Adam Curtis

[luka]

Curtis wants to give us a solid foundation from which to act with confidence but I can't see how he proposes to establish that platform. I suppose just on the 'good enough' rather than the 'beyond doubt.'

 

[DannyL]

I bought Tom Vague's pamphlet on Rackman and Michael de Freitas probably from Compendium around the same time as I was reading RAW or bit later. it's feeling very my bookshelf circa 2000 right now.

 

[DannyL]

Curtis can't use Thornley to demonstrate the stupidity of conspiracy thinking, although he might want to, because of the way Thornley gets sucked into paranoia despite himself. It's very instructive.

Yeah, Thornley;s story is properly crazy. I think there's a point where conspiracies thinking starts to generate magical effects. That's what I think of when I read about him. The Secret Sun guy talks about the same stuff at some point.

 

[luka]

I think that's exactly right

 

[Corpsey]

Sorry about what I said Adam

You're alright

 

[luka]

I bought Tom Vague's pamphlet on Rackman and Michael de Freitas probably from Compendium around the same time as I was reading RAW or bit later. it's feeling very my bookshelf circa 2000 right now.

Do you think Curtis is/was a stoner? The way he responds to the film footage suggest he is or has been.

 

[DannyL]

Idk really. There's something about the editing process that works well with being stoned, that's for sure. He strikes me as a bit too BBC clean cut though.

 

[pattycakes_]

The fact that the BBC is his platform still slightly boggles my mind

 

[version]

Every time he plays that Aphex tune, I expect Source Direct to kick in.

 

[version]

There seems to be a lot more emphasis on women and minorities in this series. The split-screen section in the second episode felt new too. I also like that there aren't too many of those musical sequences with no dialogue. You get maybe one or two an episode atm and they don't overstay their welcome like they do in Bitter Lake.

 

[Leo]

now you can hear @suspended's girlfriends' take on him:

 

[sus]

This article is about the 2021 Adam Curtis documentary series. For the 2001 song by Kylie Minogue, see Can't Get You Out of My Head.

 

[version]

It's moving stuff, and I ask what he thinks about the criticism that he manipulates people by seducing them into his narrative; cherry-picking a disparate collection of subjects, mixing them about and re-editing them into a fiction-like narrative? He seems exasperated. "Yeah, of course it is [manipulative] because what do you want me to do, make a boring programme? No, I want to make programmes that mesmerise you and provoke you, so you're going 'hmm I like that, hmm, no I don't think that!' I want you to get engaged. So of course I'm playing with you. But that's what a good film maker does. It's an emotional thing. I think I'm quite honest about it, because here you are, you're saying don't you do this, and I'm like, well yeah, I do!

 

[DannyL]

Have only watched one so far, but I felt it held its themes quite suggestively and loosely so wasn't too overbearing. It felt like suggestion, rather than statements of fact and was better for it.

 

[yyaldrin]

i watched the first episode last night but kept falling asleep. might be because i watched it sunday evening with a cup of tea in my relaxing chair but it might also be because his style evokes dreaming for me, one narrative leading to the other, one theme jumping to the other, thoughts going in different directions. add the hypnotizing voice and the music and i'm gone.

 

[pattycakes_]

You can watch it like that, but for me at least I know there's a certain amount of work required on my part so it pays to be alert enough to take it in at a decent level

 

[version]

 

[WashYourHands]

 

[catalog]

Ive never watched the parallax view, might give it a go.

 

[wild greens]

I thought it was good in the end but I can't remember much about it