Analysing Documentaries

*click photos for clip of documentary*

The Social Dilemma

'tech experts from silicon valley sound the alarm on the dangerous impact of social networking, which big tech use in an attempt to manipulate and influence.'

The social dilemma is an expository documentary that meets a fictional subplot. It follows the tech experts of silicon valley as they explain what the biggest media companies are doing to manipulate and influence you to keep using your products.

The way the documentary creates real shock value, it's dramatised in a way that really gets the audience thinking about the effects that social media has on their life.

We see parts that take place in the real world, real experiences from real people talking about what it was like to work for companies such as Google, Facebook and Pinterest. We then see parts that are dramatised, fictional, a family who each deal with usage of social media in different ways.

I like the way that the documentary flows, from talking about the start of social media and the positivity it brought to people and then transitioning to talking about the devastation it is causing the world in the modern world.

I feel like the use of actors acting like people in modern society was smart on the director's behalf, it helps the audience relate to what's going on as we all know someone like one of the main characters. It helps educate more as when you feel connected to someone, it shocks you more when something bad happens to it.

As we see throughout the documentary, Ben, the main boy, is constantly being manipulated by the people behind his screen. It's shocking to see on screen as we know, there is nothing that we can do to help. It's almost cynical as we then start to think about our own phones and social media apps.

I think that the documentary is incredibly influential, it's a new take on looking at social media and really uncovering the secrets that big tech companies are keeping from us.

Feminists: What were they thinking?

'Filmaker Johanna Demetrakas revisits photos from a 1977 book of photographs that captured women shedding cultural restrictions.'

Johanna Demetrakas allows the women in her photobook to revisit the memories of their fight for feminism in the 1970s. 

The documentary is respectful and truly lays out each experience of all types of women, it pushes the narrative that we still need to be fighting these battles today.

The documentary travels through different groups of women, from POC to LGBT women, women who fought for healthcare rights and women in film.

We get the full experience of feminism, we get to see first-hand the accounts that these women fought and learn more about the feminist wave in the 70s.

The filmmaker uses a lot of old footage merged with interview footage of these women.

The interview shots are up close, nothing is visible in the background. We only get to see the women, it's an emphasis of the fact it is their story, nothing is going to be a distraction to that throughout the documentary.

At the end of the documentary, we get to see all these women come together to view the exhibit they were part of. We see them, admiring each other and talking with each other. It is a truly perfect moment captured, we see all these strong people proud of who they are, proud of each other.

The documentary is truly eye-opening, it's beautifully put together and a true homage to the women of the 1970s.