UKC

Just watched The Circle and have to say that it is probably the scariest film I have seen in a long time. I'm not talking about horror film scary here.

The film was all about how technology and the internet can become by making everything we do available to everybody the world over in real time. But then maybe the film isn't actually a fiction of real life, maybe the film has been dumbed down to what is actually happening to each and every one of us right now.

So glad I never signed up to social media sites like facebook or thenextbigthing.com

Great film, and an ending which I was not expecting either.

We may also be witnessing the end of Hollywood as we know it at the same time. Or at least if companies like Netflix get their way.

In reply to The Lemming:

I thought it was a terrible film. Good cast, no story, absurd premise.

In reply to The Lemming:

I also wasn't that impressed by it. Something Black Mirror did a while ago and much better. The irony of it being a Netflix film (who, presumably, hoover up all the data they can from its subscribers and viewers) was not lost on me.

In reply to Jon Read:

Well the book by Dave Eggers (also called The Circle), on which the film is based, came out back in 2013 so it predates most of Black Mirror. I haven't actually seen the film (nor the third season of BM, to which I assume you are referring?) but I have read the book so thought I'd point that out!

In reply to Jon Read:


I probably have low expectations of films and practically like everything that I watch.



If it I don't like a film I either turn over, or walk out of a cinema. On the whole I enjoy most of the films I watch.

I must have low expectations.

In reply to alexm198:
***potential spoilers***

That is a good point worth saying -- I didn't know it was based on an earlier novel, no doubt where BM took inspiration.

Having thought about it a bit more, I think the film was well made, some pretty good acting, a worthy narrative, but I just felt it was a jump too far when the voting notion came in. There is a lot of more subtle data mining and linkage that could be as controlling and influential and as scary as that, and it is happening now as far as I can see.

I do find myself asking again: why isn't there an ethics committee determining what commercial companies can do with data?

In reply to Jon Read:

Yeah fair point, I think it would have been almost *more* scary if it were data manipulation of the more subtle, insidious sort. I suppose the use of voting is maybe intended to be hyperbolic. It's been a few years since I read the book so will have to watch the film!

I agree it's terrifying that data usage seems to be an area of modern society where the law can't keep up with the pace of technological development. Some are better than others - I had a bit of exposure to working alongside Google and they seem very good at self-regulation, even at the expense of profit, but Zuckerberg strikes me as one of these spacefaring lizard sorts who will stop at nothing!