Global Trauma and the Cinematic Network Society

Are we really more connected interpersonally in the age of accelerated globalization? Do global social networks principally empower connected agents, or are opowerless placeso further marginalized by oplaceless powero? This article examines how twenty-first century US cinema maps social networks, both international and interpersonal. Whereas communication and technology scholars often characterize the network society as a social formation promising more osymmetricalo and oco-ordinatedo global relations, the past decade's most-discussed oglobal networko films (Traffic, 2000; Crash, 2004; Syriana, 2005; Babel, 2006 etc.) envision the network society as a complex landscape of enduring inequality. In the cinematic network society, empowered agents fail to co-ordinate or even comprehend the networks that surround them. Borrowing from social problem films, economic guilt films, and city films of the past, these network narratives illustrate how networks can link us in unwanted ways. In the 11 films examined here, privileged Westerners are often forced to confront their networked relationships with suffering others. In a neoliberal fashion, these protagonists routinely opt to privatize their affective and political responses: they act alone, even as vigilantes, despite their connections. Their portrayals by humanitarian celebrities further entwine on-screen conduct and actors' private charity work, powerfully articulating a questionable vision of what global citizenship should look like in an age when everyone is connected.