This is the kind of film you sign up to Netflix for. You need to watch it, now.
Fairly recently, I have been thinking about what Dicson’s Table as a ‘brand’ could be, and I thought that it would be nice to always feature a food item in every blog post even if it may not revolve around food. For today’s film review I had grabbed myself two packets of Fupi beancurd skin crisps. Fupi is the first beancurd skin crisps company in Singapore that sells beancurd skin crisps with a modern twist. It is quite ironic in a sense that there is a repetition in saying ‘Fupi beancurd skin crisps’, because the ‘fu’ in Fupi comes from ‘tofu’ and ‘pi’ literally means ‘skin’ in Mandarin, plus the fact that the company is named after it.
The company currently has two flavours under its brand — Sichuan Mala and Hot Pot Tomato. Starting from the packaging, I actually love the minimalist design and pastel colours that they chose for this snack: old school yet new. The pastel yellow for the Sichuan Mala flavour resembles Singapore’s dry season whilst the pastel green resembles the rainy season. What I like about them is that most of these crisps are crispy and had a clean flavour, but still left a subtle hint of the beancurd aftertaste, which makes snacking on them feel oddly nostalgic. The Sichuan Mala flavour isn’t the typical punch in-your-face kind of heat, but rather a lot more refined and elegant, and is a good balance between spicy, savoury and sweet. The Hot Pot Tomato flavour tastes just like its name, tomato sweetness and acidity, which I believe tomato-based pasta lovers could appreciate. If there is one thing that makes is less suitable for binge-watching, that would be varying sizes that they come in, from bits and pieces to a large sheet, which makes it hard to gauge how it can fit in your mouth when watching a film or series. Anyway, if you’re like me, you won’t be too troubled because I finish most of my snacks before the film even begins, and I prefer it that way.
Putting the snack aside, here comes the main discussion for today’s topic, on the Netflix documentary film ‘The Social Dilemma’. I believe that to truly appreciate and understand something, you have got to delve into and experience it for yourself. Hence, I am not going to review this film in great detail so that you wouldn’t need to watch it, but what I am going to do is to leave some hard-hitting quotes and explanations that personally hit me the most. If you have watched the film and need a reminder on some of the crucial information conveyed, look no further:
1. On the fact that our attention is the product that is being sold to advertisers and how the methods used are designed to induce behavioural changes at the expense of our mental health and well-being.
2. On how social media is tapping into our psychological vulnerabilities to manipulate us into giving these apps or sites more screen time for the ads to run.
3. THE Quote.
4. On how our addiction to social media strips off our independence and ability to regulate our own human emotions.
5. On the danger of social media being driven by a technology that is advancing exponentially whilst everything else remains relatively constant.
6. “We were all looking out for a moment when technology would overwhelm human strengths and intelligence. When is it gonna cross the singularity, replace our jobs, be smarter than humans? But there’s this much earlier moment when technology exceeds and overwhelms human weaknesses…”
7. On how people can be stupid enough to believe in false information when “facts” are readily available online.
8. On how false information generate more clicks, and in turn, more profit to advertisers.
9. On why currently there is no solution to combat fake news.
10. On Capitalism.
I have watched this film two times in two consecutive days and it still gives me goosebumps when I listen to all of these that were said. I admit that I have had addictions to social media and I relate to the problems that have been pointed out in the film. I refrain to give more information about the film because I am literally just in awe and at this point don’t see myself adding value to what it says. In fact, I am afraid that my commentary could undermine the words of these experts themselves. I truly can’t encourage you enough to watch the film for yourself, to put down your phone (or snack for that matter) whilst you’re at it and give your full attention. Right after watching this the first time, it managed to convince me to delete all apps on my phone that were just wasting my time and to turn off all social media notifications, with the exception for the YouTube bell notifications that I consciously subscribed to (or did I?).
I understand that a few aspects of the film may be exaggerated but they really don’t matter when our focus is more on the important message that demands our immediate attention. I promise to properly review films through my own perspective but this is one film that I rather not because in case you are reading this article before actually watching it, I hope that it would hit you as hard as it did to me.
Oh right, regarding those Fupis… go get them and give them a try, just not when the film is playing.
Stay mindful! (:
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