Anti-Tech Films Emerge as Big Tech Takes Over Hollywood — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- "The Social Network" (2010) won three Oscars including Aaron Sorkin's screenplay and was ranked No. 10 on The New York Times's best-of-the-21st-century list, effectively creating the "tech founder movie" genre.
- "The Social Reckoning", Aaron Sorkin's follow-up to his 2010 Oscar-winning screenplay, opens in theaters in October 2025 with a far darker portrayal of Silicon Valley than the original.
- "Cupertino" premieres on CBS this fall and "Artificial", directed by Luca Guadagnino, makes its world premiere at the New York Film Festival — both joining "The Social Reckoning" in a wave of anti-founder storytelling.
- All three fall 2025 projects reflect a shift from celebrating or respecting tech founders to portraying them with "mockery, disgust and even rage," driven by mounting public anger at the world they've built.
- The structural irony: as tech companies increasingly take over Hollywood, critical films about Silicon Valley may be "at the mercy of the companies themselves" — with "Artificial" cited as a case where that dynamic is already playing out.
Why it matters: The irony is structural: the same tech companies these films critique are increasingly the gatekeepers who greenlight, fund, and distribute them, meaning 'Artificial' and similar projects may face pressure from the very subjects they skewer. For audiences, the next wave of anti-Silicon Valley storytelling depends on studios willing to antagonize their own corporate parents.
Ask SkimNews
