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Shifty is absolutely brilliant. Dark, deeply unsettling and eerie but if you want to understand how we got here it's bang on the money.Very funny too in places!
All his stuff is so good. He's a genius.
On iPlayer.
[Post edited 18 Jun 13:33]
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Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 13:56 - Jun 18 with 978 views
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 13:56 - Jun 18 by Steve_M
He's not a genius, he weaves together disparate elements to create an increasingly less plausible narrative by the film.
It's superficially plausible, or at least his earlier stuff was, but doesn't really stand up to proper scrutiny.
That's often the angle some critics take but I completely disagree. It's a different form of documentary making but in the parallels, echoes, contrasts, oppositions he finds a very convincing argument.
His thesis is becoming unarguably true as time goes on. I think Shifty is his best work.
What doesn't stand up to scrutiny?
It's also so refreshing to have intelligent programme making that demands that V the viewer do some work and thinking as they watch.
1
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 14:54 - Jun 18 with 842 views
at 3 minutes it claims that thatcher was behind in the 1979 election campaign until she made a speech in birmingham attacking immigration. 'immediately she took the lead in the polls' the caption then reads.
that speech was on 19th april. marplan poll on 18th april had her 10 points in the lead and that matched the average across all polls at that date. that was about 6 points less than her biggest lead about a month earlier. from then on her poll lead continued to decline until polling day.
it's a blatant error or intentional distortion.
And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show
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Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 15:41 - Jun 18 with 741 views
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 14:54 - Jun 18 by lowhouseblue
started watching it.
at 3 minutes it claims that thatcher was behind in the 1979 election campaign until she made a speech in birmingham attacking immigration. 'immediately she took the lead in the polls' the caption then reads.
that speech was on 19th april. marplan poll on 18th april had her 10 points in the lead and that matched the average across all polls at that date. that was about 6 points less than her biggest lead about a month earlier. from then on her poll lead continued to decline until polling day.
it's a blatant error or intentional distortion.
I think the issue with Curtis is, and it speaks to this point, is that because it's presented on TV and it uses archive footage it's presumed to be a documentary. It isn't, and therefore shouldn't really be held to the same criteria.
I've always considered him more akin to a visual artist, he uses methodologies and aesthetics used in contemporary art and the works would be very compatible in any modern art gallery setting, whether as a multi screen or single screen presentation. But he is presenting it on domestic screens where most people are used to reading such output as documentary, but it's really an art work I think.
On that point you make re the speech, she did make a speech of similar language to that used when she was ten points behind, I've read, and it did start the switch. That specific footage wasn't that speech, and this would matter if it was a documentary, but as a visual and sonic landscape that seeks to present mood, montage and have a narrative of aesthetic form more than academic, it works just fine for my critique as a cultural critic.
I've not liked all his work, but am half way through Shifty and I'm very on board - though this may possibly be just because he's exploring the landscapes I remember and we all still live in today, so it has a sense on nostalgia and personal interest in where previous offers haven't for me.
[Post edited 18 Jun 15:43]
1
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 16:00 - Jun 18 with 676 views
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 15:41 - Jun 18 by urbanpenguin
I think the issue with Curtis is, and it speaks to this point, is that because it's presented on TV and it uses archive footage it's presumed to be a documentary. It isn't, and therefore shouldn't really be held to the same criteria.
I've always considered him more akin to a visual artist, he uses methodologies and aesthetics used in contemporary art and the works would be very compatible in any modern art gallery setting, whether as a multi screen or single screen presentation. But he is presenting it on domestic screens where most people are used to reading such output as documentary, but it's really an art work I think.
On that point you make re the speech, she did make a speech of similar language to that used when she was ten points behind, I've read, and it did start the switch. That specific footage wasn't that speech, and this would matter if it was a documentary, but as a visual and sonic landscape that seeks to present mood, montage and have a narrative of aesthetic form more than academic, it works just fine for my critique as a cultural critic.
I've not liked all his work, but am half way through Shifty and I'm very on board - though this may possibly be just because he's exploring the landscapes I remember and we all still live in today, so it has a sense on nostalgia and personal interest in where previous offers haven't for me.
[Post edited 18 Jun 15:43]
having now watched about 30 minutes, it may be art but jezz it's ponderous, simplistic and obvious.
there wasn't any point from 1975 onwards when the tories were 10 points behind. they were briefly behind by approx a point at the end of '77 and again by a about a point at the end of '78. that's poll of polls data. from dec '78 onwards the tories had a substantial lead peaking at about 16% in mar '79. callaghan lost the vote of confidence on 28th march. so you would need to provide a link to a specific speech that caused any switch, because the polls don't indicate any switch at all. can a cultural critique really be based on blatant distortion? i get that you need to go with the flow to reveal some bigger picture .... but.
the trouble is that a blatant distortion after 3 minutes makes it obvious that it's going to be very slanted. someone else could select different video clips to present a complete different and equally slanted version of the uk in 1979, and i don't see why his carries any great credibility or insight.
