The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem – Netflix Review (3/5)

THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK: MEMES TO MAYHEM is a new Netflix documentary about the evolution of an online community. Fascinating, scary, and important. Read our full The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem review here!

THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK: MEMES TO MAYHEM on Netflix is a documentary that should fascinate as much as it can scare and inform. Having already watched a few documentaries about the evolution and escalation of online communities, I still learned something new from this documentary.

To me, the subjects covered are as fascinating as they are scary, and it’s important to try and understand the dynamics of online communities. If anything, this documentary should show you that you can’t just dismiss online communities as having no impact on real life. Hopefully, you know this already!

Continue reading our The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem documentary review below. On Netflix from April 5, 2024.

From Memes to Mayhem indeed

The “Memes to Mayhem” part of this documentary’s title is key to what you’ll learn when watching The Antisocial Network. A lot of online communities are built around jokes and memes. Stuff that is funny (to some) but also very crude. Especially when viewed in hindsight.

However, it’s also a bunch of kids who are going with the flow. Or young adults who are just figuring out what they want to do with their lives.

While The Antisocial Network is a story that ends with the rise of QAnon and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, it begins in a very different place. A place full of memes and friendships and “Cons” where people dress up as Anime characters, Memes, and other kinds of cosplay.

What we see in this documentary is how it went from a group of bored teenagers, who built an online community, to an offline presence in the physical world.

The Origin of Anonymous

In The Antisocial Network, we go from the making of 4chan Memes and events to Anonymous activism and then to Qanon. A lot happens in between and this documentary tries to help you navigate the way there by talking to the people who built and lived it.

If anything, I learned something new about the origin of Anonymous. Even a few of the things they’ve managed to do that I hadn’t heard about before.

And yes, we do also hear from some of the people who succeeded in hacking websites, when they wanted to prove a point. Or punish someone. This includes interviews with hackers who went to prison for their actions.

To me, just hearing about it all from the people who lived it, is what makes this documentary worth watching. Also, it’s interesting to watch news clips where reporters talk about a world they clearly don’t know much about. Not back then anyway.

Watch The Antisocial Network on Netflix!

Giorgio Angelini (Owned: A Tale of Two Americas) and Arthur Jones are the directors of this documentary. The two also worked as field producers on the HBO Max documentary How to Survive a Pandemic (2022).

For this latest Netflix documentary, I really appreciate how they’ve actually gotten people involved who were part of this world. This has always been my favorite kind of documentary. As opposed to interviewing reporters who looked into the events after the fact.

The runtime according to IMDb is just over 2 hours, however the Netflix version is just 1 hour and 28 minutes. The documentary premiered at SXSW on March 10, 2024, so I can’t speak to whether it has been edited or the runtime listed on IMDb is wrong.

What I can say is that it’s worth watching if you want to understand more about the dynamics of online communities. Mostly because this Netflix documentary features interviews with many of the programmers who took part in creating (and running) these communities.

Instead of judging, I found myself wanting to listen and understand. I may not agree with their approach or actions, but I try to understand their viewpoint and experience.

Watch The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem is on Netflix from April 5, 2024.