A community in transition to a low carbon, sustainable, resilient life.
The Age of Stupid
http://www.ageofstupid.net/
In the face of the huge wave of support for the film the Age of Stupid I am not a supporter of it. Quite the opposite in fact.
I saw a mostly completed version last year (and several tasters before that) and for me it does all the things that we say has been wrong about the environmental approach to date. Even the title of the film.
The film presents an apocalyptic vision of the future where all but a few humans have survived wondering why we didn't avert climate catastrophe when we say it coming. I found the film dis-empowering and defeatist and not a motivator to action.
We paint this apocalyptic picture of the future and somehow expect that will motivate people to do something. The risk is that they will conclude that the task is too great as we live in an age of stupid so why bother and let's party like it is the end of the world.
It would have been so different if it had presented that disaster vision perhaps as a dream with the second part showing the dreamer waking up to a world where we had made the changes and how we had done it.
There are so many films of apocalypse and so few of hope for the future.
In the face of the huge wave of support for the film the Age of Stupid I am not a supporter of it. Quite the opposite in fact.
I saw a mostly completed version last year (and several tasters before that) and for me it does all the things that we say has been wrong about the environmental approach to date. Even the title of the film.
The film presents an apocalyptic vision of the future where all but a few humans have survived wondering why we didn't avert climate catastrophe when we say it coming. I found the film dis-empowering and defeatist and not a motivator to action.
We paint this apocalyptic picture of the future and somehow expect that will motivate people to do something. The risk is that they will conclude that the task is too great as we live in an age of stupid so why bother and let's party like it is the end of the world.
It would have been so different if it had presented that disaster vision perhaps as a dream with the second part showing the dreamer waking up to a world where we had made the changes and how we had done it.
There are so many films of apocalypse and so few of hope for the future.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Georgia Taylor on -
I don't think people always give up hope with an apocalyptic vision of the future. There may be many who are motivated to act. I agree it would be good to add a vision of what could happen - but I don't think this is a reason for not seeing or showing the film. The sensationalist and futuristic nature of the film will make it very appealing for many people, who may not have been motivated to watch it otherwise. One aim must be to bring people into the discussion - as many people as possible. And if the film can do some of that - why not show it?
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Permalink Reply by Mike Grenville on -
Rob Hopkins comments on the Premiere at the Eden Project where he spoke
http://transitionculture.org/2009/03/16/the-age-of-stupid-premiere-...
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Permalink Reply by Rowena on -
sounds like it is worth showing! When might we do this - I saw a mail from Anna that it was showing in Crawley....
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Permalink Reply by Mike Grenville on
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Go and see it by all means and take someone with you who is a skpetic and see if/what that motivates them to do.
The film for me is about finger pointing - the implication being you politicans and most other people are stupid while we campaigners are (to quote the campaign slogan) Not stupid. It supports a 'them' and 'us' mentality.
See it but let's not show it under the transition banner.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Grenville on
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The rage of stupid
The passion displayed by The Age of Stupid is no substitute for the intelligence that effective propaganda requires...
Who'd go to see a film that's out to prove that most of us are stupid? Not, it must be feared, the supposedly stupid themselves. They'd be too stupid, wouldn't they? Sadly, such an exercise seems more likely to attract the elect few already blessed with the wisdom that their fellows are deemed to lack. For them, however, the price of a ticket won't buy much-needed enlightenment, but only big-screen authentication for a pre-existing sense of self-righteous superiority.
The rest of this article and online comments on the Guardian film blog here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/mar/23/the-age-of-stupid
© 2013 Created by Mike Grenville.
