Uta Briesewitz’s American Sweatshop has a lot to say about 21st century social media culture, but it decides to doomscroll rather than open a dialogue. Yeah, we know society is messed up right now, and there’s a lot wrong with the terminally online mentality, but are we going to have a discussion about why or just complain about it?
The fault lies in Matthew Nemeth’s script, which wants to be Promising Young Woman, Euphoria, Severance, and Red Rooms all in one. The film wears its influences like a badge of honor but never has the courage to make its own statement. In American Sweatshop, the viewer meets Daisy Moriarty (Lili Reinhart) who works as a social media content moderator. In a call center type of setup, Daisy and her colleagues are forced to watch the worst videos, deciding if they pass the litmus test to be published on social media. Spoiler alert: it’s all about the views, so even if the people reject the content they’re viewing, their boss (Christiane Paul) tells them to approve it.
The unsettling nature of Daisy’s work life follows her home, as she struggles to build a social life. One day, she watches a video – so horrifying and so shocking – that she develops an obsession in finding the person who made it. Even when she tries to involve the authorities, apathy runs wild and no one seems to be too interested, since everyone has become dubious about or desensitized to social media.
Okay, and? That’s the problem: American Sweatshop struggles to spit out what it wants to say about the topic. Yes, social media sucks. You only need to scroll through X to see how bad behavior has been monetized and turned into a game for those who want to play it. The algorithms know it too, feeding you controversial and inciting content to get you commenting and scrolling for more.
American Sweatshop points at the cold attitude toward this – again, something everyone knows and acknowledges – but doesn’t ask the right questions. How can we hold these companies accountable? Should society shoulder some of the blame for accepting this? Does a user realize they have the power to stop it by deleting an app? Instead, the film turns Daisy into a lone justice seeker, but even her methods become difficult to justify as the film wears on.
That’s the other problem of Nemeth’s script. It gives you no character to latch onto or get behind. Much like social media, all these faces and people turn into an endless blur. They’re white noise that you’ll forget about by tomorrow.
While short on story, American Sweatshop looks fantastic on screen. As a cinematographer herself, Briesewitz communicates her vision to Jörg Widmer, who captures the tone of disarray and anxiety in a cyber world. Briesewitz also chooses to not show the controversial content of the videos. Instead, she uses the actors’ reactions and background sound to convey the emotional disturbance of the material.
Despite the polished aesthetic, American Sweatshop doesn’t do enough to make it stand out in a sea of psychological thrillers. It’s meant to be a cautionary tale to encourage the audience to be more discerning and critical of the content they consume; ironically, this film is just content for the sake of it too, adding nothing to the conversation about the hellhole known as social media.
The Review
American Sweatshop
American Sweatshop states the obvious about social media but adds nothing new to the discussion.
Review Breakdown
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Verdict
