[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Which movie(s) best represent hacker culture...
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Ask HN: Which movie(s) best represent hacker culture for you?
'hacker' in the same context it's used in 'hacker news'
Author : herodoturtle
Score : 10 points
Date : 2022-04-17 21:02 UTC (1 hours ago)
| jdmoreira wrote:
| I always thought Takedown was decent
| https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0159784/
|
| This is based on Tsutomu Shimomura's account of the events that
| culminated in the arrest of Kevin Mitnick.
|
| at least the tech was real and accurate as far as I remember but
| not about hackers in the true sense of the word.
|
| If you want good non-fiction stories about true hackers I would
| recommend the book 'Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution'
| Someone1234 wrote:
| Takedown is a very good film, hard to get/see too.
|
| That being said I'm not sure that's what hacker refers to in
| HN.
| yuppie_scum wrote:
| Grandma's Boy and Office Space for movies.
|
| Various aspects of The IT Crowd, Silicon Valley and Mythic Quest
| for TV shows.
| tacorita158 wrote:
| Real Genius (1985) is a pretty good one. Apollo 13 has some
| hardware hack stuff. Wargames (1983) a little bit. Hackers (1995)
| did a good job of capturing what it felt like online during the
| tail end of the HPA BBS thing. Halt and Catch Fire is a good TV
| show. Others have mentioned Silicon Valley, Office Space and Mr
| Robot. The best related thing I've seen lately is Apple TV's
| Mythic Quest, lolling right now thinking about it. Watch all of
| these.
| [deleted]
| h2odragon wrote:
| "October Sky"
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Sky
|
| Learning for the joy of it, even in the face of opposition.
| badrabbit wrote:
| Wow! Hackers (1995)!! No one else mentioned it.
|
| What context is the use in "hacker news"? We see news of security
| research and attacks but also peope findinf ways to use
| technology in an unintended or non-obvious way.
|
| The first movie (only?) that I have heard them mention the hacker
| manifesto is there. Nothing else comes close in spirit (although
| some do better in technical detail or good plotline).
|
| I thought I won this argument with everyone a long time ago, I
| see there are those of you I have yet to convert.
| saltcured wrote:
| Too many facets to this question...
|
| to adolescent me:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_Science_(film)
|
| to middle aged me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Space
|
| But, in relation to HN? Perhaps
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22 mixed with
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizopolis
| gregjor wrote:
| There's no "hacker culture." The movies are fantasies.
| Programmers in cubicle farms and at standing desks in home
| offices writing code for money are not a culture. A side project
| isn't hacking. The people who do what used to be called hacking
| are criminals.
|
| The definitions of "hacker" offered by Richard Stallman and Eric
| Raymond -- two people devoid of what we usually mean by "culture"
| -- use the term to describe curiosity, fun, and inventiveness,
| which English already has good words for.
| postpawl wrote:
| There's a good wikipedia article about the history of the use
| of the word "hacker" here:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture#Uses
| gregjor wrote:
| Yeah I'm old enough to remember when "hacker" meant someone
| who broke into computers they weren't supposed to get into,
| before it was a Federal crime.
|
| Now it mainly refers to faux ironic stickers on MacBooks.
| [deleted]
| coolhoody wrote:
| The most knowledgeable hackers were consulted for 'The Matrix'
| (0-day SSHv1 CRC32 scene), 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' (a
| surprising homage to the actual PWN Phone, some micro details
| only a hacker would know, etc).
|
| But these are more of side devices. No movie captures the culture
| as such -- neither the original meaning, nor the illegal, nor the
| current business.
|
| 'The Social Network' attempted to take on a particular narrow
| aspect of it, and while the results are mixed, it did capture
| some of the real vibe.
|
| TV -- of course 'Silicon Valley', since it was already mentioned.
| The 'jerking off' algorithm was researched by a real team, and
| some of the members are here.
| Havoc wrote:
| None really. I don't think it is something you can convey in
| hollywood audience mass market attractive format. So it must by
| necessity contain vast amounts of 3D animated interfaces to
| portray the hacking. At which point anyone serious about hacking
| culture is laughing.
|
| "The Social Network" while not true hacker culture (more
| vc/startup) I think bridged that impossible gap as best as can be
| I think. Still totally cringey but I think it was a credible
| attempt at an impossible task
| gregjor wrote:
| _The Social Network_ may be reasonably accurate but it doesn't
| portray a culture. It's the story of a handful of people
| scrambling to make money from an unexpected success, and a
| single-minded antisocial programmer who falls backwards into
| vast wealth and power. The personality traits depicted and
| maybe exaggerated in the movie may be common but they don't
| form a culture -- rather they are formed by a culture of
| predatory capitalism and legal maneuvering. _American Psycho_
| is the same story as satire, with more knives and less PHP.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakers_(1992_film)
| [deleted]
| coolhoody wrote:
| Love your taste. The earliest is probably
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Millions
| telesilla wrote:
| Yes, Sneakers. Their love of tech, comraderie based on ability.
| Sure leads down a Hollywood path but it has some great moments
| and (some) real characters.
|
| Primer might be another good one. I certainly enjoyed it
| immensely and found it superbly technically excellent.
| runjake wrote:
| Growing up the hacker culture most resembled War Games for me.
|
| After high school, it began to resemble The Loan Gunmen from
| X-Files and maybe a little Sneakers.
|
| Later on, in the late 90s, it began to resemble Hackers, but I
| felt all out of place in that environment, with the wild hair,
| outfits, and theatrics.
|
| Now, I don't follow the culture, so I don't know -- probably
| Office Space? Few seem to have a deep understanding of anything,
| let alone many things.
| jlund-molfese wrote:
| Silicon Valley is a TV show, not a movie, but it seems to get
| pretty close to representing the evolution of a startup for a
| series which appeals to a lot of people. It's less focused on
| hacking as a plot device than, say, Mr Robot, and more focused on
| the business side of running a software company (so the technical
| details as explained by characters ring a little flat).
| colund wrote:
| Mr Robot is somewhat interesting (at least season 1)
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