Noticias

Attempting to create an oral history of teenhood through the “filter” of Instagram, Jonathan Ignatius Green’s Social Animals is partly a combination of after-school special, reality check, and a story of the creative economy where both bodies and experiences have become a commodity exploited by “influencers.” A few years ago I covered the Northside Festival, where I discovered how acclaimed filmmakers made a living working in “branded content.” Also present were ad executives seeking to capitalize on the authenticity and “brand equality” of social media celebrities. Returning to this world, Social Animals follows two influencers and a young woman who feels the pressure of #SquadGoals, #LivingMyBestLife, and so on.

The film first introduces us to a chorus of teens and tweens commenting on the pressures of social media and, in particular, Instagram which, for anyone who remembers MySpace, strips out the additional content moving towards the superficial. This is how Kaylyn Slevin uses it,...