There has been a Curtis backlash and I'm inpatient with it. I'm impatient with the philistinism of career leftists.I'm impatient with their need for simple storylines, for heroes and villains, noble sacrifices, noble savages, noble proles and a moral at the end of every story.
Every man and woman a self-apppointed party whip. Stick to the Script. Toe the Party Line. Denounce first ask questions later. There's a Revolution to Foment.
None of us, no matter what level of security clearance we have, know what is going on in the world. Cause and effect is not simple. It's not a mechanical process that can be mapped out in an easy to follow timeline. Chaos lies under the surface. People's motivations are not clearcut and one dimensional. Our motives are murky, even to ourselves. State and non state actors lie, obfuscate, deal in disinformation and misdirection until they tie even themselves in knots. Sorting the truth from fiction is a game of educated guesswork.
Stories are constructed by cherrypicking motes of data from a swirling dust storm, and joining them together. The truth of these stories can only ever be partial at best. Í got too drunk that night becasue my girlfriend said something mean to me and I felt sad' 'Terrorism is caused by Western Imperialism/The words of the Holy Koran'
Adam Curtis is not attempting to enter his own Overarching Explanation in the Grand Prize Draw, he is demonstrating how large the dust storm is, and how many motes of dust are caught up in it, and correspondingly, how many stories there are to be told.
His films say, the explanations you have been fed are too pat. One dimensional. Monocausal. The actor flashing his pearly whites on the red carpet was not the real star of the show. Here are just a few of the other characters and events which gave shape to history.
That approach is not for the literal minded. It is playful and yet it has a serious intent. Philistines like their Art with the ambiguity taken out. They resent Curtis. He is having fun. He is having a laugh and worst of all he is nobodys True Believer. He is an agnostic and he makes films which preach the gospel of Agnosticism. That is why they are useful.