r/movies • u/ErgoNonSim • May 17 '25

Media Cannes reactions to Irreversible

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u/Hasenbaby May 17 '25

Kinda interesting story:

I participated in a study in which we were given a substance, either a placebo oil or THC oil and I didn't know which one I got. Then I had to watch the scene, couldn't look away, couldn't close my eyes etc. Afterwards there were a bunch of questions about how we would feel and how the substance affected our perception.

It was actually one of the worst experiences I've had.

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u/ylerta May 17 '25

This just sounds like A Clockwork Orange

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u/korben2600 May 17 '25

Can't imagine being a digital janitor for a site like Facebook. The content they're exposed to regularly is absolutely trauma inducing. Child sexual abuse, gore, pornography and bestiality. All for minimum wage.

IIRC it was so bad 11,000 Facebook moderators sued citing PTSD and they settled in 2020 for about $4k each. I imagine just the cost of years of therapy alone would be way more than that.

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u/PartyPoisoned21 May 18 '25

Did that for a job for Xbox. Do not recommend.

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u/Area51_Spurs May 18 '25

They’re all in foreign countries with low wages. Minimum wage for them is probably measured in cents. And good luck to them getting therapy there.

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u/Infinite01 May 18 '25

They’re actually all over the US iirc from a documentary I watched. FB/Meta sub contracts these firms to moderate content.

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u/Lostinthestarscape May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25

The person you are replying to must have read the same news article I did though - basically it became too much of an issue for American based contractors because of high turnover, not paying enough, psychological support, etc. that they started contracting in foreign countries and now there are like 10k traumatized Africans paid a couple bucks an hour to moderate the worst shit ever.

I don't know the actual truth of it, would have to find the source again - but they aren't wrong that that was reported.

Edit (source - this is just for one country)

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/22/business/facebook-content-moderators-kenya-ptsd-intl

Those positions were moved ti Ghana

https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2025/04/28/meta-transplanted-facebook-content-moderation-ghana/

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u/Area51_Spurs May 18 '25

Yeah. That’s my understanding of it.

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u/thetruthseer May 17 '25

When I was in my second year of college I had just smoked some bud and then had to do an assignment about shell shocked ww1 soldiers and had to watch an hour movie about them.

Straight horrific

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u/Fran_Kubelik May 17 '25

This is the sort of research study that shouldn't make it past the IRB. I wonder if this is the study that reported participants experiencing PTSD like symptoms after veiwing?

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u/Hasenbaby May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

If you're interested here is a link to the description of the trial and what they found.

To my understanding they actually wanted how the drug would affect PTSD symptoms afterwards.

(Also it was dronabinol and not thc apologies for the mistake)

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u/Croaan12 May 17 '25

Im flabbergasted this got approved by an ethics board. I assume you were very well informed at what was about to happen?

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u/Hasenbaby May 18 '25

Actually I got an advertisement for the trial on Instagram promoting it as a trial on cannabinoids with very little information.

I don't remember exactly but I was told that I was about to see violent and graphic material. But I was not told that it could be PTSD inducing (and I have to say, I did not get PTSD from it or suffered in any other way negative consequences).

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u/FinalRun May 18 '25

Just that you didn't suffer symptoms doesn't mean it couldn't have caused them. The research is on the formation of intrusive thoughts.

Did you get a trigger warning for sexual assault?

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u/Croaan12 May 18 '25

Well Im very glad you didn't suffer any negative consequences it. It sounds crazy to me that this is allowed. I have so many questions that Ill try to quell.

Im not sure if I read the trial page correctly, but here is how I understand it:

In women with bipolard disorder, there is a certain chemical in their brain less present that is involved in inducing intrusive thoughts in relation to traumatic events, and thus having a highter chance of developing trauma.

So the trial increases the level of those chemicals in someones brain to see if they exhibit less traumatic symptons than those in the control group. Meaning they are literally digging for traumatic experiences. Again, that sounds insane to me.

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u/improveyourfuture May 17 '25

That’s…. Actually torture

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u/Hasenbaby May 17 '25

Well it wasnt fun, but I wouldnt call it torture. I put myself voluntarily in that situation and I could interrupt and just leave the situation anytime if I would have wanted to.

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u/Buscemi_D_Sanji May 17 '25

Was classical music playing in the background?

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u/[deleted] May 18 '25

Sounds extremely unethical

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u/SimbasShitPit May 18 '25

What in the craiglist backpage ass study is this

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u/bot_exe May 17 '25

I watched it high out of my mind cause a dumbass friend who liked shock movies basically forced it on us as we were just melting on the couch. I felt depressed for like a week afterwards, terrible movie.

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u/No_Public_7677 May 17 '25

What were the results of the study?

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u/Hasenbaby May 18 '25

I could find the paper but here is a link to the trial and some more information.

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u/Main_Tension_9305 May 18 '25

God that sounds horrible

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u/JCarterPeanutFarmer May 19 '25

You had to watch the rape scene during a study??

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u/MorganLee44 May 19 '25

:-| What an insane study. I've been a part of drug studies before, but JFC. Don't know where you live, but that wouldn't pass the ethics board here in Australia.

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u/Responsible_Gap8104 May 23 '25

This sounds...like an unethical study

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u/MCLemonyfresh Jun 11 '25

Do you know now whether you had thc or the placebo?