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Adam Curtis documentaries: Do they make ANY sense?

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Adam Curtis documentaries: Do they make ANY sense?

Postby Hennessy on Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:50 pm

Love & Power:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... and_Power/

The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... _Concepts/

The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine in the Monkey:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... he_Monkey/

What's the deal here? I found myself watching the last as entertainment rather than as anything that imparted real knowledge. The format seems to be to take a jumble of places, people and ideas and stretch them out nearly to breaking point so they can follow the loosest of narratives. At several points I found myself wondering if it was all a joke - does Adam Curtis sit at home rubbing his sides in joy at the thought of all those "informed intellectuals" who tune in to avidly watch his jaunts down conspiracy lane?

The series was recommended to me by a friend - as wide-eyed as if he had seen the Second Coming live on BBC2. Are we moving into an age where that small portion of the population that does not think or vote tribally is led astray by such clever sleight of hand?
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Re: Adam Curtis documentaries: Do they make ANY sense?

Postby Haunted on Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:42 am

Hennessy wrote:The series was recommended to me by a friend - as wide-eyed as if he had seen the Second Coming live on BBC2


I think we have a mutual friend. I'm not sure I know what I even watched.
Genesis 19:4-8
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Re: Adam Curtis documentaries: Do they make ANY sense?

Postby RedCelt69 on Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:52 pm

Haunted wrote:I'm not sure I know what I even watched.

I watched the first 2. I was intrigued by the concept that Silicon Valley was built on the concepts and notions of Ayn Rand. And by "intrigued" I mean "dubious". And by "dubious" I mean that the whole of each episode does, indeed, seem built upon the strangest of holistic premises... and he's not selling it very well.
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Re: Adam Curtis documentaries: Do they make ANY sense?

Postby macgamer on Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:33 am

"Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision."
- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908
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Re: Adam Curtis documentaries: Do they make ANY sense?

Postby macgamer on Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:25 am

"Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision."
- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908
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