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southerntofu wrote

Haven't seen this one but usually Adam Curtis movies are:

  • factually correct, and full of great archives only a BBC insider could have access to
  • centered on key figures, usually powerful men the western media doesn't dedicate a lot of attention to (but women and ordinary folks are certainly not heroes of these documentaries)
  • centered on a central narrative, ignoring quite a lot of context/facts (but remaining factually correct)
  • completely psychedelic which i personally enjoy, and is really useful to contradict fans of conspiracy movies (they'll feel at home with curtis but will learn quite a few things)
  • really useful to deconstruct powerful narratives/propaganda we may not even be conscious of (mostly by studying the history of how these narratives came into existence)
  • awfully social-democrat: Curtis docs are really useful to understand some modern mechanics of domination but don't expect any meaningful call to action
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_caspar_ OP wrote

"is really useful to contradict fans of conspiracy movies"

funny you say this cause conspiracy is a central topic in this one. I mostly agree with your points. this one certainly comes across as an appeal for meaningful action to counteract what they map as a growing passive nihilism, but yes, more in a direct democratic direction I imagine.

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kin wrote (edited )

I will try to watch this weekend, since /u/lastfutures commented a week ago about the new documentaries I am curious to check more recent stuff from Adam Curtis. I can say for the two docs I saw I found very interesting and insightful.

edit: David Graeber quote + Black Liberation&Colonialism + Discordianism really surprised me.

He tried to summarize the conditions that lead to the current sociopolitical panorama and genealogy of the conspiracy theory. The mishmash collage is interesting because he brings lots of references but in the end, I felt the result a bit bland, as far as liberal British would go I guess.

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kin wrote

Another good take from the series is that the root of the AltRight and the reemergence of the NeoFash is the Colonial past and how the "West" never dealt with. He never go too deep into it and I got lost in the Data gathering segment

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