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https://www.thenerdelement.com/2022/02/10/sundance-tiktok-boom-review/
TikTok a social media app run by Beijing-based ByteDance is a fast-growing app stating it has a billion users posting short videos each month. TikTok Boom Shalini Kantayya’s documentary about the “booming” social media app rivaling Mark Zuckerburg’s empire examines both the good and the scary aspects of this popular app
The documentary follows three prominent TikTok users Feroza Aziz, Spencer X and Deja Foxx. Feroza was one of the few middle eastern students at her school. Feroza, teased at school and feeling a sense of loss with her community, turned to TikTok to connect. She found the community on TikTok to be more accepting than the community at her school. By posting videos of her heritage she quickly grew a following. However, using the platform to speak out about the disappearance of Muslims in China caused her videos vanished. She then began hiding her political messages within beauty tip videos to circumvent what she believed was censorship. Though it worked at first, she soon found her account banned.
Spencer X started beat boxing at 15. Despite the obvious uphill battle Spencer decided to forgo college and started performing in subways for money. Once he discovered TikTok he started posting videos and became an immediate success. He now does branding for companies and even appeared on award shows. He has been able to make a very good living due to the platform.
Deja Foxx became famous when a video of her grilling her congressman about her reproductive rights went viral. She uses the platform to bring awareness about politics to the people around her. She also founded an online community called the Gen Z gang.
While the documentary showcases how these Tik Tokers had success with TikTok it didn’t shy away from showing stories of burnt-out individuals, getting hate from viewers and needing to step away for mental health reasons. The documentary did mention that some people use TikTok to support themselves and family, so they do not simply have the option of deleting the app.
In addition to following these TikTok users, the documentary touches on the geopolitical landscape TikTok has to navigate. This including the fight over security concerns by the US Government, and the privacy concerns with minors. The documentary highlights clips of middle age men doing duets (a feature were you can take someone’s video without their permission and splice it with yours) with very young girls. This was a time before TikTok forced younger users to have private accounts.
The documentary touches on the algorithm and how it can feel almost intrusive. Unlike Facebook which uses groups and friends to determine what is marketable to a user, you do not have to follow anyone in TikTok. It deems its information based on the videos you watch. While this will allow for users to see content that is most interesting to them, there is a benefit to diversifying opinions. If you show a teenager video about how the world is flat and only allow them to associate with others that feel the same way that child is more than likely to accept this to be true. This could easily be used as a form of manipulation during political campaigns.
The term shadowbanned was brought up by several African American Tik Tokers stating that their videos would not get views. Shadow banning is banning a person social media without their knowledge. While the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin has very strict rules about what you can wear, how you look and what you can say, showcased by TikTok user Jason Zhang (he is constantly cut off due to his tattoos) TikTok claims they do not censor people this way outside of China. The documentary gives us speculation however, that this is not necessarily true.
TikTok Boom is only 90-minute documentary, so it tries to touch on several subjects broadly, not giving us enough detail on either. While it is a good piece on the introduction to TikTok for people who know nothing about it, some of these subjects could do with more detail.
The post Sundance: TikTok, Boom Review appeared first on The Nerd Element.
TikTok a social media app run by Beijing-based ByteDance is a fast-growing app stating it has a billion users posting short videos each month. TikTok Boom Shalini Kantayya’s documentary about the “booming” social media app rivaling Mark Zuckerburg’s empire examines both the good and the scary aspects of this popular app
The documentary follows three prominent TikTok users Feroza Aziz, Spencer X and Deja Foxx. Feroza was one of the few middle eastern students at her school. Feroza, teased at school and feeling a sense of loss with her community, turned to TikTok to connect. She found the community on TikTok to be more accepting than the community at her school. By posting videos of her heritage she quickly grew a following. However, using the platform to speak out about the disappearance of Muslims in China caused her videos vanished. She then began hiding her political messages within beauty tip videos to circumvent what she believed was censorship. Though it worked at first, she soon found her account banned.
Spencer X started beat boxing at 15. Despite the obvious uphill battle Spencer decided to forgo college and started performing in subways for money. Once he discovered TikTok he started posting videos and became an immediate success. He now does branding for companies and even appeared on award shows. He has been able to make a very good living due to the platform.
