity continue to evolve, changing over time and space, the appropriate conditions for expressing masculinity are also constrained by race and class. Not all who intend to showcase their masculinity can do so seamlessly. Masculinity has both positive and negative connotations. In a specific social context, masculinity can mean responsibility and bravery, but it may also imply excessive competitiveness, showboating, and greed.

Based on Terry Kupers’ concept of toxic masculinity, Speed Demon may have fallen into the trap of toxic masculinity. Despite being wronged in a past relationship, he didn’t dare reveal the truth to his new girlfriend or complain to his buddies for fear of seeming weak if he leaned on others. Toxic masculinity left him to deal with his overwhelming negative emotions alone. Eventually, in a contest of masculinity, he dies in a head-on collision with a truck.

“Buffet Feminists”: Counterarguments to the women’s rights movement

Across social media, Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon resonated with the public and sparked intense discussions for both its entertainment value and its focus on masculinity, a common phenomenon in society. Through the gender axis in this story, many viewers identified with the social expectations that men must be masculine, as well as their experience of women’s behavior in romantic relationships. People criticized Pink Highway 7 for borrowing money from the protagonist and then cheating on him. They labeled women who behave thus in real life “buffet feminists.”

The concept of the “buffet feminists” refers to women who cherry-pick details of feminism that are beneficial to them and are a form of reverse discrimination against men As feminism has gained momentum, this concept has gained in prominence. Specifically, following the implementation of affirmative actions to rectify gender discrimination (such as women’s guaranteed quotas and gender ratios), many men have experienced a sense of relative deprivation, and the feeling that hostility has risen against heterosexual men. Additionally, men are often accused of being evil conspirators or having a vested interest in the patriarchal system. Consequently, the notion of the “feminism buffet” has become a counterargument in contemporary women’s rights movements.

However, assigning demeaning labels to specific women (such as Pink Highway 7) is not conducive to the core social values of acceptance and coexistence advocated by women’s rights movements. Disparaging particular women (or even directly humiliating all women’s groups) fails to pave the way for individuals of diverse perspectives to coexist with dignity across all genders.

From the earlier discussion on masculinity, we understand that gender relations constitute a dynamic process of power interactions. Oversimplified labeling cannot be the solution to all problems. Hating women cannot prevent another tragedy like“The Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon,” because within this social context, toxic masculinity may spread further and even evolve into a more malignant form.

Conclusion: Gender equality is not a war but a possibility to coexist.

The story never portrays Speed Demon as someone who got what he deserved because he was stupid. Rather, most discussions have focused on the unnecessarily competitive mentality and contest of masculinity, hoping to save him from potential pitfalls.

Assigning labels to specific gender groups or mocking masculinity in oversimplified and biased manners is by no means the solution, be it mocking Speed Demon or hating Pink Highway 7.

Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon went viral precisely due to the plot’s intricate depiction of specific cultural, economic, and gender groups. It is not only a story about a specific gender, economic status, and cultural context. It is a story about real, living, breathing human. Through meticulous techniques of observation and analysis, feminists tried to develop a nuanced portrayal of gender relationships, pinpoint blind spots, and foster change accordingly.

Gender inequality is not a moral battleground where people fight for nobility, assign blame, measure wounds, or count scars. When analyzing Life of a Mountain Road Speed Demon, only by identifying every decision made by every character under their contexts and by understanding the power relations intertwined behind each decision, can people gain a comprehensive understanding of gender disputes in society and find a common path toward societal change.

Also in This Issue: Stabbed by a glance: the double loss of being an ideal man

Under the unpredictable economy and pandemic, men are struggling and suffering from the “ideal” image of a man.