Inspired by the 2013 release novel of the same name, The Circle is a techno-horror film by director James Ponsoldt that was released on April 28th, 2017. The film revolves around the lead, Mae, who, much to her pleasure, gets a job at probably the most influential tech firm in the world. But very soon, Mae releases that the tech firm is not all how it looks.
It is when she gets involved in an experiment that is being conducted by her firm that she realizes its dark realities along with the terrifying effects it could have on the people in this world. The film stars Emma Watson as Mae Holland, Tom Hanks as Eamon Bailey, John Boyega as Ty Lafitte, Karen Gillan as Annie Allerton, and so many more in supporting roles.
The film was expected to do better than it actually performed in its first week in terms of collections. It failed to garner much positive response from the audience and critics despite its extremely talented cast. It has been criticized for being predictable and inauthentic. The film sticks to the concept so rigidly that it fails at exploring any other original framework that could have probably made the film slightly more bearable.
The Circle sets out to explore the routine theme of social media negatively affecting people and their brains. It acts as a commentary on how much people use social media and mindlessly share their lives on it. Though this makes you rethink your phone habits, it may feel a bit nagging and repetitive to many.
The Circle Movie Ending Explained
Mae Holland was working as an intern at a small firm when her best friend Annie got her placed in the customer service cell at a giant technology company. With a dream to rise higher in the ranks or at least in social status, Mae accepts the job, also hoping to support her father through his sickness.
Soon the company’s CEO, Eamon Bailey, introduced the staff to their new invention, which they called, SeeChange, small cameras that could put out live high-quality videos for people. While the company continues to pitch this new advancement to others including Congresswoman Olivia Santos, marketing the product as a tool for the people to hold their politicians responsible for their doings, Mae makes friends within the company, The Circle.
It is while she is connecting and networking with people at her workplace that she comes across a guy named Ty Lafitte, who ends up taking Mae to the room that has the cloud server that would, in the future, store all the information uploaded by people on SeeChange. Ty also happens to be the creator of another social media platform called TrueYou, one that he feels is being misused.
The application is let out for testing, and Mae becomes one of its first few testers. She goes Kayaking at night to release her stress, but the rough waters turn her boat over, causing her to fall into the water. While she struggles to save herself, the rescue team at the coast comes in time and gets her to safety. It is then she finds out that they were looking at her kayaking through the SeeChange cameras.
Mae’s Hand In SeeChange
Very soon, Mae finds herself being pushed quite high in the company’s social circle, and with the news of her rescue because of the SeeChange cameras spreading like wildfire, she gains even more acknowledgment in the office. This gets to a point where she meets with CEO Bailey, who requests her to be the first consenting tester of the invention and wear the small camera on her body for a period of twenty-four hours.
The camera on her body would actually televise everything that happens in her private life for the agreed twenty-four hours, and she would be completely exposed to the entire world. But just because she has agreed to expose her life to strangers, it does not mean her family and friends have done the same. So when their private moments with Mae get exposed to the public and when they find out that everything is being broadcasted live, her friends and family, naturally, get into a fight with her and decide it best to distance themselves from her.
The film makes the audience realize the influence and power the company had through a scene where Bailey gets support from all of the fifty American states to get their voting process done through the Circle application. Mae, who is obviously more involved in this part of the project, suggests that people without an account on the Circle application should not vote.
Annie’s Early Realization
Mae gets a whiff of social acceptance and is treated with a certain level of respect and importance in the company, which obviously, brings a change in her personality which is not quite appreciated by her friend, Annie. The latter notices how Mae is losing her real self at a really fast pace, all because of how a few selfish people at her workplace treat her.
She also sees how SeeChange is probably not a good idea, though Mae is not ready to hear it. Their relationship gets severed, and Annie decides to move to Scotland, away from the chaos of SeeChange and social media overall. Meanwhile, Mae continues to push forth with all the changes that SeeChange could bring into the public’s lives, portraying the application as a positive thing for society.
In one meeting, Mae declares that the camera could actually catch criminals on the run in no less than twenty minutes, which it does when it manages to get a track of a murderer. This is obviously impressive and very convincing. Someone from the audience suggests tracking another person with the help of the cameras, Mercer, the guy who had been ambushed previously, too, because of the SeeChange cameras.
His location gets discovered, and people think it is completely okay to invade his home. Scared, Mercer tries to avoid the crowd, but they continue to follow him in their cars and with a drone. In an attempt to save himself from the mob, Mercer swerves his car in a way that accidentally throws him off the bridge, which kills him instantly.
His death is enough to bring Mae back to her senses and realize that whatever is happening because of SeeChange and all that could potentially happen would not be good for anyone. With this new perspective and realization, she gets in touch with Annie again, and the two reconcile.
The End Of SeeChange
With a new mission, Mae goes back to her company and, this time, requests Tom and Bailey, the creators and sponsors of SeeChange, to use the cameras on themselves and go completely public with their personal lives, exactly how they asked Mae to do the same. The two look visibly perplexed and confused, not wanting to expose their evil-to-the-core ideas related to the potential of the cameras to the public.
She reveals to the company staff present all of the personal emails of the two, as found by Ty, and finally claims not for the right to privacy but for being transparent towards users. Once done exposing the two, the film moves to its last scene, where we see Mae kayaking once again, with drones flying all over her head and shining their light on her. But Mae, clearly over the SeeChange bonanza, ignores the virtual stares and continues enjoying her moment.
The film claims to be about the present society that is completely absorbed by social media and not about some far-away dystopian future. It poses a question regarding privacy and transparency and makes the audience question how much is enough.
While the cameras definitely helped save lives and make the world a better place, they also took lives and made people’s lives utterly vulnerable and uncomfortable. The cameras downright infringe on people’s right to privacy and give people more ways to be evil. The number of crimes that can be committed with just that camera in hand is unimaginable.
The film seems to comment on both aspects of technology, portraying a very neutral side to the entire conversation, which may be why many of the audience is left confused and wondering what exactly the makers of the film, The Circle want to make a statement on.
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