Mainstream is far from a horrible movie; it’s a complex satire that hits the mark several times in dissecting our social media-driven world. Mainstream is now available to rent or buy.
We live in a strange new world where people consume media like Pringles; it’s a ‘once you pop and you just can’t stop’ conveyor belt of content, from YouTube to Instagram and TikTok. We are encouraged to like, dislike, comment, and buy while judging our own worth by the number of friends we have or the number of likes we get. Don’t get me wrong, social media and instant video sharing are also a force for good in many ways, but finding the good stuff has become more and more like wading through treacle over the years.
On its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Mainstream divided critics and audiences alike, and, due to the plethora of one- and two-star reviews that followed, it has only just arrived on digital in the UK. So, is it terrible? Is it simplistic? And is Andrew Garfield’s power and fame-hungry “Link” the devil incarnate? Mainstream is far from a horrible movie; it’s a complex satire that hits the mark several times in dissecting our social media-driven world. There are genuinely fascinating themes at play, from mass manipulation to psychological harm and the dangerous frenzy of fandom.
However, Coppola’s film at times loses its way, and much of this is due to the dated concept of the YouTube celebrity. YouTube hit its stride in the late noughties, creating young internet megastars who most people no longer remember. In many ways, you could argue that the current social media landscape is even more toxic than it was then, and here, Coppola misses a trick by focusing solely on YouTube and ignoring the rise of sites such as TikTok.
But does that decrease the power of Garfield, Hawke and Wolff’s dark and unsettling exploration of fame, manipulation, control and entertainment? Not at all! Coppola manipulates the audience from start to finish, wrapping us in a mix of truth and lies resembling a knotted ball of wool. As the yarn unravels, we are left with a tangled and knotted pile that only we can unpick if we have the will to do so.
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