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    Adam Curtis Documentaries

    Take hours of archived footage, add a soundtrack to compliment said footage while weaving a series of unrelated stories together and you have the formula for an Adam Curtis documentary.
    The skill comes in how well he melds these three aspects together to create a larger narrative from individual stories, this most recent series serving as a reminder of how history repeats, while saying an awful lot more besides.
    I first became aware of him via 'Hypernormalisation', and have been moved to post this on the strength of that and his most recent work, which I'll link to here. There are 6 parts, it felt intense at times, but in a way that anything challenging can feel, and my goodness it's a unique trip worth taking.

    Credit to Nocturnal Submission for the prompt.
    Last edited by Mr Delicieux; 01-03-2021, 12:24.

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              #7
              I watched the most recent documentary on the strength of the impression this made on me.
               

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                #8
                Again, my thanks to Mr Delicieux for alerting me to this. I've only watched the first episode so far but found it absolutely fascinating. I think it's supposed to help us understand the rise of populism in the UK and US and the current state of China but in a very non-linear way. The elements of the narrative, which some of us may know about in other contexts, are being introduced and slowly being woven together.

                From memory, so far we have (***SPOILERS***):

                Chairman Mao's frustrated film actress wife and her desire for revenge, which I think will lead into the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four;

                Post-war UK immigration and post-imperial malaise, Peter Rachmann's slum landlordism in Notting Hill and the later activity of his henchman, Michael X;

                The guy who met Lee Harvey Oswald in the army and was going to make him the central figure of his novel, who helped inspire Jim Garrison's conspiratorial worldview and who also helped introduce the Bavarian Illuminati into the world of modern conspiracy thought via a couple of joke letters in Playboy;

                Project MKULTRA, the CIA mind control program, which has led me to both a local and, perhaps, a personal connection;

                The huge influence in China and the USSR, unknown to the author Ethel Voynich until the end of her life, of the book The Gadfly. Her father was George Boole, who developed Boolean logic which played such an integral role in the development of computers.

                And lots more.

                Quite intense but hugely stimulating. Would recommend.
                Last edited by Nocturnal Submission; 24-06-2021, 19:56.

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                  #9
                  Thanks for the links, I was hoping these would make their way online for people outside of the UK

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                    #10
                    Curtis is on the new episode of Chapo Trap
                    House. His prior appearance is one of their best episodes. A highlight:

                    https://youtu.be/mlaPZ-xMPGY

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                      #11
                      Just finished listening to the 2016 post-US election podcast with Curtis. I found that very enjoyable to listen to, thanks for making me aware of them. It's the first time I've heard him speak outside his documentaries.
                      I've long been saying that through Bush & 9/11 came Trump, how nothing of note has been learned, how they're treated as anomalies, and not instructive as they should be.
                      It's felt like shouting into the wind.

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                        #12
                        Finally got around to watching the Can’t Get You Out Of My Head series (BBC IPlayer). I’m never certain about the way Curtis constructs narrative arguments by focusing on only tangentially related persons/events, but he certainly gives you pause to think, which is good enough for me. And the footage of the Chinese Cultural Revolution opera/ballet was a stunning eye-opener - never seen that stuff before.

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                          #13
                          ‘They are stealing Russia’: Adam Curtis on how hyper-capitalism wrecked a nation – and why Liz Truss must take heed | Adam Curtis | The Guardian

                          Seven hour long films - no voiceover by AC this time, all episodes on iPlayer tomorrow

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                            #14
                            I've just watched the first episode. Very, very good, with some amazing footage.

                            I didn't realise it was a Curtis documentary before I started watching it, but had picked up the vibe by the end.

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                              #15
                              Also finished episode one

                              I've stayed at the Cosmos hotel so watching that brought back some memories. I'm reading Svetlana Alexievich (Second Hand Time) at the moment, so this is like a visual accompaniment to that. Very well put together and very relevant to everything happening right now over there.

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                                #16
                                Ah, I spent a week in the Kosmos in early 1984

                                Will have to see if this turns up over here

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                  Ah, I spent a week in the Kosmos in early 1984

                                  Will have to see if this turns up over here

                                  Some of the Kosmos footage was undercover filming of the house prostitutes at work, with little effort to disguise the identity of their clients.

                                  Just saying.

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                                    #18
                                    Well, they operated completely in the open.

                                    You couldn't go to any of the bars or restaurants without encountering them. Did they have footage of any of the men?

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                      Well, they operated completely in the open.

                                      You couldn't go to any of the bars or restaurants without encountering them. Did they have footage of any of the men?

                                      ​​​​​​Oh, yes!

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                                        #20
                                        Bravo

                                        Some of the less aware members of our group refused to believe that they were professionals

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                                          #21
                                          Not sure if the very seedy nightclub was there in the 80s but it certainly was when we visited

                                          From the Cosmos website - a perfect distillation of how in Russia you'll still see a jarring combination of high intellect with utter sleaze:

                                          If you are staying at our hotel, be sure to visit Solaris nightclub. The club is named after the most famous film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, based on the eponymous novel by Polish science fiction writer Stanislav Lem. The novel dwells on ethical problems of humanity through the prism of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. It is the club where you can experience the same feelings as the heroes of a literary work. Stunning shows and indescribable atmosphere attract numerous visitors every day.

                                          Solaris nightclub is the first professional strip club in Eastern Europe, one of the ten most famous clubs in Moscow. Solaris was the first to start sexual revolution in Russia. According to the Primes rating agency, the club is in top hundred most stylish establishments of its kind. Only the most talented and vibrant girl dancers from all of Eastern Europe are selected to work at the club. Over a thousand girls take part in ‘Solaris Forever’, the annual competition of the club. Currently, there are two thematic programs: ‘Russian Birches’ and ‘International Show.’ The club is now preparing an experimental erotic production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

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                                            #22
                                            Yeah, that wasn't there in 1984

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                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                              Ah, I spent a week in the Kosmos in early 1984

                                              Will have to see if this turns up over here
                                              Can always download it for you.

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                                                #24
                                                Add me to the list of people who have stayed at the Kosmos; March 1990, in my case. We had a huge snowball fight outside the front of it with a bunch of Swedish students about the same age as us and my glasses got smashed. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to take my spare pair with me, otherwise I wouldn't have seen much of the by then irreversibly crumbling USSR at all.

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                                                  #25
                                                  You would have missed the 2004 installation of a rather incongruous monumental statue of DeGaulle in that spot, which now bears his name.

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