Social Media has taken over our lives in the last decade. It may be where you stay connected with friends and family or share the items that change in your life. But the darker side of Social Media is not something that is often talked about. The pressure to live up to others’ standards, the carefully curated feeds that people share without sharing the reality of their lives.
Not Okay, however, is showing the negative impact of social media and how it can not only change how someone is perceived but also how it can be used to manipulate others.
Loosely based on the story of Dutch graphic design student Zilla van den Born who used her skills in 2014 to convince everyone she was traveling internationally for five weeks, Not Okay has a similar storyline. Instead of a graphic design student, Danni Sanders is an aspiring writer who is not only trying to get ahead in her career but to convince a guy she has a crush on. Danni’s trip to Paris is idyllic, everything she posts gets her more social media clout. But when a terrorist attack happens while she’s pretending to be in Paris, she now has to convince everyone that she was not only there but lived through a traumatic event that she has no experience with.
Of course, nothing can be as easy as it is when you just post online and Not Okay shows that. It shows not only the high that Danni gets out of the attention from her “trip” but also the attention after she “lives through” the attack. But it also shows what happens when she gets too deep into the lies she created, and the impact it has on her and others’ lives.
Not Okay is captivating, and entertaining and will keep you engaged. It will be streaming on Hulu on July 29th, and while the story is exaggerated in parts, it is a good reminder of just how much Social Media impacts our lives and the very real pressure that some people feel from it every day.
Overall Rating:
About Not Okay:
Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch), an aimless aspiring writer with no friends, no romantic prospects and — worst of all — no followers, fakes an Instagram-friendly trip to Paris in the hopes of boosting her social media clout. When a terrifying incident strikes the City of Lights, Danni unwittingly falls into a lie bigger than she ever imagined. She “returns” a hero, even striking up an unlikely friendship with Rowan (Mia Isaac), a school-shooting survivor dedicated to societal change, and scooping up the man of her dreams Colin (Dylan O’Brien). As an influencer and advocate, Danni finally has the life and audience she always wanted. But it’s only a matter of time before the facade cracks, and she learns the hard way that the Internet loves a takedown.
Starring Zoey Dutch, Dylan O’Brien, Embeth Davidtz, Brennan Brown, Sarah Yarkin, and Nadia Alexander
Directed by Quinn Shephard
(Searchlight)