Deja Foxx became famous when a video of her grilling her congressman about her reproductive rights went viral. She uses the platform to bring awareness about politics to the people around her. She also founded an online community called the Gen Z gang.
While the documentary showcases how these Tik Tokers had success with TikTok it didn’t shy away from showing stories of burnt-out individuals, getting hate from viewers and needing to step away for mental health reasons. The documentary did mention that some people use TikTok to support themselves and family, so they do not simply have the option of deleting the app.
In addition to following these TikTok users, the documentary touches on the geopolitical landscape TikTok has to navigate. This including the fight over security concerns by the US Government, and the privacy concerns with minors. The documentary highlights clips of middle age men doing duets (a feature were you can take someone’s video without their permission and splice it with yours) with very young girls. This was a time before TikTok forced younger users to have private accounts.
The documentary touches on the algorithm and how it can feel almost intrusive. Unlike Facebook which uses groups and friends to determine what is marketable to a user, you do not have to follow anyone in TikTok. It deems its information based on the videos you watch. While this will allow for users to see content that is most interesting to them, there is a benefit to diversifying opinions. If you show a teenager video about how the world is flat and only allow them to associate with others that feel the same way that child is more than likely to accept this to be true. This could easily be used as a form of manipulation during political campaigns.
The term shadowbanned was brought up by several African American Tik Tokers stating that their videos would not get views. Shadow banning is banning a person social media without their knowledge. While the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin has very strict rules about what you can wear, how you look and what you can say, showcased by TikTok user Jason Zhang (he is constantly cut off due to his tattoos) TikTok claims they do not censor people this way outside of China. The documentary gives us speculation however, that this is not necessarily true.
TikTok Boom is only 90-minute documentary, so it tries to touch on several subjects broadly, not giving us enough detail on either. While it is a good piece on the introduction to TikTok for people who know nothing about it, some of these subjects could do with more detail.
The post Sundance: TikTok, Boom Review appeared first on The Nerd Element.
The Janes is a feature documentary about the Jane Collective, a group of women in Chicago in the late 1960s who helped women get illegal abortions.
Abortion was illegal in the 1960s, which didn’t stop abortions from being performed but rather made them less safe for the women having them. The Janes were a clandestine network, they used code names, blindfolds and safe houses in order to protect identities and the service they performed. The Janes were established to give women the option of a safer, somewhat more affordable procedure.
The film is co-directed by Oscar nominee Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water, Citizen Koch) and first-time director Emma Pildes (Producer on Jane Fonda in Five Acts, Spielberg).
The film implements the classic talking heads format of documentary. The footage they have from the late 60s is limited so their hands are somewhat forced. There is enough footage to give you a feel of the time period and the kind of conditions the Janes were operating in. They have interviews with a good number of people involved in the operation at the time who provide good insight.
There is good background of what 1968 Chicago was like in terms of the power the church had and the mob presence who provided a more expensive and dangerous abortion before the Janes came along. The lack of separation between church and state was a problem then, as it is now.
One of the women, Jody, gives her story of how she had a rare legal abortion during this time because she had cancer. Incredibly, she still had to get many doctors to write letters in order to be allowed to have the abortion she needed to continue her chemotherapy treatment. It serves as a reminder that many people need abortions for health reasons and how very few have one with no thought.
The Janes briefly talks about the lower income and women of colour they didn’t help. I felt like this section could have been expanded upon. The Janes did a lot of good and it was necessary to charge a price in order to fund the operation, but that meant some women couldn’t afford their abortions. The Janes were mostly middle class, white women and the same could be said of their clients. One of The Janes, Peaches, acknowledges that they may have offended the women of colour who came to them.
The Janes carried out roughly 100 abortions a week, it is incredible that they did this successfully in secret for so long. The Janes even carry out the abortions themselves once they find out that the doctor who was helping them, was not actually a doctor. He helped teach them the procedure and that allowed them to branch out and do it themselves.
