LoVe fOr ConTrovErsy

David Harvey: Lecture IV

2008-07-06T15:37:00.002+02:00

Having given you earlier the first and second lecture of David Harvey, I now give you his third lecture on Marx's Capital.

David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology at CUNY, has done an amazing service by making his course “Reading Marx’s Capital” available online. Harvey is one of the preeminent Marxist thinkers. His most well known books are The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits to Capital, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, and The New Imperialism.

Class 4 Chapters 4-6. An open course consisting of a close reading of the text of Marx's Capital Volume I in 13 video lectures by Professor David Harvey.

The Banquet

2008-07-04T17:40:00.003+02:00

Language: Mandarin. English subtitles
IMDB Rating: 6.5/ 10

Plot: In 907 AD, the Tang Dynasty is in tatters; infighting snarls the imperial family. Crown Prince Wu Luan loves Little Wan, but his father takes her as his Empress. Wu Luan goes into exile, studying dance and music. His uncle murders his father, taking throne and Empress; uncle sends assassins to kill Wu Luan. The Crown Prince eludes death and comes to court. The Emperor arranges for Little Wan's coronation and dispatches Wu Luan to a distant land; he then calls for a midnight banquet on the 100th day of his rule. Poison, treachery, Wu Luan's return, and the love of the innocent Qing for Wu Luan set up the final entanglements. No Fortinbras or Horatio lay the dead to rest (IMBD).

Part I

Part II

David Harvey: Lecture III

2008-07-04T17:36:00.002+02:00

Having given you earlier the first and second lecture of David Harvey, I now give you his third lecture on Marx's Capital.

David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology at CUNY, has done an amazing service by making his course “Reading Marx’s Capital” available online. Harvey is one of the preeminent Marxist thinkers. His most well known books are The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits to Capital, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, and The New Imperialism.

Class 3 Chapter 3. An open course consisting of a close reading of the text of Volume One of Marx's Capital in 13 two-hour video lectures by Professor David Harvey.

La société du spectacle

2008-07-02T17:17:00.002+02:00

This is a must see, although the book is of course a lot better...

Language: French/ English subtitles
IMDB Rating: 7./ 10

Plot: The 90 minute film took a year to make and incorporates footage from The Battleship Potemkin, October, New Babylon, Shanghai Gesture, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Rio Grande, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Johnny Guitar, and Confidential Report, as well as Soviet and Polish films, industrial films, American Westerns, news footage, advertisements, and many still photographs. Events such as the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald (who assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963), the revolutions in Spain in 1936, Hungary in 1956 and in Paris in 1968, and people such as Mao Zedong, Richard Nixon, and the Spanish Anarchist Durruti are represented. Throughout the movie, there is both a voiceover (of Debord) and inter-titles from "Society of the Spectacle" but also texts from the Committee of Occupation of the Sorbonne, Machiavelli, Marx, Tocqueville, Emile Pouget, and Soloviev. Without citations, these quotes are hard to decipher, especially with the subtitles (which exist even in the French version) but that is part of Debord’s goal “to problematize reception” (Greil and Sanborn) and force the viewer to be active (wiki).

In addition to the above film material, I think it is also perhaps worth checking this more contemporary version of the spectacle.

David Harvey: Lecture II

2008-07-01T21:11:00.003+02:00

As promised earlier, the second lecture of David Harvey.

David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology at CUNY, has done an amazing service by making his course “Reading Marx’s Capital” available online. Harvey is one of the preeminent Marxist thinkers. His most well known books are The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits to Capital, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, and The New Imperialism.

Class 2 Chapters 1-2. An open course consisting of a close reading of the text of Marx's Capital Volume I in 13 video lectures by Professor David Harvey.

Earthlings

2008-06-30T19:12:00.005+02:00

Watch out, might be considered as disturbing for some.

Language: English/ French subtitles
IMDB Rating: 8.0/ 10

Plot: Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, EARTHLINGS chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.

