Rhiannon
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The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 24, 2016, 13:03
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Hypernormalisation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p04b183c/adam-curtis-hypernormalisation
Tough going at nearly three hours but not so bad in little chunks. Trump turns up quite often. I didn't know his start (taking advantage of the state New York had got itself into when the banks refused to continue lending the city money unless they were in charge).
Also interesting things about Syria and the rise of suicide bombing and the lies that were told about Libya. Also the mad manipulation of politics in Russia.
you'll like it
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tiompan
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Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 24, 2016, 14:45
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I always enjoy them ,along with a huge pinch of salt .
Did so with this one too .
http://www.theatreofnoise.com/2016/10/bbc-as-echo-chamber-review-of.html
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jb lamptoast-morsley
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Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 25, 2016, 22:44
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Why with a pinch of salt?
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tiompan
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Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 26, 2016, 10:03
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It was a “huge pinch “ , although , given the ultimate impact of some the pieces , particularly the latest , MSG is probably more appropriate .
It’s entertainment , (like this :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1bX3F7uTrg ) ,
and as such , for a couple of hours a year it’s fine .
It’s only when it’s treated as a serious analysis that the salt is needed .
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mingtp
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Edited Oct 26, 2016, 18:30
Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 26, 2016, 18:29
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I watched it last Saturday night, personally I really like Adam Curtis's documentaries and enjoyed it as much as his others. Thing is, I totally agree with a lot of the analysis, so there is a danger of "echo chamber" but I'm not sure if there's a corresponding right wing documentary with insights as logical as the last half hour of this? Dunno. Am open to counterpoints but watching this it seemed like Curtis's "magnum opus" - like it was so long because he was coalescing many of his ideas from previous films. The points about adopting the Russian politics of illusion were first in a 10 minute (ish) piece he did for Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe a while back, and his points about suicide bombing were clearly researched during his earlier films about Al Qaeida and Islamic Fundamentalism, both of which I considered ground breaking at the time. Anyway, it just seemed like the film was so long because Curtis was trying to bring the jigsaw up to date (if not finish it).
I watched it in 2 halves, but a friend of mine took it in 4 or 5 chunks. Both of us liked it and he (my friend) was "blown away" by it not having seen any of Curtis's other docs.
Like him or loathe him, Curtis sure as shit does his research and I'd be impressed by any counterpoint that "joins the dots" as clearly.
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jb lamptoast-morsley
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Edited Oct 26, 2016, 22:50
Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 26, 2016, 22:41
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Seemed pretty insightful and coherent to me too. Does any documentary maker have complete monopoly on the truth? I'm not too sure about that. I'm pretty sure that only I have a robust grasp on the truth of things and I'm not into making documentaries.
Does anyone know anything about bitter lake which is also on the iplayer? That was my first exposure to AC, and I want more.
Edit* Actually no it wasn't. IMDB tells me other things he's done that I have probably seen. Coo. Now that I think of it, Sin Agog mentioned him when I was talking about the film 'The Divide'. Where is Sin - has he gone into hibernation?
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tiompan
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Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 26, 2016, 22:58
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I quite liked it ,but again , not for any serious analysis .
Jon Boone ,the grauniad's Pakistan correspondent review ,wasn't interested in the entertainment .
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/01/adam-curtiss-bitter-lake-the-tv-equivalent-of-staging-hamlet-without-the-prince/
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Markoid
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Edited Oct 27, 2016, 02:09
Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 27, 2016, 02:09
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I just watched the whole thing. I fail to see what point he is trying to make, apart from - politicians and media moguls are occasional liars and things may not be portrayed as they actually are. I can walk outside in the street and see reality. Quite patronising in some respects. Esoteric nuances, when they don't even exist. I enjoyed the footage though, but those were filmed by someone else.
3 hours to state the bleedin' obvious! Michael Moore is a far far better documentary writer in my estimation. At least Michael Moore has a a hypothesis and sticks to the point.
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IanB
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Edited Oct 28, 2016, 19:44
Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 28, 2016, 19:43
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Not his best by any means. As has been said elsewhere it is way longer than it needed to be. Then again so was Bitter Lake and that seems a much better film after a second viewing. His films on consumer culture, Freud, the roots of Thatcherism, zero sum game thinking etc were IIRC all far shorter and much more illuminating. However they do rely on a fair amount of pre-existing knowledge which frankly is going to absent for a lot of viewers. Especially when it comes to foreign affairs. So it may be that going for repetition over a longer running time is his way of drumming the information into us. Also in this age of resistance to any kind of complexity there is a lot to be said for anyone trying to work with longer formats. Just cos this one wasn't all that successful does not mean there isn't a good three hour film on geo-politics waiting to be made. Speaking of which, the third part of Robbie Martin's "A Very Heavy Agenda" on the fall and rise of the new-cons, (itself heavily influenced by Curtis) comes in at over three and a half hours!
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PMM
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Re: The new Adam Curtis film
Oct 28, 2016, 23:15
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I quite enjoyed it.
It reminds me of Trigger Happy TV.
That might sound like an odd thing to say, but both use fast cuts, surreal imagary, and a cool as fuck soundtrack.
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