Jim and Ron Watkins, owners of 8Chan, the birthplace of QAnon
Welcome to Weekend Binge. Every Friday we’ll bring you an over the top title designed to keep you from going too crazy. Check back throughout the weekend for even more gloriously queer entertainment.
The Rabbit Hole: Q-Into the Storm
If David Lynch, the surreal director of films such as Mulholland Dr. and Blue Velvet made a documentary about his bizarre and bizarre characters, it might sound like Q: Into the Storm. This six-part series from director Cullen Hoback traces QAnon’s rise to prominence from 2017, dissecting its popularity and following the even stranger chain of events that led to the Capitol Uprising on January 6. Hoback also addresses the ultimate question: who is Q, the mysterious character who claims to be part of Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Q: Into the Storm takes more than a few twists and turns, as Hoback encounters a weird, eccentric character after the next. He also encounters several false leads intended to throw him off the investigative trail. As COVID-19 begins to grab headlines, Hoback has traveled to several different countries, met with conspiracy theorist politicians (including Marjorie Taylor-Greene), helped a hacktivist escape a nation and landed in the heart of ‘an irrational fandom that would make Comic -Con look like the United Nations. The result is as frightening as it is hilarious.
Most important of all, however, Hoback discovers Q’s true identity, exposing him in a videotaped error. The reveal is sort of more and less than you might expect: What started out as an online game has essentially turned into a form of psychological warfare, with a bored nerd suddenly basking in – and trying. to preserve – his own sense of power. It also raises questions about the role of unregulated media, confirmation bias, and social media algorithms that create an ecosystem of incestual information less concerned with the facts than with telling people what they want to hear. .
Labyrinthine, expansive and captivating, we suggest you give Q: Into the Storm a thorough watch this weekend. The portrait of the Q “movement” that the series paints is that of a group of desperate losers clamoring for validation and purpose. No wonder they vote Republican.
Streams on HBO Max.
