The Social Dilemma
Year: 2020
Genre: Documentary, Drama
Studio: Exposure Labs, Argent Pictures, The Space Program
Director: Jeff Orlowski
Cast: Tristan Harris, Jeff Seibert, Bailey Richardson, Joe Toscano, Sandy Parakilas, Guillaume Chaslot
Crew: Megaera Stephens (First Assistant Camera), Davis Coombe (Writer), Vickie Curtis (Writer), Jeff Orlowski (Director), Ken Grossinger (Co-Executive Producer), Ryan Ahrens (Executive Producer)
Runtime: 94 minutes
Release: Jan 26, 2020
IMDb: 7.45/10 by 1,636 users
Popularity: 8
Country: United States of America
Language: English
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0

This documentary thinks it's real cute. You may learn a thing or two, but a lot of the time it feels manipulative and self-righteous. I wish that, instead of portraying the mechanisms of ad-targeting as some kind of sci-fi super villain, they would have shown what truly goes on in the offices of google, facebook, and the like. The evils of manipulating human attention do not need to be sensationalized to look like something out of Tron or Blade Runner. Why not film the actual computer screens that are spitting back data about users of these platforms? Perhaps internet giants would not let cameras behind the scenes. Anyhow, this film has a noble goal but comes across as more dime-a-dozen infotainment that Netflix has pumped out many times before. Maybe if it did not treat its viewers as though they were brain dead I would have enjoyed it more. Show it to your tik tok friends who could lose a staring contest with a squirrel, as that is likely who this documentary is targeted for.