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.
