dis empowering individualism and catastrophic grand narratives

[Leigh Blackall]

no climate scientist or counter claiming geologist has been able to explain my world better than the sociologist and BBC documentarian Adam Curtis

his new film will be out soon, but in the meantime, this report in the guardian should wett the appetite

A new grand narrative will emerge, Curtis believes, admitting he is an optimist. But perhaps there is another aspect to our predicament. That the new grand narrative has already emerged and it is one of environmental catastrophe. Perhaps this reinforces the sense of political paralysis. That the only grand narrative on offer is so terrifying – of a world rapidly running out of the natural resources required to sustain extravagant lifestyles and burgeoning population – that it disables rather than empowers us to achieve political change. Terrified, we retreat into private stories of transformation – cosmetic surgery, makeovers of home and person – because we see no collective story of transformation we can believe in.

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Leigh Blackall
+64(0)21736539
skype - leigh_blackall
SL - Leroy Goalpost
http://leighblackall.blogspot.com

[William Lucas]

HI Leigh

Haven't heard of him, but did a quick search.  Here is an interview with him at http://kpfa.org/archive/id/50107 THe interview starts 6.20 into the podcast. Will listen to this on and ooff during the day.

Cheers

William

2009/7/12 Leigh Blackall <leighb...@gmail.com>

[leighb...@gmail.com]

Hi William,

I'm pretty sure you have heard of Adam Curtis because I recall us talking about one of his documentaries.. maybe it was The Century of the Self or The Trap? Both are on Google Video last I looked.

[William Lucas]

You are right :-)

2009/7/16 <leighb...@gmail.com>

[leighb...@gmail.com]

It was interesting listening to that audio sample from the doco.. it works just as well hey! If not better.. the only thing it looses is the impact of the images, such as the actual interviews with such high profile people. If Curtis is a conspiracy theorist, then the BBC must be as well, not to mention all the people he gets to sit for interviews.