Monica Lewinsky HBO Max documentary 15 Minutes of Shame isn't fails in its attempt to tell a story about modern public shaming

Indiewire

The film from Lewinsky and Max Joseph "attempts to give insight into the way that the internet and social media feed into the modern methods of public shaming and the rise of 'cancel culture,'" says Kristen Lopez. "Those groundswells of judgement are so vitriolic and widespread that it sometimes results in ordinary people, whether they made a mistake or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lewinsky knows all about going from an anonymous citizen to the center of a scandal resonating on a global stage overnight. And Joseph is no stranger to internet culture, as a filmmaker best known for his time spent hosting MTV’s Catfish, about people who entered into relationships online while obfuscating their true identity. Despite their expertise, 15 Minutes struggles to document the stories of those everyday individuals who found themselves at the center of an internet flashmob. The stories are sad and the empathy felt for, say, the Amazon third-party seller who ended up with 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer during the pandemic or the woman who posted on (her private) Facebook about how Trump voters should give up their ventilators should they contract COVID-19, is real. It’s just that there’s a far more compelling story unfolding in the film. Specifically, the idea that there has always been public shaming and, most likely, always will be." ALSO: 15 Minutes of Shame functions as an unofficial companion to Lewinsky's Impeachment: American Crime Story.