Hacking Hollywood: discussing hackers' reactions to three popular films

In this paper I analyze the main characteristics of hacker culture as presented in three popular hacker films, WarGames, Hackers and Takedown with the intention of identifying the key elements against which the hacker community reacted. We shall find that hackers reacted favorably in the case of WarGames because the film offered an accurate portrayal of hacker activity and their culture while Hackers and, especially, Takeover, did not. I conclude in the case of Hackers that hackers reacted negatively probably because they felt that their culture was reduced to mere fashion while inaccurately portraying their activities and against Takeover because the film's intention was to criminalize the very idea of hacking.