Adam Curtis

version

Well-known member
I watched the first episode last night and enjoyed it more than I'd expected; I think the parodies and the way people discuss his tics online distort my memories of actually having watched the stuff. That, or he's responded to the criticism and tweaked the formula a bit.

I honestly couldn't tell you whether he's ever actually said " ... but this was just a fantasy... " yet people will swear down he says it all the time. Likewise a couple of the Burial tunes he "always" seems to use. I get the feeling Bitter Lake and Hypernormalisation have completely dominated mine and many others' mental image of his work and obscured everything else he's done to the point that they're taken for the whole and not just two of his films.

This one feels much tighter than Bitter Lake did when I recently tried to rewatch it. I prefer the episodic format, always have. It's much more digestible as shorter episodes than as one massive film, although the last episode's about two hours so I'll see how I feel about that when I get to it.

The BBC have stuck a bunch of the older stuff on iPlayer now too, so maybe I'll revisit the ones I've seen and watch the ones I haven't.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
I watched the first episode last night and enjoyed it more than I'd expected; I think the parodies and the way people discuss his tics online distort my memories of actually having watched the stuff. That, or he's responded to the criticism and tweaked the formula a bit.

Yeah. I was partly holding off because of all the tic talk and rehashing comments. Bitter Lake wasn't anywhere near his best. But this one's a strong return to form. Viva AC
 

luka

Well-known member
I was very pleased he took my side against Mr Tea and ridiculed all the centre left conspiracy theorys that took hold post-Brexit/Trump.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
He also dismissed the CIA cocaine trafficking thing as a "conspiracy theory" though, didn't he.
 

luka

Well-known member
the last episode was by far the weakest. But I don't have to agree with everything he says to enjoy his telly shows.
 

luka

Well-known member
He took care to say the Great Powers, the USA, Russia and China are all sclerotic. I guess to 'give us hope.'
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Why is it that your brain goes bork at any mention of a conspiracy involving Russia? Is it because it's "obvious" and therefore boring?
 

luka

Well-known member
What Curtis wants to do is give people their power back. So that means attacking everything which makes them feel powerless, including conspiracy theories, fear (the power of nightmares) notions of the self which downplay or erase agency and the coherence and continuity of identity , any ideas of supervillains or omnipotent states or omniscient computers etc etc
 
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