(warning, the following post contains spoilers of the movie "Untraceable")
I'm assuming it was because you were curious, or just blew it off as a creative title (which it really isn't, but the intention was to get your attention.) However, the idea is, people really don't seem to get it. "It" being the internet, and the profound effect it has on how we - we as people, we as a nation, we as a race of sentient beings - behave.
Yes, I'm a little behind on the curve to be writing about this movie now, but just today, I finally saw "Untraceable" with Diane Lane. (If you're wondering why I waited so long, it's because there's a theater in my area that charges any where from $0.50 to $1.00 to watch a movie, when they show it long after it's been released.) In case you didn't see it, the movie follows the efforts of Agent Marsh of the Cyber Crimes division of the FBI, and her partners as they work to stop the actions of the mastermind/killer behind the website "www.killwithme.com," a site that streams live the videos of his victims deaths. Snuff? Yes. Typical? Not quite - the murders are all set up in such a way that if no one watched, nothing would happen. However, the more people who visit the site - thus boosting the numbers on the hit counter - the quicker the death mechanism goes off. The people of the internet - as revealed in the movie, actually just the people of the US - literally become the killers themselves as every hit to the site causes the deaths of the victims.The theme of the internet being a method of death has been explored in past movies already, either as having no way out without solving some sort of puzzle under a time limit (fear.com, pulse) or being a method of meeting the killer through a chat room or luring them in some other way, like a predator meeting a victim (the movie Hard Candy), but it continues to find new ways to scare us. The internet, with its easy anonymity and utter vastness, can easily evoke fear: especially in those who have little to no idea of how it actually works, making it seem literally like magic with information and resources pop up on your screen.
But I digress.
The point I was trying to make was that people of all ages, from the very young to the very old, tend to abuse the ability to access the internet because of how easy it is to interact and effect others without ever having to show your face or say what your real name is. During this day and age, it functions under a very "wild west" sort of law system. "Inappropriate" or malicious posts - viruses, malware, etc - are held loosely in check by a system of private site admins, viewer votes and PC protection software. As a result, the internet is able to run rampant with the things we as humans seem to demand the most - sex and violence, and very often, a mix of the two.
The movie Untraceable received only a %15 approval rating at the popular review site www.rottentomatoes.com, and was reviewed as being only "run of the mill" when it came to thrills, shock, and horror tactics - a sad truth that people today are so used to such a thing being entertainment, as many scenes depicted graphic gore and death. However, was it realistic? I'd have to say so.
While I can't attest to how many super-hackers there are out there capable of taking on the FBI head on with nothing more than a few towers and gadgets in their basement, being a self-proclaimed troll in my own younger years, I definitely say that yes, the depiction of viewer response was highly realistic.
A forum window, available besides each depiction of torture, allowed viewers of the site to discuss the deaths and what was happening - while you did have the "YOU'RE KILLING HIM!!!!" protest posts, you did have such posts as "HAHA he needs better sunscreen" (death by heat lamps) or "what didn't he kill her" and "I tuned in for this?" comments revealing disappointment when the killer showed footage of Marsh's daughter, but didn't harm her. While these were all just part of a script, they were spot on when it came to the sorts of responses shock videos tend to receive.
Untraceable was a movie about - in the simplest terms - viral videos. Videos about killings, rape, violence and disturbing sex acts spread at an amazing rate among people who seem to be so amazed by the footage that they simply must show all their friends. The footage of Saddam's execution, caught by a video phone at the scene, was online and on youtube within minutes, and from there, to the news worldwide. Goatse, tubgirl, and most recently - two girls one cup - (shock images and videos) get picked up and spread like an epidemic, purely through email and word-of-mouth. There really isn't any purpose to them except to cause a reaction, and you don't gain anything from seeing them. No one, at least not that you'd know it, is hurt by their being viewed. But even if they were, people would click the links and tune in. The official fakeout promotional website for Untraceable offers an interesting bit of information on this - if you follow the link above and follow the buttons provided, you'll find that %89 of people still clicked "yes" that they would like to enter the website, even when warned that entering may cause harm to someone. It's possible that many people decided that it was simply a promotional website, but other websites - www.killwithus.com, for instance - thoughtfully provide real-time counters that show that, even as privately run websites that depict torture (fake, but real looking nonetheless) directly linked the viewer, they will still get an astounding number of views.
Forums that provide sickening images - animal and human torture, death, abuse - show that many people, with no apparent risk of being tracked down and forced to defend their comments, will praise these things as highly entertaining, joke about them, and post their own images to add to the stew that makes up the garbage of the internet.
I mentioned that I was troll myself at one point - in some ways, I still am - but I no longer actively search these sorts of things out any more. I just don't find them entertaining in the way I used to. But that being said, while I could link you to all sorts of horrifying things used as entertainment on the internet found during my surfing, I'll instead leave you with this:
No matter how bad things get, not matter how disgusting the content, no matter how sickening the imagery - whose choice is it to view it? It's not forced on anyone, and there wouldn't be so much of it if it wasn't in demand. Think on that.
...Well! After so much depressing ranting, here's something following a lighter track of mind - some kittens frolicking! Make sure to watch to the end. It's worth it.
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