The Social Reckoning Movie Review:
The Social Reckoning leaves you conflicted. On the one hand, it is an entertaining investigative journalism drama about a nerdy whistleblower and a technologically inept journalist teaming up to question a tech giant with more power than most governments. It talks about a small chapter in the ongoing era of tech oligarchy, and is engrossing, entertaining, and cinematic. On the other hand…
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Bill Burr
The Social Network (2010) marked the birth of the age of social media with a fittingly ominous tone, and it showed how the DNA of this ever-mutating beast was built with quintessentially human qualities like greed, envy, and the unceasing hunger for power. Almost two decades have rolled by since the social media era began. Through a historical lens, two decades are barely a blip, but the number, scale, intensity, and speed of change the world has undergone since then, largely driven by Big Tech, have been alarming. And yet, writer-director Aaron Sorkin plucks out a small chapter in this era, lathers it with rich storytelling, transforms it into an easily digestible (and most importantly) familiar commercial outing, and sweetens the deal with cinematic catharsis at the end. And therein lies the problem.
This follow-up to The Social Network (2010) focuses on the 2021 Facebook leak by the whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) and journalist Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White), while Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) prepares for the US Senate testimony. The film observes how Facebook (now Meta) radicalised people by nudging them towards right-wing extremist groups. We see how level-headed individuals can become paranoid racists; we see how they even become rioters brazen enough to storm the capital; we see how the platform amplifies and intensifies bullying; and we see how it destroys mental health in teenagers. These interesting points are emphatically presented but never discussed in depth. The film shows you characters being rattled by these awful findings on social media impact. But its field of vision is so narrow that except for the business reasons given by Zuckerberg and team, it is hard to understand why the radicalisation happened, how those in power got away with it, and how the problem simply transformed and still survives.
Aaron Sorkin is focused on providing a true-blue journalism thriller, ticking every box of the genre. Which is a ridiculous thing to criticize about a completely fictional story. But The Social Reckoning does (and wants you to) grasp the scope and real-world impact of the story it is trying to tell. So you cannot take one of the most important subjects of our time and narrow it down to one episode, then present it as a triumphant critique of Big Tech. You cannot cut one of the many tendrils of the beast and claim to have slain it.
The Social Reckoning still works as an old-school investigative drama, with a lot of the tried-and-tested tropes intact. The whistleblower data scientist is of course the socially awkward nerd. The journalist is, of course, confident in the power of journalism but out of his depth with the subject he's investigating. There is the acerbic yet ‘will-stand-by-you-no-matter-what’ chief editor. And of course a handful of wise-cracking interns who orbit around Jeff Horwitz. Even though all of these tropes are familiar, they somehow add up to an almost hypnotic allure, like how the most familiar route on your daily commute is also the most pleasurable because you know it well and don't have to exert mental effort. Then there are moments that make you crave fresh creative decisions. Like when it cuts to Puerto Rico, and stereotypical Latino music starts playing.
One of the best things about the film is how it reveals information to the audience. This is crucial in a topic that is inundated with statistics. During a conversation between two characters, if the film wants to throw a number at you, it dredges up your personal opinion about the topic, asks you to guess the number before giving it to you, and ties your emotions to what goes on screen. However, less than half of such smartness is found in Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, who plays it no differently than someone would in an SNL skit.
The tagline of The Social Reckoning reads, “We are way past making friends,” which mirrors the problems with the film, which circles around issues the world is way past. And even though the problems of the algorithm have mutated from simply encouraging negativity to now contributing to cognitive decline through AI, and creating a numbed-down society by fragmenting our attention, we still seem to have accepted it as part of our reality. Maybe that collective passive resignation is what The Social Reckoning should have been about.