Mindwalk

2008-06-29T18:59:00.002+02:00

Language: English
IMDB Rating: 7.4/ 10

Plot: A US politician (Sam Waterston) visits his poet friend (John Heard) in Mont. St. Michael, France. While walking through the medeival island discussing their philosophies of life they happen upon Sonja (Liv Ullman), a scientist in recluse, who joins in their conversation. The two men listen to the ideas of this brilliant woman and discuss how her ideas can work in their own politician and poet lives (IMDB).

Why we Fight

2008-06-28T02:12:00.000+02:00

Language: English
IMDB Rating: 8.2/ 10

Plot:He may have been the ultimate icon of 1950s conformity and postwar complacency, but Dwight D. Eisenhower was an iconoclast, visionary, and the Cassandra of the New World Order. Upon departing his presidency, Eisenhower issued a stern, cogent warning about the burgeoning "military industrial complex," foretelling with ominous clarity the state of the world in 2004 with its incestuous entanglement of political, corporate, and Defense Department interests (IMDB).

David Harvey: Lecture I

2008-06-27T12:38:00.006+02:00

David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology at CUNY, has done an amazing service by making his course “Reading Marx’s Capital” available online. Harvey is one of the preeminent Marxist thinkers. His most well known books are The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits to Capital, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, and The New Imperialism.

The class consists of 13 two hour videos. The first two are available. I present “Class 1, Introduction” below. I will post “Class 2, Chapters 1-2” tomorrow. Subsequent classes will appear as Harvey makes them available.

Class 1 Introduction. An open course consisting of a close reading of the text of Volume I of Marx's Capital in 13 two-hour video lectures by Professor David Harvey.

The Trap

2008-06-26T14:04:00.002+02:00

Language: English
IMDB Rating: 9.1/ 10
IMDB website

Plot: The Trap: 'What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom' is a BBC documentary series by English filmmaker Adam Curtis, well known for other documentaries including The Century of the Self and The Power of Nightmares. It began airing on BBC Two on 11 March 2007. The series consists of three one-hour programmes which explore the concept and definition of freedom, specifically, "how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures led to today's idea of freedom."

PART I

PART II

PART II

Maps of Meaning (VI to XIII)

2008-06-25T01:51:00.006+02:00

Maps of Meaning 6: Submitting to Order
Plot: Order is the antithesis of chaos. The domain of order is the domain of culture, of the previously more...explored and understood. Order inhibits fear, and aids in the establishment of harmonious relations between people who would otherwise fight. The discipline of order is also a precondition to freedom. However, too much order stultifies, and prevents the development of genuine creative individuality.

Maps of Meaning 7: Contemplating Genesis
Plot: The ancient text of Genesis provides a very sophisticated dramatic representation of the emergence more...of order from chaos, as a consequence of the action of consciousness or Logos, and also presents the emergence of human self-consciousness. Such emergent self-consciousness is a paradoxical gift: although it brings with it the terrible knowledge of limitation, madness and death, it also enables the voluntary and redemptive adoption of a heroic stance towards the conditions of life.

Maps of Meaning 8: Dwelling on Paradise
Plot: This half hour video was broadcast on TV Ontario in 2004, as the 8th of a 13-part series dealing with more...mythology and neuroscience. It is based on the book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief.

Maps of Meaning 9: Becoming a Self
Plot: The individual begins his or her life as pure vulnerable potential, shielded in optimal circumstances more...from factors beyond control by the benevolent intervention of maternal care. If such care is provided, the developing individual is then socialized into the broader cultural world. Such socialization provides order and purpose as a buttress against chaos. True individual development, however, means movement beyond the maternal and the cultural, and voluntary personal contact with the chaotic unknown. Such contact generates wisdom, and frees the individual from possession by ideology.

