Recommending Adam Curtis Documentaries

cryptomnesiac's picture

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I'm not sure this is the right forum, but I don't see one for education. In any event, if the idea of screening documentaries regularly is pursued, I highly recommend adding Adam Curtis docs to the program.

Series like The Century of Self, The Trap, and The Power of Nightmares are highly relevant to the political climate of paranoia and scapegoating. The first two are particularly illuminating of the failure of previous attempts at popular movements for reform, detailing how a generation thwarted by state power was seduced by corporate propaganda into seeking internal contentment (e.g. catharsis, retail therapy, and not doing anything about the actual society we're living in) as a consolation prize for change.

So far, this group doesn't seem brand conscious or susceptible to traditional forms of commercial manipulation. Obama's slick campaign, and his ultimate betrayal, might've even soured heavily branded and catchy partisan politics. That's a good thing.

But it's probably good to be aware of patterns which had previously foiled similar movements.