With exponential growth over the last two decades, the era of information overload continues to thrive in 2024. Waiting for the ten o’clock news or the morning paper seems like a ritual from an ancient past. The internet means information can be transmitted and received faster than ever, such that stories about Katie Price’s new facelift can be reported at the same speed as the death of the Queen. With the advent of social media, the users of those platforms becomes like mini journalists in their own right, raising issues and ideas they think are worth talking about. This ranges from the totally mundane (think Carol from down the street complaining about her bins not being emptied) to the downright dangerous (Trump’s Tweets that led to the attack on the Capitol Building in 2021). In recent years, there has been a growing mistrust of mainstream media, perhaps amplified now more than ever because it’s so easy to share information, and quickly too. A phrase being thrown around a lot at the minute is “fake news”.
But who gets to decide what is fake?
This is the main point that self-proclaimed “seeker of truth” Marissa Rawlings is trying to make. Although listening to her describe covid as a “hoax” makes you grit your teeth, her overarching points certainly make you think about how we decide what to believe and what to dismiss. The interviewer, Stephen Yardley (Daniel Tatarsky) gets increasingly frustrated, calling her a conspiracy theorist. His main argument is there is no proof for some of Rawlings’ claims, unlike other scandals such as Watergate. In one breath she seems fairly cohesive – it’s not unthinkable that there are other scandals out there that have not been discovered or proved. But then it feels like you’re siding with a conspiracy theorist.
One thing The Truth Seekers demonstrates is how difficult it is to draw a line between what is real and what is fake. It’s a line that’s only getting more indistinct as the human race develop more ways to deceive and manipulate one another. What AI brings to the table in this sense is truly worrying, but that’s a whole other issue. Blind trust seems naïve, but a paranoid doom spiral is even less appealing. So, who do we trust?
No one, apparently! The twist in The Truth Seekers truly leaves viewers in at least a partial doom spiral. Regardless of where you draw the line between truth and fiction, information and misinformation – perhaps the key issue is volume. There is so much of everything. We’ve reached a point where, rather than providing enough information and helping people make informed decisions, news and media in general can feel like an inescapable, unfathomable knot. Our overconsumption, rather than making us better informed, is backing us into echo chambers. With so much to consider, (where is this information coming from, what are their motives? Are counter viewpoints being suppressed? What is true? What is false?) it’s unsurprising that people’s brains might be inclined towards the path of least resistance.
Nick Fuller’s film prompts all these questions without telling you what is right and wrong. It could be interpreted as a total disavowal of mainstream media, but really I think it’s more about the idea of questioning rather than just accepting. Gehane Strehler as Rawlings gives viewers pause for thought as she appears not as a typical “crazy” conspiracy theorist, but an educated and eloquent speaker. Daniel Tatarsky as the host battles on trying to make his points, but even with the help of his producer, Hannah (Robin Kristoffy), he fails to know Rawlings’ confidence.
Watch Truth Seekers now and enter your own doom spiral!