Maps of Meaning 10: Figuring Evil
Plot:Two fundamental reactions to the terrible and uncertain conditions of life obtain. The first more...is dramatically represented by the figure of Cain in Genesis; the second by Abel. Cain is resentful and unwilling to change, even though he is suffering and even though he has been told by the divine that the unbearable part of his suffering is self-generated. Abel, by contrast, follows the dictates of his conscience, makes the proper sacrifices, and establishes an acceptable relationship with the conditions of existence. Cain's refusal to admit to his error ultimately makes him vengefully homicidal and destructive, as he rebels against his self-produced fate. Cain is the father of all tyrants.

Maps of Meaning 11: Losing Religion
Post:The movement beyond cultural schemes of meaning (religions, ideologies) can produce stasis and more...desperation, as the disenchanted individual once again confronts unstructured chaos. Alternatively, identity with a rigid and totalitarian ideology may be adopted, but such identification eventually deprives life of its spontaneous and sustaining meaning, and turns the ideological adherent towards vengeful destruction.

Maps of Meaning 12: Truths that Matter
Plot:Because life is uncertain, complex and terrifying, people require a shield or substantive strength. more...Culture and social identification provide a shield. Voluntary contact with the chaotic, unknown and terrifying, by contrast, provides specifically redemptive information, and helps the personality develop enough genuine strength to overcome existential terror, vengeful response to that terror, and the pathologies of ideological identification.

Maps of Meaning 13: The Force Within
Plot:lthough unbridled contact with chaos can be absolutely overwhelming, the nervous system is actually more...calibrated to encourage gradual but still transformative contact. The individual finds him or herself engaged in such contact, unconsciously, whenever the activities of life are sufficiently interesting and meaningful to temporarily eradicate self-consciousness. Under such conditions, the individual is inhabiting the "spiritual" space that exists on the border between chaos and order. This space is equivalent to the kingdom of god. The facilitation of permanent existence there is the unstated purpose of religious practice.

Maps of Meaning (I to V)

2008-06-24T17:20:00.008+02:00

The following half hour videos were broadcasted on TV Ontario in 2004, as a 13-part series dealing with mythology and neuroscience. It is based on the book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief.

`Maps of Meaning' refers to the way we make sense of the world, rendering our geographical experience intelligible, attaching value to the environment and investing the material world with symbolic significance. The book introduces notions of space and place, exploring culture's geographies as well as the geography of culture. It outlines the field of cultural politics, employing concepts of ideology, hegemony and resistance to show how dominant ideologies are contested through unequal relations of power.

Below you find the first 5 series. Tomorrow I will give you the remaining 8.

Maps of Meaning 1: Monsters of Our Own Making
Plot: The rise of rationality and the scientific method posed a significant challenge to the religious worldview, but in its place rose ideological systems of true horror, led by resentful and arrogant tyrants such as Mao Tse-Tung, Stalin and Hitler. The demolition of traditional theories of morality thus opened the floodgates for pathological replacements of unforeseeable rigidity and cruelty.

Maps of Meaning 2: Contending with Chaos
Plot: Traditional theories of moral attitude and behavior, encoded in religion and mythology, posit that the world of human experience is composed of chaos and order, and that the human psyche mediates between these two forces or domains.

Maps of Meaning 3: Becoming Like Gods
Plot: The gods represent psychological factors, such as love or sexuality (Venus) or aggression (Ares or Mars). The idea of a single, ultimate god represents the integrated totality of all such psychological factors, portrayed as the ultimate value. This ultimate value is increasingly identified with the sovereign individual in monotheistic religions. The ancient Egyptian story of Osiris and Horus provides an excellent example of this identification, and sheds light on the origin of the idea of intrinsic human rights.

Maps of Meaning 4: Games People Must Play
Plot:The ideas encoded in religion and mythology emerged from the bottom up, not from the top down. This means they were not planned or abstractly conceptualized, in their initial forms. Instead, religious ideas emerged from a platform whose structure was defined by collective behavior. Ordered collective behavior has a game-like structure, and some games are better than others. Sophisticated religious narratives outline the best possible games (or, at least, the best possible players).

