The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem

There has been a growing subgenre of non-fiction films that I jokingly call “Internet Bad” movies. The worst of these feel like shallow fearmongering, playing up the fears of older viewers like a modern “Reefer Madness.” Part of the problem with this subgenre is that too many filmmakers try to paint something as complex as the internet and technology in general with a very broad brush. The truth is that our technological revolution is way too complex for most feature films to begin to capture or even really comment on, especially as it’s shifting every day, so doc filmmakers end up not saying anything by trying to say too much. “The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem” has a little bit of this problem as it traces the impact of 4chan from Rickrolling to the insurrection, but it’s more engaging than a lot of this doc subgenre by virtue of the filmmaking acumen of directors Giorgio Angelini (“Owned: A Tale of Two Americas”) and Arthur Jones (“Feels Good Man,” one of the best films in this category, by the way).