AN AMERICAN PICKLE AND THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

AN AMERICAN PICKLE

A very beardy Seth Rogen is Herschel Greenbaum, a Polish immigrant who in 1919, arrives in America with his wife and starts work at a pickle factory in Brooklyn, New York. A rat-related workplace accident sees him fall straight into a vat of pickle brine, only to marinate in there for a century before emerging in our present day, dazed and confused. He ultimately comes face to face with his adult grandchild, Ben (also played by Seth Rogan) and through a series of misadventures, sets about building a pickle empire.

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

This engaging and informative documentary explores the rise of social media apps, particularly Facebook and the damage the phenomenon has caused to society by hijacking our own neuroses and addicting us to a validation machine. Raking in billions for the data we provide, surveillance capitalism is all pervading. The most compelling thing aout this documentary are the interviewees: they are all former employees (and executives) of Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and others. Might the makers have an axe to grind? Possibly. Though the conclusions drawn here are not radical and what they say is very convincing, it’s what we always knew but encapsulated in such a way that it’s impactful. Seeing former designers of a product discussing their regret at its creation and development, is cause for concern.