“The Social Dilemma” Presents Interesting Questions In A Puzzling Manner

It’s no secret that social media has left an indelible mark on the world. Whether it’s more of a positive or a negative mark depends on who you are and how you view its impact. The new documentary, The Social Dilemma, certainly is of the opinion that it’s doing major damage to the world, and in particular, to the youth of the world. In fact, it’s probably more of a fact than an opinion. However, while the Netflix release does make this case, it does so in a rather frustrating and puzzling manner that robs it of most of its effectiveness. Now available on the streaming giant, it’s intriguing, but an ultimately disappointing experience.

“The Social Dilemma” Presents Interesting Questions In A Puzzling Manner

The documentary is an uncommon mixture of investigative journalism, expose, and in addition narrative drama. The subject material is, in fact, the reliance on social media that individuals of all walks of life have developed lately. Not solely is that examined psychologically, however Silicon Valley insiders participate, explaining simply how and why sure choices have been made. The addictive nature of Fb, Instagram, Twitter, and such, it’s all there, given an ominous streak. Not solely are whistleblowers and people within the know giving their two cents, however a recurring thread has the weather being mentioned proven in narrative vignettes, placing fictional faces and names to the occasions depicted. It’s all designed to make you assume twice earlier than you want, put up, or tweet. Jeff Orlowski directs and co-writes, with the opposite writers on the flick being Davis Coombe (who additionally edits) and Vickie Curtis. For the narrative bits, Skyler Gisondo, Kara Hayward, and Vincent Kartheiser lead the solid. Mark A. Crawford contributes an ominous rating, whereas the cinematography is by the duo of John Behrens and Jonathan Pope. 

What really hurts this doc is the bizarre insistence on dramatized footage. For some reason, filmmaker Jeff Orlowski keeps switching from his talking head and stock footage documentary format to something almost resembling a narrative feature. Now, Skyler Gisondo, Kara Hayward, and Vincent Kartheiser (among others) are fine, but it’s a strange choice that absolutely does not work. It stops the doc dead in its tracks. Orlowski’s direction can’t manage to make it work, while the screenplay he penned with Davis Coombe and Vickie Curtis never makes a compelling case for this inclusion. Unfortunately, it ends up being a fatal flaw here, as the whole project becomes too easy to dismiss or shrug off because of it.

The Social Dilemma will play in a different way to people who haven’t any clue about what social media is as much as, versus the ones already within the know. If that is all information to you, it’s going to be nerve-racking, sobering, and maybe even make you deactivate an account or two. If it’s outdated information, on the other hand, it should come off as repetitive. Now, that might be able to be why the dramatizations are there, however even with vaguely recognizable people like Gisondo, Hayward, and Kartheiser, it comes off as a gimmick. Sometimes, a documentary advantages from a gimmick. This explicit one, on the other hand, does now not.

Available to look at now on Netflix, The Social Dilemma desires to teach other folks about what our international’s present reliance on social media actually way. It’s an admirable topic, person who merits a extra constant remedy than this. I appear to be within the minority, so most likely it’s best myself who was once bugged via the narrative drama poking its manner into the document? Either be a documentary or be a drama. The try to do each finally ends up making neither in particular efficient. Alas.