Adam Curtis's It Felt Like A Kiss
July 24, 2009 10:57 AM   Subscribe

Adam Curtis's It Felt Like A Kiss. The whole of the experimental film (from the author of The Power of Nightmares and The Trap) which accompanied his recent show at the Manchester Festival. "When a nation is powerful it tells confident stories about the future."
posted by feelinglistless (23 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not Available in My Area.

Maybe that's just manhattan. Anyone tried the video in the boroughs?
posted by orville sash at 11:06 AM on July 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


Not available in the US...
posted by njohnson23 at 11:07 AM on July 24, 2009


But I want to be forced to face the dark forces that were veiled by the American dream!
posted by naju at 11:08 AM on July 24, 2009


Or Canada.
posted by Kevin Street at 11:08 AM on July 24, 2009


Here's the trailer. Is there any reason this is posted on the BBC site behind their license wall, or is it just because Adam Curtis already has a blog there and it's easy and he doesn't care?
posted by smackfu at 11:18 AM on July 24, 2009


The Century of the Self (also fwiw HS:STCMP 5 & 6)
posted by kliuless at 11:42 AM on July 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


On behalf of Canadians, and all other people outside the UK: Fuck you BBC!
posted by acro at 11:46 AM on July 24, 2009


You're not missing much, it's just another ironic collage
posted by A189Nut at 11:57 AM on July 24, 2009


ditto here- bunch of anti-american tossers...
posted by frankbooth at 11:57 AM on July 24, 2009


Is there any reason this is posted on the BBC site behind their license wall

Yep - it's because it was commissioned by the BBC.
posted by severalbees at 12:05 PM on July 24, 2009


So who's going to to do the needful for us non-Brits, then?
posted by aeshnid at 12:53 PM on July 24, 2009


Yep - it's because it was commissioned by the BBC.

Well that's a pretty good heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:53 PM on July 24, 2009


Does anybody know of any UK proxy servers?
Also, I haven't seen this specific piece. But dismissing Curtis' work as "just another ironic collage" or "anti-american" seems to me a rather shallow reading. Curtis' past works have drawn strongly from the british Cultural Studies approach as advanced by folks like Raymond Williams. You may not like what Curtis has to say, but the dude knows his stuff and I'd be very surprised if this film lacks the moments of insightful analysis that are present in his earlier work.
posted by Monsters at 1:51 PM on July 24, 2009


Adam Curtis is a genius.

Nice little write up here for an idea of what the piece is like.
posted by cryptozoology at 2:03 PM on July 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


This was great. Cheers
posted by dng at 2:54 PM on July 24, 2009


Exceptional. I hope it turns up somewhere everyone who wants to can see it.
posted by communicator at 3:35 PM on July 24, 2009


Let me guess it goes something like this:

After the experience of [War/Economic Collapse/Revolution] the elites at [powerful but secretive institution] decided they could use [scientific concept] as a new instrument of control over the people. However, their arrogance caused them to miss a tragic flaw in their plan, which lead to disastrous results.
posted by empath at 3:41 PM on July 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


"Is there any reason this is posted on the BBC site behind their license wall..."

Or to put it another way...

"Is there any reason this is posted on Hulu behind their license wall?"

Runs both ways, I feel.
posted by feelinglistless at 3:45 PM on July 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


You can really make an Adam Curtis documentary about anything.

The secretive administration of metafilter, discovered a new method of quality control was possible on their website -- community moderation. They thought it would start a new golden age of quality posting, but despite initially seeming to democratize moderation by putting power into thehands of everyone, the 'favorite', as it came to be known quickly became a new method of controlling the viewing patterns of the websites readers, who became victims of the subtle manipulations of the new masters of the favorite system -- the cabal.
posted by empath at 3:46 PM on July 24, 2009 [2 favorites]


You may not like what Curtis has to say, but the dude knows his stuff and I'd be very surprised if this film lacks the moments of insightful analysis that are present in his earlier work.

I am a fan of Adam Curtis because he picks interesting subjects and he does weave a good tale, but when I've done more research on what he's talking about, a lot of the connections he draws seem to be more tenuous than he makes them appear.
posted by empath at 3:56 PM on July 24, 2009


a little paranoia never hurt anyone, or so they say...
posted by kliuless at 5:54 PM on July 24, 2009




Runs both ways, I feel.

So what's good for the goose is good for the gander! Hey nonny nonny!
posted by blucevalo at 11:28 PM on July 24, 2009


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