The documentary goes from the formation of the Janes in 1968, through their arrests and up to the legalisation of abortion in 1973. With new abortion laws in some US states and Roe vs. Wade back under fire, The Janes is surprisingly relevant. Sadly, hitting at the right time. The doc certainly makes it clear that the legality of abortions isn’t going to stop them from happening. Desperate people do desperate, dangerous things. The need to provide safe abortions, provided by actual doctors is essential.
The Janes also inspired a fiction film Call Jane, that film also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Our review for Call Jane can be found by clicking HERE.
Before watching Call Jane during Sundance, I didn’t know much about the Janes. Watching the doc recently after watching the fiction film gave me a good education on the topic. The Janes use of interviews with the people who lived through the time period is what makes it work. Their recollection of events is so clear and detailed, that we can picture it perfectly. It may not reinvent the wheel but The Janes feels like essential viewing. The Janes will be distributed by HBO so keep on the look out for it.
The post Sundance 2022: ‘The Janes’ is an Important Documentary appeared first on The Nerd Element.
Written By: Wayne Broadway
Reader, I won’t lie to you: You won’t like this review. In a world that seems dominated by people who adore Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) and all of his antics, I stand alone. And don’t get me wrong; I love Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I just hate its namesake.
To call the character Ferris Bueller the film’s protagonist would be technically correct, considering we spend most of the runtime with him, are treated only to his soliloquies and are positioned to root against anyone in his way. That said, it feels wrong to call Ferris our protagonist spiritually. In my eyes, a story’s protagonist is fighting against something. A protagonist answers the call to adventure, however reluctantly. They return home with a boon of knowledge about themselves and their world gained only through struggle and transformation.
Ferris Bueller just hates being told what to do.
I’ll say it again: Ferris Bueller is a menace to everyone around him and probably a psycho. It’s not just that he cons his way into everything, but it’s the glib way he does it. He takes joy in tricking his trusting parents. He likes knowing that his best friend will eventually cave to peer pressure. He takes pride in fooling everyone around him.
In another world, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off would be a psychological thriller similar to The Good Son, in which those closest to him must come to the horrifying knowledge that the person they love has no pity, remorse, or conscience. In this hypothetical world, Jeanie Bueller (Jennifer Grey) isn’t a shrewish sister who must learn that her brother’s deceit shouldn’t bother her as long as she’s not its main target. This alternate universe’s Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) likely isn’t so unstable because the world hasn’t tried to gaslight him into thinking that Ferris is an amiable kid with no ulterior motives. In this bizarre world, these two characters are our rightful protagonists, and we follow their journey to foil a young Iago in the making.
Sadly, that is not the case here.
Still, we have fun in our world’s version of this movie because Cameron (Alan Ruck) is our deuteragonist and secret hero.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is Cameron’s movie framed as his friend’s.
Every scene with Cameron is delightful, especially as the movie — and his hero’s journey — progresses. While I would argue that Ferris is the Devil, he is still Cameron’s call to action. Cameron learns to express his inner demons throughout the film and exorcizes them. He learns that life is worth living when he believes he’s faced with death at the hands of his father (because you-know-who pressured him into taking his father’s prized Ferrari). He comes face to face with himself in what seems like a cocooned state, only to emerge a transfigured creature ready to deal with his problems at home. If the movie were titled Cameron: Story of a Sad Boy with a Sociopathic Friend, I would have preferred that more.
Still, I have a ton of love for this movie.
John Hughes is at his very best here. From the triumphant parade scene to the quiet shot of Cameron at the bottom of the pool, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is evidence of a director who aims to have his name mentioned with the same reverence paid to Scorsese, Spielberg, or early De Palma. Enough kudos cannot be given for how he perfectly meshes music and visuals in set pieces like the museum scene or the Ferrari scene with the Star Wars music. Sure, the script is pretty low on plot other than Bueller’s “antagonists” trying to catch him being the lying sleazeball that he is, but Hughes’ direction makes the film’s desultory nature seem grand regardless.
It’s just a shame that so many beautifully crafted frames had that jerk as their focal point.
