It\u2019s 1994, and the World Wide Web is taking its first tentative steps into the public consciousness. The term \u201cinformation superhighway\u201d is on the lips of every newscaster, and the future of technology seems paved with stacks of CD-ROMs. In this \u201890s landscape, a film like \u201cDisclosure\u201d (based on the book by Michael Crichton) arrived with a flurry of skepticism and anticipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter how you feel about the author, the film, its politics or execution, at its core, \u201cDisclosure\u201d is a high-stakes corporate thriller. Only here, the battleground is the server room, and the ultimate weapon is a digital file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s head down the virtual corridor together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film follows Tom Sanders, played by Michael Douglas, the embodiment of beleaguered \u201890s husbands. Tom is a tech executive expecting a nice, safe promotion. Instead, he gets a nightmare scenario: His new boss, Meredith Johnson (played by Demi Moore), is also his former lover \u2014 and a vindictive one, at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a late-night meeting goes awry (don\u2019t make me spell it out, just watch the scene), Meredith frames Tom for harassment. Spoiler: It\u2019s to cover her tracks of corporate espionage. Director Barry Levinson loftily described this plotline as an exploration of the \u201cechelon of power<\/a>.\u201d But let\u2019s be honest: It\u2019s a melodramatic noir that lacks any coherence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Only the plot\u2019s not done. To save his career (and his marriage), Tom must embark on a desperate hunt for a digital smoking gun buried deep within the company\u2019s archives. It becomes a quest that turns a file search into a wholly absurd action sequence (more on this later).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDisclosure\u201d is a perfect time capsule of \u201890s corporate techno-paranoia \u2014 just with more ridiculous special effects and dubious prognostications about the future. So let\u2019s explore what this film got right about the dawn of digital evidence and the insider threat, and then deconstruct its famously bizarre, yet iconic, vision of virtual reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This film\u2019s most prescient insight is that the definitive proof of wrongdoing in the modern era would be digital. Its entire plot hinges on Tom\u2019s frantic search for deleted emails, server logs and video files that can prove his innocence and expose Meredith\u2019s deeper corporate conspiracy. The recovery or concealment of data drives every twist and turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Meredith Johnson, the film gives us a perfect cinematic representation of a malicious insider. She is the ultimate example of an abuse of power, using her privileged access, understanding of the company\u2019s systems, and executive authority to manipulate data and frame a subordinate. Meredith deletes critical files, alters records, and expertly leverages information as a weapon to orchestrate a corporate takeover.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat Disclosure Got Right: The Digital Paper Trail and The Insider Threat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n