The Century of SelfASTU/ Feb 2008

Individual & Society

‘Democracy’

"Democracy"

It's coming through a hole in the air,from those nights in Tiananmen Square.It's coming from the feelthat this ain't exactly real,or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.From the wars against disorder,from the sirens night and day,from the fires of the homeless,from the ashes of the gay:Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming through a crack in the wall;on a visionary flood of alcohol;from the staggering accountof the Sermon on the Mountwhich I don't pretend to understand at all.It's coming from the silenceon the dock of the bay,from the brave, the bold, the batteredheart of Chevrolet:Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,the holy places where the races meet;from the homicidal bitchin'that goes down in every kitchento determine who will serve and who will eat.From the wells of disappointmentwhere the women kneel to prayfor the grace of God in the desert hereand the desert far away:Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail onO mighty Ship of State!To the Shores of NeedPast the Reefs of GreedThrough the Squalls of HateSail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,the cradle of the best and of the worst.It's here they got the rangeand the machinery for changeand it's here they got the spiritual thirst.It's here the family's brokenand it's here the lonely saythat the heart has got to openin a fundamental way:Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.O baby, we'll be making love again.We'll be going down so deepthe river's going to weep,and the mountain's going to shout Amen!It's coming like the tidal floodbeneath the lunar sway,imperial, mysterious,in amorous array:Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I meanI love the country but I can't stand the scene.And I'm neither left or rightI'm just staying home tonight,getting lost in that hopeless little screen.But I'm stubborn as those garbage bagsthat Time cannot decay,I'm junk but I'm still holding upthis little wild bouquet:Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Getting the ‘Gist’The Happiness Machine

1920’s

•‘mass democracy’ & ‘mass production’

•Using Freud’s theories to manipulate the masses through their desires

•PR: social taboos broken through symbols

•remember, symbols speak to our sub-conscience ... (Jung’s archetypes)

•Public Relations Spin: ‘democratic duty to consume.’

•Why? - Consumers are happy/docile citizens easy to rule

- Happy consumers = happy producers

1929: Market crashes:

• Hitler - an alternative to democracy: total gov’t control of business/ leisure & mass patriotism

• Roosevelt - a new strengthened democracy; no more ‘free market’ and individual freedoms

•1936: Barneys seems to win the “ideological battle to connect the idea of democracy with free enterprise: “free market capitalism”

Gist: According to Curtis, in the early 20th century, along with the popularity of Freudian theories about the dangerous inner forces of humanity and his technique of psycho-analysis to discover and quiet our inner irrational fears, there was a growing concern about ‘mass democracy’ among intellectuals and academics on one hand, and on the other hand -- big business was concerned about the sustainability of ‘mass production.’ Enter Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, who reinvents propaganda USA style, renames it “PR,’ crafts his techniques for manipulating the ‘minds’ of the masses using his Uncle’s theories, and sells his craft to both big business and government. The result is, Curtis seems to say, that in the minds of the masses, democracy (and happiness) is symbolically linked with the duty to consume and ultimately free enterprise -- the idea being that you can not have democracy without a free market. And so begins, on the eve of WW11, what Curtis calls the ideology of ‘free market capitalism’ and at the same time, the seeds of the ‘all-consuming self’ are planted through the clever manipulations of people’s desires by advertisers and political campaigners.

Getting the ‘Gist’The Happiness Machine

Reading Documentary• What are the visual/audio elements

of documentary that we want to read?

• music

• composition

• colour/light

• transitions

• Setting

: genre/ associations, mood, tempo

: camera angle, arrangement, symbolic associations, details

: angle, mood, associations, movement, realism/abstract

: pacing, rhythm, ‘the scene between scenes’

: Exterior/interior, formal/informal, action packed/still motion

PART FOUR: 8 PEOPLE SIPPING WINE IN KETTERING

* Th rise of the self: takes over politics - a new and better form of democracy * Sell by linking to symbolic desires - products will stroke/respond to deep emotional feelings * By the 1980's Freud's theories had come of age -- nearly 100 years * Thatcher: a 'free economy' -- on which all other freedoms depend * Regan: Makes it O.K. to blame the poor for their poverty etc ... * * [2751] - listen to the music/ image: coffin? * Clinton: The forgotten middle class -- look for swing voters -- to respond to deep desires * Deficit: 300 billion dollars * [3354] - music under Newt Ginich * Dick Morris: to win must transform the nature of politics * Forget ideology and turn politics into a consumer business -- identify personal desires and whims and promise to fulfill them * "bring to the political system the same consumer rules that the business community uses: lifestyle * marketing enters politics * [3840] camera angle -- spying into peoples homes? * The focus group as a way of hearing what people want -- the end of elitist politics? * 1939 Barneys: the consumerist democracy * consumerism gives people the illusion of control -- "we, like the politicians have become slaves of our own desires" * Two Views of human nature/ 2 views of democracy 1, People are rational - governments job is to lead rational people - to engage rational people in debate about what is best for society 2. People are irrational - Free market leads the people - business responds to people's irrational desires and keeps them docile so gov't can be run by big business.

8 People Sipping Wine in KetteringPart Four of

The Century of Selfa BBC series written by

Adam Curtis Released 2002

Your Summary

* To capture the gist of this documentary with summary and images

* To relate the gist of the documentary to your reflections on our society with commentary and images.

* To ask intelligent questions about the genre of documentary and to offer some observations on how the genre of documentary works as a medium for presenting scholarly research and theories.

* To analyze your intended audience and write an introduction that will engage and satisfy the expectations of that particular audience. I suggest you write up a context analysis

You have 4 objectives:

I have three criteria for evaluation

1. I am most concerned with seeing you develop your critical thinking skills, and accordingly I expect you to spend time thinking critically about the gist of this documentary series in context with our society today and your own values.

2. I am equally concerned to see you develop your writing skills and accordingly I expect you to compose a succinct and interesting summary of what you find to be the most interesting themes of the documentary series.

3. And, my final concern is to see you further develop your visual literacy skills, accordingly I expect you to select your images carefully, analyzing how your audience will read the images.

See my guidelines as well

Your Summary will include:

• A title that captures the gist of your summary

• An introduction that expresses your perspective on the documentary

• Four paragraphs that capture the gist of each part of the documentary

• A conclusion that returns to your introduction and discusses some aspects of the documentary in terms of visual and audio techniques that work to persuade the audience to see the issues from the film makers point of view.