Hot Take: The Social Dilemma Is A Good Movie
Checking my social feeds and my activist networks I started to wonder: am I in the minority for thinking The Social Dilemma was pretty good? Or maybe I just live in a bubble? Or MAYBE it’s a deep conspiracy from Big Tech! It’s just the sort of thing they would do … boost bad reviews to the top of the Internet in order to strip the movie of all its credibility!
Oh.
I guess I have nobody to blame but myself.
OK, despite general critical acclaim, in some of my circles the film is being panned. While much of the criticism is warranted, I feel we should take a deep, collective, breath and stop being so contrarian …
But First, A Rant About Diversity
There is one criticism I will gladly raise without hesitation, so let’s get that out of the way. In case you don’t know, this movie is a classic “talking heads” documentary interspliced with some fictional scenes to help paint the story.
The fictional scenes are so cringeworthy they actively make the film better. They’re honestly so hilarious and I won’t accept anyone telling me otherwise. Meanwhile, in those talking head interviews, the diversity of faces is poor at best — particularly if we account for screen time and not just headcount — but worse than that is the diversity of experience we are presented with. This movie is overflowing with the “privileged-guy-or-gal-but-lets-face-it-usually-white-guy-who-earned-a-truckload-of-dollar-from-a-tech-giant-and-then-became-woke” archetype. While that perspective is totally valid, the film is made actively worse for over-egging that viewpoint. If you want to know why it’s a problem, please read this A+ article from Maria Farrell. Essentially at an early stage in our careers I and many other activists decided to never set foot in mega-corporations that clearly undermine our values; but very few if any of these people are platformed here. It’s not like they’re hard to find — Mozilla literally drummed up a list just last week.
Hell, I can reel off a dozen people I know on the spot that would have added a fun / insightful / anything-but-more-techbro-please perspectives. You might argue that the “big names” give the movie more “credibility”; to which I would ask, isn’t that a self-fulfilling prophecy? It’s quite telling that my favourite quote of the movie (see below) is one delivered by a interviewee whose lower third humbly reads “Early Instagram Team” instead of “Former Massively Important Individual Bruh”.
Maybe you can convince me that the mass appeal — which is something I am literally about to argue for — wouldn’t be there without all the “big names”, but I guess this is one of my red lines. That said, if we absolutely must have the documentary bursting with former tech execs, could we at least call out the issue somewhere? It is great some people have managed to find their conscience; I commend them and it’s better to have them on our side than not. However, some discussion about how we might stop the next generation of (usually) men doing the exact same thing not just in this industry, but any marketable industry, wouldn’t go amiss.
We can and should do better on this.
All Other Issues Are Forgivable — Here’s Why
Other gripes about the movie range from it being a poor representation of how the Internet actually works (fine), to it not going far enough (sure), to the acting being horrible (how DARE you) to social media isn’t the problem at all lol down with capitalism! Yeah, that last piece confuses me deeply. It even bemoans that the documentary is basically for worried parents, #Resistance liberals and #NeverTrump republicans. Like, those groups are somehow not worth talking to?
And that’s my point … the movie works for its intended audience. I hope I’m not assuming agency where it doesn’t exist, but I believe if the issues above were actually addressed the movie would risk losing its key audience … those who are faintly aware there may be a problem. I.e. not activists. I.e. not people who have assiduously read hundreds of articles and newsletters about it for the last several years (stop looking at me like that, it’s normal and healthy).
Personally, I would love The Social Dilemma to properly engage around the idea of profit-making institutions effectively supplying a public good; but I suspect it may have been less successful if it did. A good parallel here is Extinction Rebellion (XR). At their peak popularity activists bemoaned that XR were doing it wrong, but concern for “the environment” in the UK reached record highs that summer. Sure, XR weren’t perfect, but they helped shift the overton window, creating an opportunity for other activists.
The Documentary is a Device, not an End in Itself
Even if you think you know everything about the topic, the movie is still worth watching. None of the technical content was new to me — although I wouldn’t go as far to say any of it was wrong — but I was surprised by how many themes, ideas and arguments crystallised for me from some “active watching” i.e. pausing every now and then to write things down.
I won’t list all of my thoughts (although get in touch if you’re interested), but I will touch upon that fantastic quote referenced above. Because beyond all the corporate politics, philosophy about the human condition, discussion about profit models and so on, this one really hit me.
The Internet [used to be] like a weird, wacky place. It was experimental. Creative things happened on the Internet, and certainly they do still but [now] it just feels like this giant mall …
…There’s got to be more to it than that.
Bailey Richardson, early Instagram Team
I’ve felt the same for a while. Aren’t we as a collective way better than the current state of the Internet, where you turn up and get funnelled one way or another? Can’t we come at this from a different angle? From the perspective of creativity, or joy, or genuine connection? I do believe the Internet in its current form has done us more good, but like Bailey’s quote, I’m an optimist, I’m ambitious. I am sure we can do better. How, I am still fuzzy on.
And that’s the next step. Having watched The Social Dilemma I encourage you to open up conversations with other activists but, just as crucially, start engaging with the new audiences it has interested — yes, including the worried parents and the #NeverTrumps.
I have countless people outside of my activist network who are now directly engaging with what I have to say on the issue, in part because the movie didn’t draw any firm conclusions and because it was so alarmist it made it unavoidable to not think about it. You probably know similar people. So, talk to them about alternatives to social media, campaigns that might exist, or how the profit model is the scourge of all mankind (it’s ok neoliberalism, I only half believe that). But use the opportunity this documentary has provided to engage with people.
(Try do some of it offline too.)
This article took 9 hours to research, write, re-write and publish … plus 9 years of relevant experience so I don’t look like a total dick. So do be compassionate. Say thanks by applauding, leaving a comment or sharing this with a friend. I welcome all connection, find me on Twitter @seanforachange or on LinkedIn
