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New Adam Curtis series

  • 05-02-2021 11:04pm
    #1
    grassylawn
    Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭


    Can't get you out of my head is a series of six documentaries by Adam Curtis. It will drop on bbc iplayer on 11 February.

    https://deadline.com/video/adam-curtis-bbc-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head/

    Adam Curtis makes films "about power and how it works in society". His work is very insightful and interesting. Since Bitter Lake he has used a non-traditional style that works very well. A lot of his stuff is on youtube and is worth checking out.


Comments

  • #2
    cdgalwegian
    Registered Users Posts: 1,907 ✭✭✭cdgalwegian


    grassylawn wrote: »
    Can't get you out of my head is a series of six documentaries by Adam Curtis. It will drop on bbc iplayer on 11 February.

    https://deadline.com/video/adam-curtis-bbc-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head/

    Adam Curtis makes films "about power and how it works in society". His work is very insightful and interesting. Since Bitter Lake he has used a non-traditional style that works very well. A lot of his stuff is on youtube and is worth checking out.

    Excellent.
    I check out his website every now and again to see if he's done anything new, so this is great news. Been dying to see his take on the world at the moment, particularly populism and AI.


  • #3
    grassylawn
    Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭grassylawn


    cdgalwegian wrote: »
    Excellent.
    I check out his website every now and again to see if he's done anything new, so this is great news. Been dying to see his take on the world at the moment, particularly populism and AI.
    Yeah I've been checking intermittently as well. He's been pretty quiet since Hypernormalisation in 2016. Now six films all at once - brilliant!

    Noticed an article by him in The Guardian. I was a bit disappointed to see it was his selection of the best cover versions of songs. [Though the Bitter Lake soundtrack is one of my most played playlists on spotify.] Then I was delighted to see a note at the bottom about the new series. Guerilla Guardian marketing.


  • #4
    grassylawn
    Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭grassylawn


    Blindboy boatclub is talking to him on his podcast and is inviting questions on his twitter page.


  • #5
    weemcd
    Registered Users Posts: 6,408 ✭✭✭weemcd


    grassylawn wrote: »
    Yeah I've been checking intermittently as well. He's been pretty quiet since Hypernormalisation in 2016. Now six films all at once - brilliant!

    Noticed an article by him in The Guardian. I was a bit disappointed to see it was his selection of the best cover versions of songs. [Though the Bitter Lake soundtrack is one of my most played playlists on spotify.] Then I was delighted to see a note at the bottom about the new series. Guerilla Guardian marketing.

    Much longer article today on the guardian, a lot more informative.


  • #6
    Beechwoodspark
    Registered Users Posts: 15,279 ✭✭✭✭Beechwoodspark


    Yeah yeah will give this a watch

    I find with his stuff you can leave it and watch it in the background. The “found footage” can be very interesting.


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  • #7
    grassylawn
    Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭grassylawn


    It's up on the iPlayer now, but it's restricted to UK viewers. Don't know of any other legal channels it's on? Not sure they are showing it on the TV.


  • #8
    weemcd
    Registered Users Posts: 6,408 ✭✭✭weemcd


    grassylawn wrote: »
    It's up on the iPlayer now, but it's restricted to UK viewers. Don't know of any other legal channels it's on? Not sure they are showing it on the TV.

    If you get a VPN you may be able to change your location to view this.

    Curtis was on the Blindboy podcast yesterday for anyone interested. I watched HyperNormalisation for the first time yesterday also, it's really something... looking forward to this.


  • #9
    Sanjuro
    Registered Users Posts: 4,236 ✭✭✭Sanjuro


    Somebody on Reddit uploaded the series to Google Drive-

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12G4N1be3xVx8ZvDTVMn4d37C5QIPqSnb


  • #10
    Yurt2
    Registered Users Posts: 9,381 ✭✭✭Yurt2


    Classic Curtis fare. Outstanding dream-like archive footage brilliantly soundtracked and his 'big-theory' woven together masterfully. Particularly liked the Chinese Cultural Revolution stuff, although it was a lot more complex than Jiang Qing (Madame Mao) being completely nuts. One of the most disturbing and brutal phases of modern history.

