By Josh Ball
What is the most destructive aspect of social media? In the decades since the technological revolution, online social platforms have grown to dominate people’s lives and minds. Now, seeing the long term effects of this technology, there is a movement calling attention to the adverse effects of social media.
“The Social Reckoning” is a sequel to “The Social Network,” which won three Oscars. The new movie chronicles the creation of an expose written by Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) which revealed Facebook’s changed algorithm. According to whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), in an effort to retain users, Facebook chose to optimize for engagement over personal connection. By focusing on “outrage bait,” Facebook contributed to political polarization and addiction in the mass market.
The dialogue demonstrates the zenith of the craft. The words spoken by the characters feel like they could be a transcript of actual conversations. Importantly, the word choice sounds natural to the time frame.
Though perhaps fallen from favor all these years later, half a decade ago, words like “radicalize” were in common usage. This dedication to realism lends the movie a strong foundation on which to build its story.
The actors do a phenomenal job with the well-written script. Nothing takes the audience out of a film like a poor performance and no such problem exists in “The Social Reckoning.” Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison lead with perfect embodiment of their characters and great chemistry. In the background is Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. Jeremy Strong does such a good job of embodying the Facebook CEO that at first I thought it was a self portrayal.
The pacing of the movie is also done well. At no point does it bore the audience, but neither does it confuse them by moving too fast. Each character gets the screen time they need and no more. The filmmakers perfectly balance the time between the main action of Jeff and Frances crafting their investigation and Mark Zuckerberg preparing for his congressional hearing.
Unfortunately, constant time jumps confuse the audience. Early on, the timeline jumps between 2019 and 2021. By the end, the jump is only between November 2020 and January 2021. Not only is it already confusing jumping back and forth, but the changing length of time differential compounds the problem. Especially since there are flashback scenes within the earlier timeline, it would be better to tell the story in simple chronological fashion.
Additionally, the film lacks relevant themes. Instead of creating a biting critique of society’s addiction to phones and the proliferation of mental health crises caused by social media, the film stays at surface level. Rather than present a call to action or a challenge to the viewer, Aaron Sorkin opts to stop at a criticism of Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire.
From the title down to the dialogue, “The Social Reckoning” presents an honest front, pretending to propose a fair look at the effects of social media. Aaron Sorkin cannot, however, help himself: it ends up portraying all Republicans as evil, twisting history to fit his perspective. While this is a tolerable position to hold, the farcical front is frustrating.
On the surface, the movie contends to be a critique on the polarizing and isolating nature of social media. Underneath, it is an example of the political manifesto version of films which audiences dislike.
Few films are all bad: most have some redeeming qualities. “The Social Reckoning” stands as the picture of these movies. Thematically, the film is weak, existing only as a political manifesto with a confusing timeline. The dialogue and the performances do heavy lifting to drag the movie from the depths of defeat. All in all, between the well and poorly executed aspects, “The Social Reckoning” seems destined for the forgotten realm of muddling mediocrity.
“The Social Reckoning” is currently playing in theaters
Josh Ball is a Senior history major. He is increasingly discouraged by the state of antisocial media
Photos courtesy of Alcon Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, and Escape Artists
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