"THE NARRATIVE OF TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY COMMODIFICATION IN THE FILM ‘THE SOCIAL DILEMMA’: VINCENT MOSCO’S POLITICAL ECONOMY ANALYSIS"

Abstract

The documentary film The Social Dilemma (2020) successfully popularized criticism of the dangers of social media algorithms and surveillance capitalism. However, behind its critical narrative, the film conceals a paradox: it was produced and distributed by Netflix, a technology giant whose business model is also based on retaining customer attention and data. This study aims to unravel this contradiction by analyzing how The Social Dilemma, as a cultural product, has the potential to become part of the very system of technological industrial capitalism it seeks to critique. This study uses a qualitative approach with critical discourse analysis methods and is based on Vincent Mosco's Political Economy of Communication framework to examine aspects of commodification, spatialization, and structuration in film production and consumption. The analysis shows that the film's narrative, while effective in depicting problems, offers pseudo-solutions that are individualistic and technocratic, thus failing to address the systemic roots of capitalism. The criticisms expressed by "technology rebels" are also neutralized and commodified by the same system. This study concludes that The Social Dilemma is an ideological paradox: it serves as a “catharsis” for a restless public, but at the same time serves as a bulwark that limits discourse so that it does not threaten the status quo of the tech industry.