'The Circle' Movie Review

“The Circle” is a 2017 film based off of the novel by Dave Eggers. The author also contributed to the screenplay alongside director, James Ponsoldt. This film was produced by Tom Hanks, James Ponsoldt, Gary Goetzman, Anthony Bregman. This film follows Mae, played by the fabulous Emma Watson, who gets a new job at The Circle with the help of her friend Annie, portrayed by Karen Gillan. After an accident outside of the workplace Mae is brought in my company runners Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), and Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt) which leads to new uses of invented technology that leads Mae down a dangerous path. Struggling to choose between transparency and respectable privacy Mae encounters a number of obstacles before making an unprecedented plan to fight for transparency in management and safe uses of technological advancements. (YouTube Movies, 2017)

Film Production

In the Vanity Fair article, “Inside The Circle’s Surreal Tech Dystopia” written by Sulagna Misra, James Ponsold explains the intense conversations, thought process and brainstorming that was necessary in producing the technology that needed to be portrayed in the movie. It was important to Ponsold that there was little detail of the technology so that way the film would continue to have the futuristic and dystopian feel for generations. Because “The Circle” is set after the novel, there were many details that had to be sifted through and removed. However, the makers tried their best to include as much of the described setting as they could. (Misra, 2017)

Violating Trust and Compromising Integrity

This film had many unsettling concepts and plot lines but the part that stood out the most to me was the SeeChange cameras. Once introduced they spread like wildfire and were on every surface of The Circle’s campus. That made me immensely uncomfortable especially knowing from different areas of the movie that the footage is truly being watched and not just analyzed and search for problems or protocol breaks. I have always said that I do not mind if my Google Home is saving my data or if my iPhone is listening to me because I do not have anything to hide. However, The Circle took it too far. It was clear, especially once Mae went transparent that the footage these cameras were getting was being fully watched by higherups whether employees new the cameras were there or not.

The second part of the film that grossly upset me was the lack of responsibility The Circle took for Mercer’s death. While it was an accident, it was a completely avoidable one. The Circles technology and obsessions is what lead Mercer to flee and without their games he would have stayed safe in his home. This was such a major problem and I am sure it was addressed further in the novel but The Circle should have had the integrity to admit their mistake.

Reflection

A part of this movie that really made me think was when people approached Mae about her online social presence being an important aspect of communal standing at The Circle. The pressures that were put on her and that are put on our society to share our life is overwhelming and toxic. It gives others unrealistic visuals of what they are supposed to act like, dress like, live like. It even glamorous food and exercise which is incredibly dangerous in our already image obsessed world.

As someone who is going through a major life change right now, you would never know that from viewing my socials. I have been posting as if my life is completely normal and that nothing has changed. Even though I recently lost my husband, dog and home, my socials make it look like I am still living a perfectly happy life. I am not purposely trying to deceive people, it is just that it is too easy to omit the things you do not want known to your classmates, acquaintances and followers.

References

Misra, S. (2017, April 28). Inside The Circle’s Surreal Tech Dystopia. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/the-circle-tom-hanks-emma-watson -production-design-tech

YouTube Movies. (2017). The Circle. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Z4ogWhskQ