Maps of Meaning 5: Grappling with Fear
Plot: The chaos out of which the world is generated is first encountered during contact with the anomalous, unknown, misunderstood or threatening. Things that are not understood are dangerous and vague. Retreat from such things is one option, but such retreat does not allow for growth or leaning. Retreat means that the unknown stays both unknown and frightening. Voluntary approach, by constrast, generates information. From that information the personality is generated.

The Alchemist of Happiness

2008-06-23T13:36:00.005+02:00

Language: English
IMDB Rating: 8.1/ 10

Plot: Exploring the life and impact of the greatest spiritual and legal philosopher in Islamic history, this film examines Ghazali's existential crisis of faith that arose from his rejection of religious dogmatism, and reveals profound parallels with our own times. Ghazali became known as the Proof of Islam and his path of love and spiritual excellence overcame the pitfalls of the organised religion of his day. His path was largely abandoned by early 20th century Muslim reformers for the more strident and less tolerant school of Ibn Taymiyya. Combining drama with documentary, this film argues that Ghazali's Islam is the antidote for today's terror (IMDB).

Terror Storm

2008-06-22T00:53:00.001+02:00

Language: English/ Danish subtitles
IMDB Rating: 8.1/ 10

Plot: Throughout history, criminal elements inside governments have carried out terror attacks against their own populations as a pretext to enslave them. TerrorStorm reveals how, in the last hundred years, Western leaders have repeatedly murdered their own citizens while posing as their saviors.

Steal this Movie

2008-06-22T00:34:00.003+02:00

Language: English

IMDB rating: 6.3
IMDB Link: here

Plot: These are strange times indeed. While they continue to command so much attention in the mainstream media, the 'battles' between old and new modes of distribution, between the pirate and the institution of copyright, seem to many of us already lost and won. We know who the victors are. Why then say any more? Because waves of repression continue to come: lawsuits are still levied against innocent people; arrests are still made on flimsy pretexts, in order to terrify and confuse; harsh laws are still enacted against filesharing, taking their place in the gradual erosion of our privacy and the bolstering of the surveillance state. All of this is intended to destroy or delay inexorable changes in what it means to create and exchange our creations. If STEAL THIS FILM II proves at all useful in bringing new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity, we have achieved our main goal.

The War on Democracy

2008-06-21T03:16:00.002+02:00

Language: English
IMDB Rating: 8.2/ 10

Plot: Award winning journalist John Pilger examines the role of Washington in America's manipulation of Latin American politics during the last 50 years leading up to the struggle by ordinary people to free themselves from poverty and racism. Since the mid 19th Century Latin America has been the 'backyard' of the US, a collection of mostly vassal states whose compliant and often brutal regimes have reinforced the 'invisibility' of their majority peoples. The film reveals similar CIA policies to be continuing in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. The rise of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez despite ongoing Washington backed efforts to unseat him in spite of his overwhelming mass popularity, is democratic in a way that we have forgotten or abandoned in the west. True Democracy being a solid 80% voter turnout in support of Chavez in over 6 elections (IMDB).

Orwell Rolls in His Grave

2008-06-20T21:34:00.004+02:00

Language: English
IMDB rating: 8.0/ 10

Plot: Has America entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for truth? The country's leading intellectuals discuss & examine the mix of businesses, politics & ideology that is the mainstream media .

Orwell Rolls in His Grave "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?..." This chilling documentary film examines the relationship between the media, corporate America, and government. In a country where the "top 1% control 90% of the wealth", the film argues that the media system is nothing but a "subsidiary of corporate America" (IMDB).

Quality is not that great, but message is plain and quite simple.

Submission

2008-06-19T14:23:00.002+02:00

Language: Arabic/ English - Dutch subtitles
IMDB rating: 6.0/ 10

Plot: Submission is a 10-minute film in English directed by Theo van Gogh and written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (a former Tweede Kamer member for the Dutch People's Party for Freedom and Democracy); it was shown on the Dutch public broadcasting network (VPRO) on August 29, 2004. The film's title is a direct translation of the word "Islam" (see also the etymology and meaning of the word) (wiki).

