Adam Curtis' Can't Get You Out of My Head

Hard Rock Ag-elujah

Hard Rock Ag-elujah

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Not a Kylie cover, rather a full series following his astonishing Hypernormalisation film.

Now on iPlayer.

If you don't know him, he uses some fascinating archive film footage and music and pieces together hidden political, social, economic narratives of the post war era to present. It's as good or better than it sounds!

 
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I’ve heard about this guy and never got round to watching the stuff he had on iPlayer but I do really want to watch this. Do you need to watch his earlier series’ before this one?
 
This guy is a visionary, I love his message wholeheartedly but his style is so fucking trippy and unsettling that I always feel he's brainwashing me and that's why I agree with what he's putting across :D

On top of Hypernormalisation, all his docs are on the iPlayer or YouTube if not and they're all worth a watch, honestly - Bitter Lake, All watched over by machines of loving grace, Century of the self, Power of Nightmares... They all riff on similar themes but the footage he unearths is incredible and the way he threads everything together is masterful. It's not even HIGH BROW even if the themes are INTELLECTUAL, he makes it incredibly accessible. Don't sleep on him!
 
I think I've seen Bitter Lake and possibly Power of Nightmares. Not sure about anything else.

He's been bubbling under for years as someone people should know about. Glad the BBC have given him a commission.

And yes the lengths of stuff deserve commitment. He must have felt quite restrained at 75 mins.
 
Also God bless Charlie Brooker for bringing him to my attention. Between Curtis and Cunk, Newswipe has been the new 11 O Clock show in terms of breakout stars, except they're not cunts.
 
wurst said:
LOVE Adam Curtis! So excited for these.

I just tried to watch the first 10 minutes of ep 1 of this whilst sending emails and absolutely nothing sunk in or registered :D REWIND I GO!
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It doesn't tie together until towards the end. But the LUXURY FOOTAGE!
 
A friend has messaged me all excited about this so I shall have to give it a go. Never heard of him!
 
Ag said:
There's even a macabre moment soundtracked by Billie Ray Martin!

I'm nearly finished this and fanfuckingtastic.
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Was on the fence about dipping into this, but the BRM tidbit has SOLD it to me.

Wonder who will be the first to tell her so she’ll flood her socials about it.
 
jyxz said:
Was on the fence about dipping into this, but the BRM tidbit has SOLD it to me.

Wonder who will be the first to tell her so she’ll flood her socials about it.
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It's such a short clip, and the footage is so grim, but it made me smile.
 
I've watched two episodes of this. I'm finding it very interesting, but Mr G. N. Lam was not a fan.

"Every time I think I know what it's about, it moves on to something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT." :D
 
Gangsta Nancy Lam said:
I've watched two episodes of this. I'm finding it very interesting, but Mr G. N. Lam was not a fan.

"Every time I think I know what it's about, it moves on to something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT." :D
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Conversely Mr Ag loved it. "Life is very complicated isn't it?".

Yes babe it is.
 
This was absolutely brilliant. There are sometimes things in his work I have trouble with - the way he often presents footage without contextualisation - but I thought it was really, really intelligent and really insightful.

I'm a bit of a nerd for socialist/communist history, so I loved the sections on Russia and China. What were people's fave bits/stories/ideas? @Ag?
 
Funnily enough, this morning I was catching up with my podcasts and one of them had Curtis on as a guest to talk about this - it does sound AMAZING but I'm really going to have to force myself to take the plunge, the length is still putting me off a bit :D
 
Beverley said:
This was absolutely brilliant. There are sometimes things in his work I have trouble with - the way he often presents footage without contextualisation - but I thought it was really, really intelligent and really insightful.

I'm a bit of a nerd for socialist/communist history, so I loved the sections on Russia and China. What were people's fave bits/stories/ideas? @Ag?
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I don't remember right now. I need a reminder.

The trans woman stuck with me, despite being a side plot.
 
Beverley said:
I'm a bit of a nerd for socialist/communist history, so I loved the sections on Russia and China. What were people's fave bits/stories/ideas? @Ag?
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Despite being well-versed on communist Russia, I know fuck all about China, so I found the stuff about Jiang Qing fascinating.

A failed actress becoming a communist revolutionary and then using the power of musical theatre to spread propoganda and destroy her enemies? CAMP!
 
Gangsta Nancy Lam said:
He really likes the phrase DREAM-LIKE.
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And the word STRANGE :disco:

The (yes I am going to use this word) curation of visuals and music (as usual, it’s like a ghost popped round and had a quick scan of what I like before reporting back to Herr Curtis on what I might like to see included) combined with the opportunity to learn things I didn’t previously know renders this series (and indeed all of his work) the most BREATHTAKINGLY FUCKING AMAZING THING EVER and I have generously offered Mr Curtis my hand in marriage by way of ta
 
To anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, I recommend watching one episode a week as a TREAT, much as I‘ve been tempted to binge on the whole lot in one go
 
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New Adam Curtis project lands on BBC iPlayer on Thursday 13 October

The new series of seven films - entitled Russia 1985-1999 TraumaZone: What It Felt Like to Live Through the Collapse of Communism and Democracy - will premiere exclusively on BBC iPlayer on 13 October 2022
www.bbc.co.uk

A new "immersive history" on the BBC. Sadly no STRANGE soundtrack or DREAMLIKE Curtis voiceover though.

 
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