The American Meme takes a deep dive into fame during the social media age, delivering a surprisingly insightful and even illuminating look at the influencers who entertain the online masses.

Everyone knows about Andy Warhol and his famous “15 minutes of fame” declaration. But you must wonder how Warhol would analyse a world where fame is not determined by time, but by “likes” and “followers”. This is the age of the social media influencer, and business is good. Well at least for now. As defunct social media site Vine has already proven, exposure is only possible is there is a platform to post your stuff. No platform, no pretty picture to upload. And with all matter of social animals with an appetite for the new and hip, how long with it take for Instagram, Twitter, and the like to also disappear into the ether? If we don’t post, do we even exist? And if we don’t exist online, just who are we in the real world?

The main subjects featured in The American Meme deal with these issues and more. Among them are Vine star and comedian Brittany Furlan; photographer and professional party animal Kirill Bichutsky; entrepreneur and socialite Josh Ostrovsky aka “The Fat Jew”; DJ and producer DJ Khaleed; and the godmother of all modern fame, Paris Hilton. Every one of these social media influencers are introduced in The American Meme with their number of followers beside their name. It recalls the infamous line from UK TV show The Prisoner: “I am not a number! I am a human being!” And indeed, it does feel as if having such a following brings with it a level of restriction. Kirill is a case in point. Throughout the film, we see this New Jersey native – young, dumb, and full of cum (credit to Point Break) – disintegrate into a shadow of himself, such are the results of living up to a lifestyle his social media alter ego “The Slut Whisperer” has created. Change is needed. Kirill knows it. But the machine wants more. It always wants more.

There is a reason why in an ocean of social media personalities, these several stand out. Floran has a true gift for comedy. Ostrovsky a flair for self-promotion that even had President Obama as a fan. Then there is Paris Hilton, the epitome of what many imaged would be the biggest example of the “15 minutes of fame” phenom. Yet Hilton has proven to have a sound business mind that has seen her fame turn into an empire. If there was ever an example of how you should never judge a book by its cover, Paris Hilton would be it.

Director Bert Marcus has chronicled the highs and lows of successful personalities in three documentaries now. First it was the likes of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in the boxing documentary Champs. Second, a delve into the pioneers of electric music in What We Started. Now with The American Meme, Marcus’ gaze has never been as relevant, nor his storytelling as entertaining.