The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem

Directors Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini take us on a chilling journey in "The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem," a documentary exploring the dark underbelly of online culture and its unintended consequences.

The film tackles a highly relevant issue, tracing the evolution of memes from silly jokes to tools for manipulation and the erosion of truth. Millennial interviewees, once active participants, offer a unique perspective on how their online actions spiraled out of control. The documentary masterfully weaves early internet memes with news clips and social media posts, creating a vivid timeline of events.

While focusing on the rise of 4chan, the film could delve deeper into the broader impact of other anonymous platforms. Some interviewees seem to romanticize the early days of the internet, neglecting the inherent toxicity that always existed.

Editing is sharp, seamlessly transitioning between interviews, memes, and news footage. The score is subtle yet effective, adding tension without being overly dramatic. The interviewers guide the narrative effectively, drawing insightful commentary from participants.

"The Antisocial Network" is a must-watch for anyone interested in the internet's influence on society. Despite some limitations, the film serves as a stark reminder of the responsibility we hold online and the potential for memes to morph into real-world mayhem.

But it managed to be educational and present its thesis quite well. The thesis is that the infamous 4chan led to such social movements as OccupyWallstreet, Anonymous, Gamergate, and the rise of Donald Trump and finally, to January 6th. It showed how these groups morphed together and separated. It shows very clearly how the alt-right latched onto meme culture and tried to hijack the political discourse. I was never on 4chan, but remember seeing their productions out in the wild. It's a cautionary tale about two things, the first about how just because you create something, that does not mean you can control it as the creator of 4chan discovered, and the second is never to underestimate the stupidity of the masses. They will beieve anything as long as its in a visual form with some white text.

"The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem" is a documentary tracing the evolution from 2 chan, a Japanese anime website, to 4 chan to Anonymous to 8 chan to nihilism to Q Anon. It also shows how the business model of stirring up anger and fear spread to the mainstream social media. It interviews key people in the creation and development of this phenomenon. And it shows how even they get horrified with what they have unleashed. I knew some of this but the documentary connects the dots. It also shows how this has bled into the real world. But this isn't anti-technology. Behind this is people, some well-meaning but naive, some immature, some hateful, and some cynically using all the others.

Informative and enlightening documentation!

For people like me, who have only been able to delve deeper into the world of the Internet after a long period of family responsibilities, documentaries of this kind are helpful in understanding what has actually happened over the past two decades. The effects of the developments described in the film are visible to everyone in everyday and professional life. I didn't really like the excessive rush of images, but I admit that it fits the protagonists and their actions quite well.

The global streaming service NETFLIX certainly does educational work with such films. We should also remember the documentary about the CYBERBUNKER in the small German town of Traben-Trabach.

The question remains what to do now with the knowledge gained. The troll armies around the world remain active and have long been taking care of the next generation.

Finally someone took the time to address this more or less properly.

So... Is it perfect? No.

But at least it tries to tackle the absurdity of the times we live in.

Going much further than other documentaries or books in unveiling some of the people that spawned the whole toxic internet trend - albeit leaving aside the vast influence of a certain current belligerent super power - it gives a simple, but credible, history lesson on why we are in the current political situation.

And no, I'm absolutely not talking just about the USA.

What happened there is ground zero for other 'experiences' that are starting to materialize in other countries (they even mention what happened in early 2000's with 2Chan) and that continue to occur in our age of misinformation.

The simple fact that some people are so desperate (and plainly stupid) as to be able to believe these pranksters should be enough to make us stop and meditate about what being online really means.

Just one more thing: this is a documentary and my rating is not based on the formal quality of the film.

This is a presentation of part of an important story.

A story that should be dissected and investigated much, much further. That said, as first efforts go this is a 5 in terms of usefulness and overall importance.