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Nevilledog

(50,687 posts)
Fri Mar 5, 2021, 10:56 AM Mar 2021

CSI:Reddit and the Case of the Cecil Hotel



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Logically
@LogicallyAI
A Netflix show about a creepy hotel accidental sheds light on the problem of amateur internet detectives and what happens when investigations turn into conspiracy theories. @DevikaKhandelw8 investigates.
Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel
CSI:Reddit and the Case of the Cecil Hotel
A Netflix show about a creepy hotel accidental sheds light on the problem of amateur internet detectives and what happens when investigations turn into conspiracy theories.
logically.ai
5:06 AM · Mar 5, 2021


https://www.logically.ai/articles/csireddit-and-the-case-of-the-cecil-hotel

Two weeks ago, on a Sunday night, my husband and I decided to watch the new Netflix docu-series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. Four episodes later, he and I looked at each other and simultaneously agreed that that could have been a one-hour-long episode. Reporter and critic David Friend describes it best: “The buzzy four-part Netflix "documentary" is part of the streaming platform's damaging subgenre I call bingebait, or docs that withhold and manipulate truth to keep you watching multiple episodes.”

The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is made up of two stories. One story is about a missing Canadian girl called Elisa Lam. The other story is about the dark, notorious past of Los Angeles’ Cecil Hotel. For the first three episodes, descriptions of the hotel aim to convince you that something strange and horrific happened with Lam and that her death was somehow related to the location.

However, a jarring tonal shift happens between episodes three and four. While the third, action-packed episode was all about conspiracy theories and internet sleuths, the fourth episode revealed Lam’s mental health struggles, and the fact that she lived with bipolar disorder, information that hadn’t been mentioned before. The story, whose central focus was meant to be Lam's mysterious disappearance before later being discovered drowned, felt more about internet sleuths and conspiracy theories, which Netflix seems to be willing to indulge.

The Reddit detectives

The messageboard detectives whose evidence the show leans so heavily on are essentially YouTubers and Redditors who act like the internet police. The internet sleuths were given a lot of screen time in the show, which focuses on how they used their "shrewd skills" to come up with some outlandish theories.

*snip*




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CSI:Reddit and the Case of the Cecil Hotel (Original Post) Nevilledog Mar 2021 OP
I agree snowybirdie Mar 2021 #1
The Web Sleuths site also got a real pounding in that series nt csziggy Mar 2021 #2

snowybirdie

(5,191 posts)
1. I agree
Fri Mar 5, 2021, 11:01 AM
Mar 2021

This story would have been good on a one hour crime documentary like Dateline. Too drawn out with the musings of the crazies. Bet they all believe the election was stolen too.

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