There are a lot of things on the internet that are gross, and I don’t mean those weird videos of people popping pimples or something. In the last 10 years or so, “revenge porn” became a thing, and it may have been one of the most disgusting things you’ve stumbled upon or been done to. Well, as time goes by, the Internet advances and the rudeness of the cesspool that is the World Wide Web becomes more and more dehumanizing and repugnant. This is what the documentary film Another Body focuses on, a type of revenge porn that uses deepfakes to put someone on someone else’s body and claim it is them. This is what happened to Taylor (not her real name) when a “friend” sent her a Pornhub link, which she opened and saw her own face in a porn video she hadn’t made.
I don’t think there is a world where I could even begin to fathom the horror and shock that would happen if I opened a porn link and saw my face on a video I know I am didn’t create it. After acknowledging what happened to her, Taylor decides to try to deal with what happened since her face is now plastered all over the internet, overlaid by deepfakes in several pornographic videos she never created and wanted to take legal action. It’s something so horrifying and shocking that we now have the technology to do it, and it’s being used for something so insidious. When people started posting these fake Tom Hanks videos or Tom Cruise videos it was almost a joke, but then it became more obvious that YouTubers and content creators were fake in pornography, and so was it it seems , innocent people who were. t social media stars who have been and are being targeted solely for revenge.
A still from the documentary film ANOTHER BODY by co-directors Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn. Photo courtesy of SXSW.
Any accessible form of mass media is always exposed to gross, degrading and demoralizing things; it’s something that just goes with the realm of mass-accessible content. It’s amazing that there are statutes and laws to protect people if their image is being circulated against their will, for example Stephen Bear has just been sentenced to 21 months in prison for disrupting revenge porn by a Love Island contestant but if someone Deepfaket someone, regardless of whether they are in the spotlight or not, has no consequences. Taylor admits in Another Body that these videos surfaced when she was searching for her name. For job interviews, a quick google search would turn up porn, although it wasn’t really her. It has and may forever affect their lives and the person responsible will not be punished. It’s annoying how people can literally damage and destroy people’s lives and be able to get away with it so blatantly. It’s stunning.
Another Body wants to set out how harmful deepfaking is, how to make deepfaking accessible, and the next steps the legislature is taking to bring the people behind the deepfakes to justice. In the documentary, Taylor speaks to a lawyer who admits he’s had to teach and coach several dozen judges about what a deepfake is, since some of them have never heard of it. Taylor also found popular content creators faking into pornography as well, and together they’re trying to shut down the anonymous folks behind the screen who seem to think it’s okay.
ANOTHER BODY co-director Sophie Compton. Photo credit: Sophie Compton.
Another Body filmmakers Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn perfect this documentary that exposes the horrors of the internet and the deepfaking world we currently live in. With Taylor as the central theme to focus on, and as we share her story, how she impacted her and what next steps are to make those responsible pay for their actions, a small silver lining of justice for the horrific crimes, that have been committed. “Another Body” is truly a creep-inducing documentary, and there’s no way to fake the fury unleashed by the on-screen horrors.
Shown during SXSW 2023.
Visit the official SXSW Another Body website for more information.
Final score: 4 out of 5.
