Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology (2011)

As Good As It Gets

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

On one level, the filmmaker does a great job of showing how, through the use of technology, the world is a more connected place. According to her, the number of computers that are connected to the internet is around 2 billion, or roughly a third of the world's population, and there are nearly 5 billion cell phones in use. Those are some incredible numbers.But where I believe the filmmaker fails is pointing out that social media in many ways makes us less social as people, as we become the masters of our own online domain, where narcissism alienates us on many levels from one another.There's no doubt that the internet and the rise in cell phone usage is a game changer the likes we are now beginning to see the consequences of. But the world was never meant to be experienced while sitting in front of high resolution screens which keep us simultaneously connected and disconnected from each other. No matter how great the leap in technology is, the best connections with each other come from actually spending time in real life with each other.

Connected is essential viewing for anyone who participates in, thinks about, and perhaps has some concerns about how we as humans connect with each other in this digital age. Tiffany Shlain is probably one of our most important filmmakers today – pushing the boundaries of communication and all of its implications. This film is not only a consideration of how we relate to each other as human beings in the digital age – but as importantly – how those connections – and the way that we connect affect us both positively and at times negatively. How are we transforming as a human race with our digital appendages? How can we retain what is human about us? How wonderful it is that we can connect with people across the planet in ways never dreamed of – but also what is the price of that digital connection. As a parent – this is a must – and a must to watch with your children – and gift and share with your friends and family. It should be required viewing in middle school – and should be required viewing for you.

Human responsibility is complex; priorities are often contradictory. In the Twentieth Century, postmodern writers and artists transformed mediums to allow for paradox, but it was not until the twenty-first-century film Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death, & Technology that audiences could collectively experience the visual, textual, and emotional beauty of holding complex inconsistencies while moving toward personal growth and global connection. Director Tiffany Shlain exposes the journey by which the global film she set out to make began to kick, cry, and nurse itself into being something more authentic-- more connected--than any one viewer can articulate. Perhaps there's irony in merely writing a review of a film whose visually articulated thesis proposes the new century's possibilities are unleashed by the exponential increase in access to images. Shlain's hypothesis that a technologically interconnected world exercises each individual's image centers can be evidenced now--from the drifts of snow over which Shlain's father first released her from his view to the digitally mastered web of connections that refuse to release the globe from its collective potential, the images in Connected transform viewers into visionaries who don't have to eliminate the contradictions of their connectedness.

Connected is one of those rare films that engages, entertains and makes you continually and thoughtfully ponder long after you've seen it.It is one cleverly interwoven film integrating two constructs: One is a big picture adventurous roller coaster ride utilizing found footage, fabulous animation and music to uniquely give a historical snapshot of globalism, humanism, technology, and the interconnectivity between them all.The other aspect is a lovely, emotionally-charged story of Tiffany Shlain's own personal life as she begins to come to terms with her own connections during a challenging time in her life. Tiffany, filmmaker & founder of the Webby Awards, is a thought leader of innovation and it's fascinating to see someone immersed in 21st century high tech question her own relationship to it and the world as well as the good, bad & potential of all this connectivity.Watch this film! You'll never look at life...or even hugging someone the same again ;)!