Home
Artists
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register
Partychan Telegram ThePornDude
Home Artists Posts Import Register

Oh Bondage, Up Yours! (Patreon)

Published:
2021-08-02 02:54:15
Imported:
2022-10

Content

I've just watched episodes one through three, and I detest this. Any reason I should continue? I mean, it's just going to be the same thing over and over and over and [APHEX TWIN] over and over and [MEKONS] over again, right?

I'm open to counter-arguments, because I know I "should" finish this because it's "important." But Jesus....


Comments

Anonymous

Nah, as far as I know, there’s no eleventh-hour twist that’s gonna suddenly make Curtis palatable to someone who isn’t into his *thing*. Don’t think anyone, even Curtis die-hards (who I know you’ve run afoul of in the past!), is gonna fault you for giving this/him a chance and deciding it’s/he’s not for you.

msicism
>>64931616

I'm gonna watch one more ep. I am starting to think this guy is a bit of a fascist / white supremacist, which is why the "dirtbag left" likes him so much. The "rejection" of identity politics, to me, looks very much like a not-so-veiled attempt by the white counter-cultural power base to send women, BIPOC, queers, etc. back into Their Place. (It's as though this era of despair has convinced a certain strain of "failsons" that Leftist White Supremacism is the only move left on the board.)

Anonymous

I think the first two episodes are some of Curtis' best work, because of the focus on individual narratives. As the series goes on, it switches more to a general recap of the Big Hits of post-Cold War geopolitics (and becomes less interesting). As for the comment about white supremacy, I think what Curtis is trying to do is point to the tension of the patrician comforts of post-war social democracy with the legacies of slavery/colonialism that financed it. To me, he's trying to resolve both a nostalgia for and a critique of the high period of the British welfare state. Beyond that, it's pretty clear he views identity politics and neoliberalism as both failed reactions to social democracy - I think the cynicism that he brings is worth criticizing itself, of course. If you're going to watch one more episode, make it number five which touches on the importance of the slave trade and the Opium Wars into British identity, plus on anti-black violence in early 20th C America. Maybe it won't change your mind, but it does seem relevant to your criticism. And to Curtis' credit, when he was on Red Scare recently, he did defend the 2020 BLM protests as being the sort of social solidarity he advocates for (doing this to the chagrin of the hosts).

Anonymous

Straight up garbage imo but I only lasted 20 minutes.

Anonymous

He's plainly not a fascist or a white supremacist, he's just another disillusioned boomer leftist aesthete, like T.J. Clark with drastically less rigorous thinking. Anyway, this is the best defense I can imagine the new series getting: https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/all-eyez-on-me-adam-curtis-s-can-t-get-you-out-of-my-head

Anonymous
>>64931616

I'm not convinced his intentions are nefarious, exactly—the anti-imperialist/anti-interventionist angle of films like Bitter Lake seems too sincere for the guy to truly be the neocon he's painted himself as. (Though I'm certainly not convinced he's the progressive he's <i>also</i> painted himself as.) But I do think, like the politically esoteric aesthetes of the past, the malleability of his way of thinking could easily be hijacked by much worse actors. At what point does his concept of "simplified narratives", vulnerable to the whims of the powerful people pushing them, become a simplified narrative of its own?

msicism
>>64970396

No, you're right. Being a fascist would mean Curtis actually cared about something. ("Say what you will about National Socialism, but at least it's an ethos.") The fact that he is so fascinated by Limonov and the NatBols proves he thinks collective action is the aim, no matter where it's headed. As Will Ferrell said, "Nobody knows [what it means], it's provocative, it gets the people going!"