Ben Woodhams
15 HN recommenders · recommended in 16 months, 2012–2026
2:58 · 418K views · Jun 17, 2011
A three-minute parody of Adam Curtis's documentary style, assembled from archive footage with his typical narration and leaps of logic.
Recommended as the standard companion to any Adam Curtis film, since it lampoons the style and gives reasons to take his claims with skepticism.
20 comments from Hacker News
You should always acompany this documentary with a watch of this short little video. The Loving Trap ( this video ). It mocks adam curtis style while making some very good points.
Yes. I disagree with most of his points of view. Some of his statements are outright incorrect and a majority are at least questionable or wanting for references. In _The Trap_ he constantly uses the phrase "based on numbers" in a negative fashion, as if it were an inferior method of analysis. I find that particularly strange considering that if you just listen to his narrative without the images, there is no analysis and often no cogent argument. One argument, if I remember correctly, was that game theory should no longer be used as a tool because it was largely developed during the cold war, which is over now. And yet I'm utterly I'm fascinated by his movies. I probably (re)watch one every 2 months. Go figure. edit: You can't miss this parody: this video
> this video LOL! I had paused Hypernormilzation on the mid point when it got to AI and the picture of the screen was a one of these guys [0] and I just had it that way and kind of wondered why I prefer to just hear his work as as podcast as I do other stuff rather than hyper focus on the screen. This explains my latent feelings of the absurdity on screen rather well. His documentaries have so much exposition that you can kind of look up the topics on your own as you go along to try and compare and contrast the facts as they're narrated, his work is probably my first foray with interactive TV. 0: [LINK]
That's his whole thing. His films typically come in three or four 60 minute sections. He occasionally does stuff like stage live action interactive theatre versions of his documentaries in abandoned warehouses. He once did a show with Massive Attack. So when he writes articles like this, it's him being restrained. See the following brilliantly observed parody for the reasons to take him with a pinch of salt: this video That said, he is one of my intellectual idols, however much he does enjoy gimmickry.
Why do you think its a joke? it seems you agree with me? Sure brits love to get drunk but their politics always seemed reasonable to me. I love the different subcultures the UK birthed and its heartbreaking how bad things are and are still going to get in the coming century. Downvote me if you must, wont change my personal (albeit uninformed) feelings. As for Adam Curtis i enjoy his work but this parody hits it on the nail: this video