    Who else could splice footage of Al Qaeda causing chaos to Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh and get away with it?

    My only gripe is the last episode, which seemed to be a bit tacked-on and rushed compared to the previous five as a nod to where we are today. Other than that, three thumbs up.


  • #11
    Birneybau
    Registered Users Posts: 10,217 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


    grassylawn wrote: »
    It's up on the iPlayer now, but it's restricted to UK viewers. Don't know of any other legal channels it's on? Not sure they are showing it on the TV.

    All up on YouTube


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  • #12
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    Two episodes in and not finding interesting enough nor entertaining. Don't see any reason to continue. I keep hearing how amazing Adam curtis is but he just doesn't resonate with me. I wonder how many times the word power is mentioned so far. I'm just not interested in deconstructions of power structures especially when it borders on conspiracy theories. I'm not buying what he's selling. At least this one feels more grounded in reality than Hyper normalisation.


  • #13
    Birneybau
    Registered Users Posts: 10,217 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


    Just finished and absolutely loved it myself. I see/saw it as more like one man's series of essays.


  • #14
    grassylawn
    Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭grassylawn


    partyjungle wrote: »
    Two episodes in and not finding interesting enough nor entertaining. Don't see any reason to continue. I keep hearing how amazing Adam curtis is but he just doesn't resonate with me. I wonder how many times the word power is mentioned so far. I'm just not interested in deconstructions of power structures especially when it borders on conspiracy theories. I'm not buying what he's selling. At least this one feels more grounded in reality than Hyper normalisation.

    One of the topics in the series is conspiracy theories. He looks at how people distract themselves from real issues and genuine conspiracies that affect them with fantastical conspiracy theories.

    The illuminati concept came from a 1970s magazine article [letter?] that was intended to demonstrate the silliness of conspiracy theories. This got picked up out of context on the internet to become what it is today.

    Using your post as a segue to talk about an interesting aspect the the programme really - not seeking to change your opinion or counter what is just an expression of an opinion.


  • #15
    Noise Annoys
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭Noise Annoys


    Watched 4 out of 6 so far. It covers some familiar ground from previous Adam Curtis programmes but it tends to sprawl a bit. Sometimes the threads between topics are a little difficult to connect. But it's very watchable anyway. Curtis has a really commanding narration style and the juxtaposition of music and images is great.


  • #16
    cdgalwegian
    Registered Users Posts: 1,907 ✭✭✭cdgalwegian


    This covers much of the same ground as ‘Hypernormalisation’ and ‘All Watched Over with Machines of LG’; how we crave stories that give us existential stability, and how political uncertainty seeks refuge in computerised systemisation as the means for decision-making; as the modern means for this.
    The postmodern techniques Curtis uses are just a dream-like narration weaving threads together logically, though a little tenuously, but I don't think Curtis is a postmodernist. They mirror (I'm not sure purposely) the populist approach; it's the simple emotions that sway you, not the slam-dunk arguments. The particular stories invoked seem to serve both the idea that our way of being governed is slowly giving way to systems, rather than people, as an inexorable move to rationality over emotion, and computers over minds, as faith in our ways of being governed seep away, but also that the process of systemisation isn’t inevitable: just as individuals can shape history for the negative reasons shown, so too can individuals reverse the mechanised bureaucracy of society. This, iirc, was the upbeat message at the end with the idea that the way we do democracy could be better done (I need to watch all three titles again, which I look forward to).
    Curtis' narration makes him the David Attenborough of leftfield socio-political-cultural critique. :) He's a great story-teller, but he's a journalist, so the slant he takes can be taken with a pinch of salt. Still though, I love his tapestry story-telling. His fabric may be simply fabrication to some, but it’s great thought-provoking stuff, even if a little disorientating.


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