[Adam] Curtis New Documentary All Watched Over by Machines ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks for that vinteuil a very helpful perspective on the seduction of Curtis .... and yet the niggling thought that he is on to something does persist ... the Bernays/Strauss/Nash/Rand ideas were and are internalised and used for their congeniality and potency by elites in liberal democracies ... but the history is selective eh .... the greater evils of fascism/zealotry/maoism etc are not considered .... it is the somewhat less than implicit attribution of evil ends to the liberal elite that may be problematic, what if they are well intentioned but incompetent? ... in the awful words of Jack Nicholson's character maybe this is as good as it gets ... i confess that i do not think that the masters of Wall St or The City are anything other than clever scheming and greedy persons who care little in their dealings for people, and who may well go home and give millions to good causes .... where Curtis helps us is in challenging that sense of inevitable rightness that the elite wish us to yield to ...pace Osborne and cuts ...whilst they shovel cash to their hinterland of chums and families ...

[Serial_Apologist]

it is the somewhat less than implicit attribution of evil ends to the liberal elite that may be problematic, what if they are well intentioned but incompetent?

But was Curtis aiming at the "liberal elite"? Perhaps I should re-watch the doc.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well in the sense of the neo cons and masters of capital being 'liberal' yes i think he was ...

[Serial_Apologist]

Ah.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

3rd instalment left me wondering quite what Curtis thinks he is on about, imperialism, racism, gorillas and the calculus of altruism ...doesn't he appreciate nutty professors, has no one told him creative minds can be very fruitcake ....

[Boilk]

3rd instalment left me wondering quite what Curtis thinks he is on about, imperialism, racism, gorillas and the calculus of altruism ...doesn't he appreciate nutty professors, has no one told him creative minds can be very fruitcake ....

These three AWOBMOLG documentaries went progressively from brilliant to hit-and-miss. I've watched the first one three times now - and am looking for excuses not to take on the mighty tome Atlas Shrugged. The best one so far seems to be to watch the 90-minute part 1 of the movie (with a pinch of salt) which has conveniently just been released

[Serial_Apologist]

I really enjoyed part 1 of the 3, and had to miss parts 2 & 3. Wonder if it will be put on again.

[Boilk]

I really enjoyed part 1 of the 3, and had to miss parts 2 & 3. Wonder if it will be put on again.

They're already on YouTube, but I'm sure will be repeated.

[Serial_Apologist]

They're already on YouTube, but I'm sure will be repeated.

[hackneyvi]

3rd instalment left me wondering quite what Curtis thinks he is on about, imperialism, racism, gorillas and the calculus of altruism ...doesn't he appreciate nutty professors, has no one told him creative minds can be very fruitcake ....

I struggled to understand what point he wished to make by the series as a whole.

Did anyone else wonder if Curtis was in agreement about the 'degeneration' of the human race?

It was well worth watching, though, for the magnificent comedy value in Ayn Rand. A lonely, unloved, socially incompetent person develops and propogates a philosophy. The philosophy represents as a choice, her own neurotic incapacity to escape from loneliness and she calls this misery 'Heroic'.

Poor fool.

[Boilk]

I'm not sure of the changing circumstances of her 50-year marriage to Frank O'Connor, but if there was loneliness it probably stemmed from the fact that she was unable to find a man whom she considered intellectually her equal, or higher (hence the–ultimately doomed–affair with Nathaniel Branden). In that era, when a "woman's place" was effectively as homemaker or menial shop/office clerk, any woman propogating a new social order with such articulateness as found in Atlas Shrugged would have had the usual prospective suitors running a mile.

And that's quite apart from the neurotic anti-Russian sentiment in post-War America, which wouldn't have warmed many to her. At least they couldn't pin Communist sympathiser on her!

[Dave2002]

They're already on YouTube, but I'm sure will be repeated.

Is download mode (iPlayer) available for this? The series still seems to be available for 1 day by streaming (all episodes). I've not checked download - which is not available for iPads, but there may be downloads available for Macs or PCs in which case you'll get longer to watch.