TFW NO GF

In every other aspect of life people are treated as individuals and not held accountable for the actions of other loosely related people.

For the first time ever i think this topic has been covered with some humanity instead of purposefully trying to demonise the subjects.

The world seems increasingly more bland and alienating for a massive portion of the population, its liberating to actually have somebody give a voice to that and allow some of these people to speak.

The internet is definitely the modern equivalent of subculture, however vague and ill defined it might be. This film attempts to capture this point in history in a open minded and often beautiful way.

I hope in the future people view this Documentary in the same way that we view Penelope Spheeris' "Decline of Western Civilization". It definitely deserves it.

The portioning of one's online and offline personas, and the consequences of this, are well displayed in this documentary. It is a mirror for me in some ways, and probably a mirror for anyone who spends a good amount of time in online, pseudonymous communities.

On the one hand, these communities can lead one to be maladapted in the offline world where words and actions have much greater social consequences. Or these communities could really help you work through some issues and ideas that no one else wants to touch irl. The thing is, with a phone or pc, you ostensibly get to pick your poison. You can choose to follow nihilistic or despairing threads and accounts, or go in the opposite direction. But we do not always do what we want to do. Looking into the abyss has never been easier, nor more encouraged.

As anywhere else, there is a pressure to fit in, even when anonymous. So people, especially young, disenfranchised people, tend to take on the belief systems and attitudes of the strongest voices of in their online crowd. Boys are raising boys. There is an understanding and commiseration with one an others situation that is deep, but perhaps a lack of knowing how to improve that situation; an abundance of depressing data, and a lack of life experience. The typical old man mentor probably has plenty life experience, and forgot the data. Thesis, antithesis. Synthesis.

Ariel Pink did a good job with the score. Noticed some variations on a few classics. John Maus's music is always a treat.

I actually never knew that a documentary like this existed. I later ended up having this playing in the background while working on the project. It turns out that the whole film is well produced and pretty much professionally made. I feel like the way it was edited has great form of quality and entertainment to the table. Additionally, I do find the overall topic for the documentary to be important due to how more complicated it has become overtime. On top of that, it can potentially spread to multiple people in society. It can also perhaps bring this topic to the older generations who are not super familiar with the community group online and make them understand the issue.

However, the biggest problem that I have with the documentary is the fact that they didn't interview enough people. I mean, having a number of people being interviewed in the film feels a bit underwhelming. I wish that we could hear from other people like professional psychologists or something like that. We would almost hear different sides of stories and allow the audience to decide what they believe in. For example, would they be empathizing more towards the ones who speak out about the issue or would they focus more on the stats and possible solutions? Otherwise, this documentary, to me, comes off a bit biased whether or not it's intentional.

This may have been a sort-of grungy look into incel subculture and their rancid online homes. Unfortunately it'll have to be JUST a look, as all audio seems to be recorded on a 1987 walkman, and put into the documentary without levelling. Most of the people sound like they are in an _actual_ pit of despair, and speaking from the bottom while the mike is hung in another county. Combined with footage that wildly oscillates between 'fair' and 'filmed on a second hand iphone 5' this is borderline unwatchable and unusable as a podcast. How this got past selection on a fairly prestigious film festival is completely beyond me. It wouldn't even pass as a first-year filmclub test project.

I am always interested in learning about the various groups and subcultures that have developed on the internet since the early 2000's. This film goes beyond the nerdy and depressing "incel" culture and really explores why youth are drawn to these communities. I appreciate the neutrality of this work. Give it a watch. For what it is 10/10