And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show
0
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 16:00 - Jun 18 with 674 views
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 14:00 - Jun 18 by jasondozzell
That's often the angle some critics take but I completely disagree. It's a different form of documentary making but in the parallels, echoes, contrasts, oppositions he finds a very convincing argument.
His thesis is becoming unarguably true as time goes on. I think Shifty is his best work.
What doesn't stand up to scrutiny?
It's also so refreshing to have intelligent programme making that demands that V the viewer do some work and thinking as they watch.
Nope, Werner Herzog makes documentaries. Adam Curtis makes political films from old tapes in the archives.
0
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 16:26 - Jun 18 with 554 views
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 16:00 - Jun 18 by lowhouseblue
having now watched about 30 minutes, it may be art but jezz it's ponderous, simplistic and obvious.
there wasn't any point from 1975 onwards when the tories were 10 points behind. they were briefly behind by approx a point at the end of '77 and again by a about a point at the end of '78. that's poll of polls data. from dec '78 onwards the tories had a substantial lead peaking at about 16% in mar '79. callaghan lost the vote of confidence on 28th march. so you would need to provide a link to a specific speech that caused any switch, because the polls don't indicate any switch at all. can a cultural critique really be based on blatant distortion? i get that you need to go with the flow to reveal some bigger picture .... but.
the trouble is that a blatant distortion after 3 minutes makes it obvious that it's going to be very slanted. someone else could select different video clips to present a complete different and equally slanted version of the uk in 1979, and i don't see why his carries any great credibility or insight.
Well, one critique I've had of Curtis' work, and still do, is that the BBC entrust him and him alone to engage with the archive in this way. I would love to see it opened up every year to ten artists if different disciplines to engage in their own way. I like Curtis, but there are no surprises any more (in content or aesthetic) and as you say it becomes the Adam Curtis show where in other hands all kinds of ways of engaging with history, media, archive, politics, sound etc could be genuinely enlightening culturally.
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Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 16:28 - Jun 18 with 535 views
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 15:41 - Jun 18 by urbanpenguin
I think the issue with Curtis is, and it speaks to this point, is that because it's presented on TV and it uses archive footage it's presumed to be a documentary. It isn't, and therefore shouldn't really be held to the same criteria.
I've always considered him more akin to a visual artist, he uses methodologies and aesthetics used in contemporary art and the works would be very compatible in any modern art gallery setting, whether as a multi screen or single screen presentation. But he is presenting it on domestic screens where most people are used to reading such output as documentary, but it's really an art work I think.
On that point you make re the speech, she did make a speech of similar language to that used when she was ten points behind, I've read, and it did start the switch. That specific footage wasn't that speech, and this would matter if it was a documentary, but as a visual and sonic landscape that seeks to present mood, montage and have a narrative of aesthetic form more than academic, it works just fine for my critique as a cultural critic.
I've not liked all his work, but am half way through Shifty and I'm very on board - though this may possibly be just because he's exploring the landscapes I remember and we all still live in today, so it has a sense on nostalgia and personal interest in where previous offers haven't for me.
[Post edited 18 Jun 15:43]
Yes, it's definitely art and he's an artist. Agree with that.
But the modern instinct that art can't say anything as serious or objective in the fashion of a documentary is interesting.
I think everything he's done has been proven correct as time passes. Shifty's argument is compelling.
What comes next?
0
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 19:04 - Jun 18 with 355 views
Any other Adam Curtis fans? on 16:40 - Jun 18 by jasondozzell
Yes, it's definitely art and he's an artist. Agree with that.
But the modern instinct that art can't say anything as serious or objective in the fashion of a documentary is interesting.
I think everything he's done has been proven correct as time passes. Shifty's argument is compelling.
What comes next?
Oh, i didn't mean to imply that. I love documentary as a medium. But i also love artfilm as a medium (and have made some) and kind of also sit between worlds as i teach academic (documentorial, if you wish) writing but preach creative practice (artfilm) as some of my jobs.
TV documentary is fab, though i wish the discipline was as good as it was in the 1960s-90s, but artfilm is not documentary, and while the Venn overlaps they are different beasts with different intentions and methodoligies. And when Curtis does it on TV, it deliberately confuses that Venn even more.
I am here for it, though not loved all his work and found it treading water for the last few, but I am still a fan of documentary and it very much has a place.
And - as an artist, art critic, tutor, and sometimes maker - i do think (and hope) that art can say things as serious and meaningful as documentary, that also wasn't my intent. It is just a very different mode of communication, it isn't documentary, it isn't political lobbying, it isn't academic essay, it's not architectural research, it's not community engagement. Yet, it's often shorthanded into all these, and more, and sometimes appears to have lost power from the outside as it doesn't do any one of them perfectly well. But, yeah, I spend most of my week writing about how art can do these in its own way.
What comes next? I think we are seeing it with TikTok, Reels and the like. Not that I like all (most) of it, but it deals with archive, referencing, juxtaposition, montage, edit, and rhythm way better than Curtis can. Though it struggles with anything over 40 seconds...
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