You are here:

Web

Name: Web
Director: Michael Kleiman
Released: 2013
Duration: 83 min

Representation Score

8.7/10

Excellent

2013

Director

Michael Kleiman

Runtime

83 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Web is a significant ethnographic documentary that challenges the traditional Western-centric cinematic gaze. By centering indigenous communities in Peru, the film shifts the perspective of technological progress away from Western dominance. The documentary's strength lies in its immersive methodology, granting significant roles to non-Western subjects. It provides a nuanced look at how global connectivity impacts indigenous autonomy and traditional social structures. While the film lacks explicit engagement with identity politics or queer narratives, it successfully disrupts standard hierarchies by placing the power of connection within underrepresented communities.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Web have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film focuses on the introduction of technology to rural Andean and Amazonian communities. There is no evidence of LGBTQ+ character arcs or narratives addressing the assumption that everyone is straight or cisgender.

How does Web portray gender?

Good

The narrative highlights the roles of women and children as they navigate new digital landscapes. This focus showcases how they take control and drive the story through technological literacy.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Web?

Excellent

The film excels by centering a non-Western, non-Anglo-Saxon majority cast. It avoids clichéd representations by embedding the filmmaker within indigenous communities in the Andes and the Amazon.

How does Web represent religion and culture?

Good

The film explores the tension between traditional communal living and the influence of global capitalism. It prioritizes the subjective realities of these cultures over a Westernized technological standard.

Does Web include disability representation?

Fair

There is no specific information available regarding the depiction of neurodivergence or physical disabilities within the documented villages.

Present on Screen

Centers a non-Western, non-Anglo-Saxon majority cast.
Provides significant roles to indigenous subjects navigating global interconnectedness.
Explores the tension between traditional communal living and digital connectivity.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit engagement with LGBTQ+ narratives or queer theory.
Provides no specific information regarding disability or neurodivergence representation.

Official Synopsis

Web is a thought-provoking and character-based consideration of technology, interdependence, and the Internet. For 10 months, director Michael Kleiman lived in small villages in the Andes Mountains and Amazon Jungle in Peru. While there, he lived with families and documented the villagers’ first experience with computers and the Internet via the One Laptop per Child program. As the children and their parents engage with communications technologies for the first time, the film is a deeply relevant consideration of the digital world we find ourselves in, the tremendous implications we are beginning to see all around us, and the changing definition of connection – both remote technological connection and face-to-face human connection.

How are these scores produced? →