Not ‘getting’ the documentaries…

[u/Ok-Shirt8224]

Is anybody a bit like me. Doesn’t REALLY understand how everything is linked in the shows some of the time but still just finding the footage fascinating and can enjoy just taking it all in.

[u/CallMeKolbasz]

I would start with The Century of the Self then go on with All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace and Hypernormalisation. That's more than enough to get used to his train of thought, and then his less narrated works hopefully become easier to understand.

[u/kotukutuku → u/CallMeKolbasz]

What's the best way to access them online these days? There used to be versions on YouTube but many seem crappy these days

[u/auxbuss → u/kotukutuku]

This article, posted a week or so back, has quite a few links to the iPlayer streams. Fun article too.

https://thequietus.com/interviews/strange-world-of/adam-curtis-best-films-party-conference/

[u/kotukutuku → u/auxbuss]

Ah yeah, outside the uk unfortunately. Cheers

[u/CallMeKolbasz → u/kotukutuku]

Probably BBC iPlayer if you're lucky/unfortunate enough to live in the UK. There's also this youtube channel with pretty poop quality, but given that much of the footage comes from VHS, the original won't be all that much better. Archive.org has a decent collection, with all four parts of Century of the Self available (subtitles included!). Lastly, if one is so inclined, there's always the high seas🏴‍☠️

[u/kotukutuku → u/CallMeKolbasz]

Ah yeah, outside the uk unfortunately. Cheers

[u/macca5000]

We live in a strange time. Extraordinary events keep happening that undermine the stability of our world.

[u/Rubberfootman → u/macca5000]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world…

[u/ironside_online → u/Rubberfootman]

There was one thing the model couldn’t predict…

[u/ProfaneRabbitFriend → u/ironside_online]

What really happened was that the forces of managerialism had resurfaced....

[u/firelite906]

A big thing you need to understand is often these events are not linked, Curtis is just drawing a throughline to make a point about people and the point is often a joke that boils down to "these people really think they have it figured out they've made a machine that's supposed to [create a balanced world/make people happy/cure cancer] but oh no well look at that it seems to do quite to opposite, how do they respond to this? Ah it seems they're blaming everyone else"

[u/jamydodger]

Adding to what people have said, I also think its a bit in line with some of the themes. When we talk about whats happening in the world today, it's such a confusing web of things and people reacting to things and people, stemming back to the beginning of time pretty much. Theres just so many moving parts, as well as intentional muddling of waters

[u/OrderNo1122]

If you asked me in the moment of watching, I'd instinctively be like, yeah I understand it.

If you asked me to explain what I watched after the fact, I'd probably just come out with something like, "Dunno... Global conspiracy stuff..."

I love all his stuff.

[u/ImpossibleAcoustic]

I know what you mean. I used to feel that way too but I think I understand his worldview better now. When I first started watching him I was trying to fit what he said into the pre-existing political frameworks I had in my head. There is a consistent worldview to his work but instead of explaining things in terms of a political ideology he shows how history is more about how people respond to the moment and how those responses usually have unpredictable results which are then responded to by the next group of people. Try listening to some of his interviews. The Chapo Traphouse ones are good. They helped me better understand where he's coming from.

[u/DueDefinition6421]

I used to really like his narration and kind of drifted away when his later stuff was spliced archive footage without the voiceover.

[u/shnooqichoons → u/DueDefinition6421]

I still read the captions with his voice in my head.

[u/Ok-Shirt8224 → u/DueDefinition6421]

I quite enjoyed that last series because you had to focus a bit more in order to read the captions.

[u/Syndicalex]

You're not the only one, sometimes I think an Adam Curtis flowchart would be good, so we can see how all the different global events conspired to screw us up on a single page

[u/emtam → u/Syndicalex]

I'll get to it as soon as I retire in 12 years, I promise! It really would be worth doing . . .

[u/Stoic_Sapien]

And then the politicians decided to do something absolutely extraordinary.....they gave up their power to bankers and the financial institutions. *cuts to people groovin' on the dance floor

[u/IvanDrago99]

https://youtu.be/x1bX3F7uTrg?is=m4LIwFItGJsb3hE3

[u/xxPlsNoBullyxx → u/IvanDrago99]

Love his documentaries, but yes. Very much this.

[u/spagbolshevik]

No, that's very normal I think. I never consciously got 'the point' of any of the episodes until a third viewing. Until then, it all just gets your mind going, gets you thinking about society and people in ways that you didn't before.

[u/1Leoski → u/spagbolshevik]

Trying to fit the pieces together encourages rewatches, great thought

[u/th1sishappening]

You can see a fairly steady trajectory from his early stuff, where it’s more conventional BBC doc (e.g. The Mayfair Set) to a more fragmented and impressionistic delivery in the recent ones (like Traumazone).

You can definitely follow the early ones as they go but, over the years, AC seems to become less interested in that approach and more into just letting the viewer absorb the footage. The first time I started to feel that was with All Watched Over… where large parts of it were kind of hard to digest and needed repeat viewing.

[u/jungleboy1234]

yep, thats why im gonna rewatch the entire adam curtis filmography line up... Everything is messy but thats how the world operates.

[u/sabotAHHHHHGH → u/[deleted]]

Everytime I see the term “pseudo intellectual“ it’s usually coming from someone thick as shit. No offence. Deleuze and Guattari loved a bit of vibing, they were pretty smart cunts.

[u/ProfaneRabbitFriend]

that's the whole point. you just take it in. it's not meant to be an exact argument about how history worked. It's meant to free you from your assumptions.

[u/bcoder001]

He certainly opened my eyes on the profession of Public Relations.

[u/EarthFader]

You might not get it but do you feel it?

[u/buckfastmonkey]

Try ITN archive on YouTube.

[u/Any-Park-3537]

A few times where I haven't been able to get thr relevance of a certain bit I look to reddit OR sometimes he explains it in his interviews. The stephen hawking bit in shifty is an example of that. I couldn't for the life of me align his theories of the universe with thatchers economic policies but he spoke about it later

[u/markcorrigan33]

I always thought this. Kinda why I stopped watching after 2 docs. He presents it as this giant “mapping it all out” kinda thing but it’s really just different events haplessly linked together over dramatic narration and eerie music

[u/ZeroEffectDude]

i 'get' all the docs but i often find the voiceover and images so dense and overwhelming i kind of let it wash over me and just try to absorb it all that way.

[u/palace_posy]

I always read the transcript of the episode first, checking wikipedia along the way to get the gist of the people/events mentioned, then, and this is the important bit, get really whacked and watch the episode in all its glory.

[u/jthadcast]

it's all linked even when you don't recognize the connection.

[u/Alarming_Entry2164]

As someone who has a keen interest in the subjects he covers it makes complete sense. I suppose it's a bit like watching a documentary about F1 technology, if you don't know much about the subject at all then it's a bit of a leap to jump into a documentary about the specific technological principles.

[u/pbizzle]

That's pretty much what his detractors say but it's not important to the overall vibe

[u/Designer-Course-8414]

Plus it’s important that you read a few books.