Orwell Rolls In His Grave

The documentary Orwell Rolls in His Grave features interviews with a variety of experts, journalists, and politicians who comment on the flagging state of affairs in the media news industry. The main thrust to this documentary is simply that the major news outlets, because of their deeply interdependent relationships with both big business and government, are failing in their prime responsibility as public watch dog. As more and more radio, television, and news paper outlets are bought up by fewer and fewer companies, journalism becomes an exercise in political spin and big business cheer leader.

The documentary is done very well, features a bevy of articulate, interesting interviews, and is definitely worth a watch.

Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

Neil and I just watched Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media yesterday and it was very good and definitely worth the time (it runs about three hours). Mostly what Chomsky aruges is a fairly standard structural approach which leans heavily on Marx and Althusser: Marx for the economic critique and Althusser for the ideological one. Mostly, what Chomsky does is to argue how institutions mask reality by feeding the public watered-down or more pleasurable instances of events so that the public remains diverted. A democracy must deceive in this way because (in theory at least) political decisions must be made with public approval. A dictator just goes to war. A president must "manufacture consent" and this requires sophisticated and deceptive methods. Although this doc was produced in 1992, it has obvious applications for today.

Chomsky takes a specific intance in the media, that of East Timor, and aruges that the media downplays this particular instance of genocide for the more poltically favorable Cambodia.

I think there can be obvious parrallels with how big business affects and produces desire in certain products and convinces us to favor some over others. It also makes me think about the line in Brave New World: "ending is better than mending." Big Business doesn't necessarily want us to be independent. They want us in a circle of consumption, endlessly toiling on the wheel like rodents, always diverted and never independent, locked into this prison of consumerism.

Documentaries

If you're anything like Jen and me, you love Netflix because of their documentary selection! We just recently subscribed and we have been working our way through. I've posted a few that we think are particularly relevent to our plans and our rationale for making the kinds of decisions we're making. Mostly, if you read alot of Harper's (especially Lewis Lapham) and the Utne Reader, you're already informed, but these documentaries are good for their entertainment value and work as a refresher!

The End of Suburbia
This gives a good history of our dependence on oil and what will happen to those who are still living high on the hog in a consumer lifestyle. It is a critique of consumerism and the suburbs.

Who Killed the Electric Car?
This doc examines the heterogenous forces which caused the electric car to go belly up in the seventies. Discusses how big oil manipulates the market to keep our dependence high.

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
Another good doc about peak oil theory: what this means and what are the consequences.

Maxed Out and In Debt We Trust
These two work well together as a critique of how companies encourage debt in the consumer and how they take advantage of those who need money. Maxed Out focuses on the debt collections business and In Debt We Trust is more historical.

The Corporation
This documentary discusses how the corporation begins as a chartered organization for the public good and tracks how it develops into a capitalist leviathan with rights and a personality all of its own.

The Big One
One of Michael Moore's docs which would be a good pairing with The Corporation. This one is funnier as you watch Moore torment PR staff in the lobbies of their companies.

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers
Corruption 101. Shows how big business affects how and why we make war.

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Shows how Fox News is a puppet station with a specific political agenda. A good doc which shows how big business affects journalism.

The Persuaders: Frontline
This is a great documentary about the business of advertising and how big business convinces us to buy the things we don't need.