GUEST EDITORIAL: 6 Movies About Life in the Digital Age

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6 Movies About Life in the Digital Age

by Kevin Gardner

Almost everyone uses computers on a regular basis, or if not computers per se then Internet-compatible smart devices. Because such electronics are an inescapable part of daily life, it makes sense that they would inspire movies. Some movies about computers and digital life take place in the future, while others are contemporaneous with the moment in history that they were created. Some are documentaries and others are made-up tales of science fiction or horror. Here are several worth checking out for various reasons. 

1. Disconnect

"Disconnect" tells three distinct stories, which relate to one another. One is the story of an attorney who has not yet figured out how to make a hybrid workplace work for him. He does not communicate with his family because he is always on his phone. Other stories concern the cyberbullying son of an ex-cop and a couple who faces online exposure of their secrets. Society has experienced technological overload for a while, and this movie, made in 2012, has been described as one of the most effective explorations of it. 

2. The Matrix

Released in 1999, "The Matrix" features influential and oft-imitated special effects and stunts. In 2012, the same year that "Disconnect" came out, it was added to the National Film Registry. "The Matrix" depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is enslaved to machines and exists in an elaborate virtual reality simulation. At the time, it raised concerns about a simulation so convincing it could be mistaken for actual reality. With artificial intelligence playing more of a role in everyday life, some wonder about the possibility of a future in which robots and computers no longer serve humanity but exert dominance over it. 

3. Team Hurricane

Because the internet has existed for decades, there are several generations of people who have never lived in a world without it. While not a documentary, "Team Hurricane" is an authentic portrayal of the life of young people for whom the internet has always been a part of life. Part of the reason for this authenticity is that not only the actors but also the people who made it were all part of these younger generations. 

4. Her

There has always been a question about the validity of virtual interactions between people who never met in real life. Once the responses started coming from the computer itself rather than other people, the questions increased. Directed and written by Spike Jonze, "Her" is the story of a lonely man who falls in love with his digital assistant, voiced in the movie by an unseen Scarlett Johanssen. Programmers of such software used in real life use sultry female voices and give them names like Siri and Alexa, so the premise of the movie takes the logical next step in making the program an object of desire. Jonze doesn't provide answers or make judgments about the validity of such interactions and the emotions behind them, but he does give the questions some careful thought. 

5. Catfish

"To catfish" has entered the internet lexicon as to pretend to another persona online for purposes of deception. In that way, this film and the television series based on it have proven to be extremely influential. Purported to be an authentic documentary about the filmmaker's brother that turned into something else as the brother's online relationship turned weird, some people have argued that the film itself may be a deception, a scripted story presented as a documentary. Either way, it has some important commentary to make about the nature of relationships in an online world. 

6. Ready Player One

Based on the novel by Ernest Cline, "Ready Player One" is the story of a gigantic multiplayer role-playing virtual reality game. When the designer dies, a digital message goes out saying that the one who can find the Easter egg he has hidden in the game will become his heir and inherit his company and his fortune. The key to deciphering the clues is hidden in his favorite pop culture from the 1970s and '80s.

Unlike many of the other movies on this list, "Ready Player One" can't decide whether it wants to be a cautionary tale or not.