The documentary consists of ongoing interactions with Silicon Valley narcissists and space cadets who are obsessed not only with the possibilities of creating Brand Me (LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!) on the web, counterbalanced by the director's hesitation about the medium.
I found myself in a state of constant agitation watching this.
It seemed like there was an unexplored vast middle ground in which the Web could be a democratizing medium in the positive sense of the word. A little humility, a little balance, choosing one's words carefully, respecting the privacy of others always seemed like common sense to me.
Among others, the documentary follows some guy named Justin Hall, am insufferable chronic over-sharer who compulsively posts details of his personal life online and seems to have been building a career and a reputation on this, although I'd never heard of him until this documentary.
I would have liked to watch Howard Rheingold harangue him for his personality excesses for two hours. Julie Petersen, or whatever her name is now, also needed a good talking to. But then again, I don't think Julie truly believes anyone other than Julie exists.
If nothing else, it was an excellent foreshadowing of what the Web would become when social media began dominating the space a thing a few years later.
The documentary is fair, taken at a point in time when the ramifications of the Web, especially the dark ones, were less clear. At that point, most of the dystopian aspects of the web were more of a theoretical possibility.
I love the web. I'd been online for several years before this documentary came out. But if I hadn't heard of the Internet, there is nothing in this documentary which would encourage me to check it out.
This is not a failure of the filmmaker. The documentary, as a snapshot in Web time, is interesting enough but now that it's over, I'm kind of annoyed, and I have to be at work in a few hours and can't sleep.
This was the zeitgeist in the late 90s, at least in California, brah. Worth a watch. I'd drink before watching it, if I could do it again.