A question I had for the first hour of this film was, “Who is this for?” Is it for people who love to see the bad guy win? For high schoolers who never met an adult that wasn’t evil or clueless? I can’t rightfully say. If it’s for the former, I kindly recommend watching No Country for Old Men, because there, too, chaotic evil gets away scot-free (unless you count Chigurh’s final scene as some kind of petty cosmic justice). If it’s for the latter high schoolers, then, dear teenagers, I welcome you to talk to an adult over 20. I promise we’re human beings, just like you.
Ultimately, I think this is a movie made for the Camerons of the world.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off celebrates life, even when that celebration can feel hedonistic and egotistic. The main character doesn’t care about Europe or whether they’re fascists or socialists. If the movie is deriding this kind of solipsism, I couldn’t tell. But Cameron, its secondary lead, feels a lot about the world. He feels lost. He feels unable to talk to his father. He feels angry that he feels lost and unable to talk to his father. This person is an actual human being, developing hopes and dreams that he can’t articulate yet due to the awkwardness of growing up in an emotionally distant home.
The next time I’m asked who’s the hero of this movie I’ll say Cameron.
Oh, and on a final note.
For those who read this and say, “Wayne, we know you’re handsome and intelligent, but don’t you think you’re being too hard on this comedy?”
I’d thank you and tell you you’re all beautiful too. Then I’d say you’re wrong about comedy. Typically, the comic structure ends with a lovable loser getting a happy ending or a grimy schemer getting his comeuppance. Ferris Bueller gives us half of that. We feel that Cameron will be okay, however rough the road ahead may be. But the last shot is also a freeze-frame of a manipulator smirking at, maybe, his friend’s growth but more likely his own apparent genius.
Somewhere out there is a movie exec pitch “gritty reboots” of everything from The Muppet Babies to Air Bud. I just pray Hollywood gets it right for once and shows us the true nature of this privileged, spoiled deceiver.
But, until then, I’ll settle for the artistic genius that is this film.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is streaming on Showtime and Hulu with a premium subscription.
Writer: Brandon Thomas / Artists: Serg Acuna, Diego Olortegui, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Adriano Lucas / DC Comics
It’s the final issue of Aquaman: The Becoming, which means that this is the issue that Aquaman… wait for it… becomes.
This book has followed Jackson Hyde, commonly known as Aqualad in some circles, but it’s also partly been about Jackson becoming Aquaman. So from this point forward, that’s who I’m talking about when I say that name. And when I mention the original one I’ll just say Arthur. It is a bit confusing, as they are both currently named Aquaman, but we’ll make do with what we get.
In Aquaman: The Becoming #6, Aquaman has to stop a terrorist attack in Xebel that attempts to assassinate Mera before she gives a speech on getting rid of youthful conscription, a practice that Xebel has partaken in the past.
But things aren’t that easy of course. Especially since this is the final issue of the series. Aquaman isn’t going to be able to save the day without a few obstacles in his way. The first one is that Xebel themselves are the ones trying to take out Mera, in an attempt to use her as a martyr for their cause, since she is technically one of them. Aquaman has to stop them from succeeding while also confronting how far they’ve fallen, willing to do the same things that they swear only Atlanteans do.
What I really liked about Aquaman: The Becoming #6, is that while it sets up Jackson to become Aquaman, it makes him overcome an insurmountable loss on his way to do so. I don’t want to get into too much spoiler territory, but someone close to Aquaman gets in grave danger, propelling him to dig deep within himself to muster up the courage and power that it will take to save the day. In doing so, however, Aquaman’s emotional state is fractured. He may now know that he has what it takes from a physical standpoint to do what needs to get done, but the sweet young man that we’ve all come to know and love is gone, or at the very least, buried.
I love that Thomas left this problem with Aquaman unresolved at the end of the series. When we see him next in Aquamen, he’ll still be dealing with this heavy emotional toll, and his journey in that book will likely in part be related to healing that part of himself.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait. With this and the Black Manta series finale, we have been in a renaissance of new and nuanced Aquaman-centric stories. I can’t believe I’ve loved it as much as I have, but here we are. I’ll see you all when Aquamen drops, because you best believe I’ll be reading that series.
10 Underwater Maces out of 10
Enjoying Aquaman: The Becoming? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.
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