''No Safe Spaces'' is a 2019 American
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
directed by
Justin Folk
Justin may refer to: People
* Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin
* Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire
* Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
that features commentator
Dennis Prager
Dennis Mark Prager (; born August 2, 1948) is an American conservative radio talk show host and writer. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show ''The Dennis Prager Show''. In 2009, he co-founded PragerU, which creates five- ...
and comedian
Adam Carolla talking to college students and faculty about university
safe space
The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations". The term originated in LGBT culture, but has since expanded to include any place where a margi ...
s. The documentary also covers
free speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...
controversies occasioned when conservatives are invited to speak in university settings.
The film was released in Arizona theaters on October 25, 2019, and was successful enough to have a national release
[ on December 6, 2019.] It has received mixed reviews from critics.
Content
With production beginning in 2017, the filmmakers were on hand for commentator Ben Shapiro
Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American attorney, businessman, columnist, conservative political commentator, and media personality. At age 17, he became the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the United States. ...
's September 14, 2017, speech at the University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, a site of civic protests and unrest. The film focuses on such speech disruptions in America, but also examines similar incidents in Canada with Jordan Peterson
Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He began to receive widespread attention as a public intellectual in the late 2010s ...
. In particular, it shows the case of Lindsay Shepherd
Lindsay Shepherd (born 7 December 1994) is a Canadian columnist who became known for her involvement, as a graduate student and teaching assistant, in an academic freedom controversy at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) in Waterloo, Ontario, in ...
who was disciplined at Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...
for using a recording of a debate with Peterson in class. It also "denounce censorship in China". "Carolla said, 'We'd be hypocrites if we did a movie about the suppression of free speech but didn't mention China.'"
In a scene filmed at the Laugh Factory
Laugh Factory is a chain of comedy clubs in the United States. The chain is owned by Laugh Factory Inc., and the founder and current chief executive is Jamie Masada.
Endurance record
The Laugh Factory keeps track of an endurance record fo ...
, comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing
Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
s complain that audiences on college campuses are too easily offended now. Among these comedians are Adam Carolla with Karith Foster, and Tim Allen
Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/Fo ...
.
The film discusses the story of Bret Weinstein
Bret Samuel Weinstein (; born February 21, 1969) is an American podcaster, author, and former professor of evolutionary biology. He served on the faculty of Evergreen State College from 2002 until 2017, when he resigned in the aftermath of a s ...
, a biology professor at the Evergreen State College
The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...
in Washington state
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
, who resigned after he was criticized for attending the university during a "Day of Absence" that was a long-standing tradition. Each year ethnic minorities would voluntarily stay home from campus to highlight their contributions to the college. In 2017, students attempted to compel white staff and students to stay away from the school, which Weinstein refused to do. Compulsion was also an issue discussed in the segments with Jordan Peterson, who gained international attention when he refused to adopt gender-neutral language, calling it an unwelcome form of compelled speech
Compelled speech is a transmission of expression required by law. A related legal concept is '' protected speech''. Just as freedom of speech protects free expression, in many cases it similarly protects an individual from being required to utter ...
.
According to the ''Washington Examiner
The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is ow ...
'', the filmmakers worked to include "left-leaning" views in their movie. CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
's Van Jones
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American news and political commentator, author, and lawyer. He is the co-founder of several non-profit organizations, a three-time ''New York Times'' bestselling author, a CNN host and c ...
complains that too many young people have not learned how to defend their views. Attorney Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...
criticizes many college leaders and "the hard left" for not standing up for free speech. Commentator Dave Rubin
David Joshua Rubin (born in June 1976) is an American conservative political commentator and YouTuber. He is the creator and host of ''The Rubin Report'', a political talk show on YouTube and on the network BlazeTV. Launched in 2013, his show ...
argues that liberals should also fear
"the mob". The film shows former U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
saying "Anybody who comes to speak to you ... you shouldn't silence them."
Also in the film are Sharyl Attkisson
Sharyl Attkisson (born 1961) is an American journalist and television correspondent. She hosts the Sinclair Broadcast Group TV show '' Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson''.
Attkisson is a five-time Emmy Award winner, and a Radio Television Digi ...
, Candace Owens
Candace Amber Owens Farmer ( Owens; born April 29, 1989) is an American conservative author, talk show host, political commentator, and activist. Initially critical of United States President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Owens has bee ...
, Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic of ...
, and Cornel West
Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society an ...
.
The filmmakers have disputed its PG-13 rating.
Reception
Box office
As of March 2020, the movie had taken in $1.3 million at the box office.[ On its opening night, the film earned an estimated $45,000 on one screen in Phoenix, the production team said, adding that the only documentary that earned more from one screen on an opening weekend was ]Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
's ''Sicko
''Sicko'' is a 2007 American political documentary film by filmmaker Michael Moore. Investigating health care in the United States, it focuses on the country's health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit no ...
'' in 2007. The per-screen average was $3,542. ''No Safe Spaces'', which opened in limited release on October 25, 2019, came close to topping '' Terminator: Dark Fate'' in Denver and San Diego theater complexes over the weekend, and ended up finishing a close second to the Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
blockbuster in those venues after final figures came in.
After its theatrical release, Salem Media Group
Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California (moved most operations to Irv ...
made the film available as a video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
. This is the first time Salem distributed a film. Prager criticized Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
for rejecting the film, but paying $10 million for ''Knock Down the House
''Knock Down the House'' is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Rachel Lears. It revolves around the 2018 congressional primary campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearengin, four progressive ...
'', which did not have a theatrical release.
Critical response
''No Safe Spaces'' has received mixed reviews from professional critics. On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of , based on reviews, with an average rating of . Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
reports a 31 out of 100 score, based on five reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Several critics panned the film as biased. For ''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'', Vadim Rizov gave the film an F, summing up, "This isn't an argument for free speech, it's just paranoid whining, complete with a roundtable of comics sympathetically agreeing how sad and scary this all is, plus images of the Statue of Liberty with tape over its mouth." John Wenzel of ''The Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...
'' gave the film two stars and noted "Frequently, the film asserts that words have power — why else would you want to make sure colleges are hosting conservative speakers? — but then hedges the assertion by saying people are too readily offended these days. Which is it?" The ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' review also panned it as one-sided and "disappointing agitprop
Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...
".
Several critics reviewed the movie positively. Alan Ng of ''Film Threat
''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...
'' gave the film a 90 and wrote in his review, "When it’s all said and done, this film is offensive only to those who don't want to watch it." Owen Gleiberman of ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' praised the movie's defense of free speech, stating "the most head-turning point made by ''No Safe Spaces'' is that today's anti-free-speech radicals, who on many college campuses dominate the discourse, are going to be tomorrow's leaders." Nathanial Bell of ''LA Weekly
''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...
'' gave a positive review, saying: "While somewhat loose and undisciplined in its structure, the film builds a case that academia is the primary battleground in a war to eliminate ideological diversity in the United States.
Other responses
According to a column in the National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
by John Fund
John H. Fund (born April 8, 1957) is an American political journalist. He is currently the national-affairs reporter for National Review Online
and a senior editor at ''The American Spectator''.
Life and career
Fund was born in Tucson, Arizona. ...
the film was widely praised by conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
commentators. John Kass
John Kass (born June 25, 1956) is an American columnist and former editorial board member for the ''Chicago Tribune'' and radio broadcaster. Until summer 2020, his opinion pieces regularly appeared on page 2 of the main news section of the ''Tribun ...
called the film "profoundly important" in a ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' column.
See also
*Academic freedom
Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...
*Chicago principles
The Chicago principles are a set of guiding principles intended to demonstrate a commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of expression on college campuses in the United States. Initially adopted by the University of Chicago following a report ...
*Intellectual dark web
The intellectual dark web (IDW) is a label which has been applied to some commentators who oppose what they regard as the dominance of identity politics, political correctness, and cancel culture in higher education and the news media within W ...
*Heterodox Academy
Heterodox Academy (HxA) is a non-profit advocacy group of academics working to counteract what they see as a lack of viewpoint diversity on college campuses, especially political diversity.
History
In 2011, Jonathan Haidt, a psychology professor ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:No Safe Spaces
2019 documentary films
American documentary films
Documentary films about education
Documentary films about ideologies
Documentary films about American politics
Documentary films about rights
American political films
2019 films
Freedom of speech in North America
2010s English-language films
Films produced by Mark Joseph (producer)
2010s American films