While the film drew both praise and outrage over its portrayal of the abused women,[9] as a criticism of Islam it drew the following comment from The Village Voice movie critic Dennis Lim, “It's depressing to think that this morsel of glib effrontery could pass as a serious critique of conservative Islam.”[10] Another critic referred to the stories told in this film as "simplistic, even caricatures."[9] After the movie's broadcast on Dutch public TV, newspaper De Volkskrant reported on claims of plagiarism against Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh, made by internet journalist Francisco van Jole. Van Jole said the duo had "aped" the ideas of Iranian-American video artist Shirin Neshat. Neshat's work, which made abundant use of Arabic text projected onto bodies, had been shown in the Netherlands in 1997 and 2000.

Reception and socio-political impact

On November 2, 2004, Theo van Gogh was assassinated in public by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Muslim of Moroccan descent. A letter, stabbed through and affixed to the body by a dagger, linked the murder to Van Gogh's film and his views regarding Islam. It was addressed to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and called for jihad against kafir (kafir is an Arabic word for unbeliever, a person who hides, denies, or covers the truth), and so, against America, Europe, the Netherlands, and Hirsi Ali herself. Following the murder of Van Gogh, tens of thousands gathered in the center of Amsterdam to mourn Van Gogh's death, a sense of lost innocence and enormous anger. There were fire-bombings of mosques and Muslim schools, and counterattacks against Christian churches. Besides Bouyeri, eleven other Muslim men were arrested and charged with conspiracy to assassinate Hirsi Ali.

After the murder of Theo van Gogh, Submission gained international fame. It was withdrawn from the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film had been scheduled to be shown on Sunday during a discussion on freedom of speech in film at the festival. Because of the violent murder of Van Gogh, the producer of Submission, Gijs van de Westelaken, said, "We do not want to take any chance of endangering anyone else who participated in the film." The film was shown on television in a number of European countries.

Hirsi Ali has stated she would like to make a sequel to the movie because "By not making 'Submission Part II,' I would only be helping terrorists believe that if they use violence, they're rewarded with what they want." When asked if she would submit to threats against her life, she said "Not me."

The revolution will not be televised

2008-06-18T03:11:00.001+02:00

Language: English/Spanish
IMDB rating: 8.5/ 10
Other title: Chavez: Inside the Coup

Plot: Taking its title from a poem/song by Gil Scott-Heron, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is an award-winning international documentary. Irish filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the charismatic, democratically elected president, Hugo Chavez. Very popular with the Venezuelan people, Chavez is a firm supporter of socialism and a redistribution of wealth from the oil profits in his country. He's also an outspoken opponent of the Bush administration's tactics in Afghanistan. In April 2002, the filmmakers ended up witnessing the failed coup that took place when a group of oil-interested parties tried to remove Chavez from office. Pedro Carmona was supposed to be installed as the new leader. However, due to the loyalty of his people, Chavez was back in power in 48 hours. While the state-controlled media (Channel 8 in Venezuela) gave the president a call-in show to talk with the public, privatized media outlets reported that pro-Chavez supporters had fired on an anti-Chavez march (All Movie Guide).

"A gripping, nearly perfect documentary, chronicling a heart-stopping rise, fall and triumphant reversal in the space of its 74-minute running time" (Rotten Tomatoes).

Super Size Me

2008-06-17T14:29:00.003+02:00

Language: English

IMDB rating: 7.6/10

Plot: Why are Americans so fat? Two words: fast food. What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for an entire month? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life. The rules? For 30 days he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on McDonald's menu; he must wolf three squares a day; he must consume everything on the menu at least once and supersize his meal if asked. Spurlock treks across the country interviewing a host of experts on fast food and an equal number of regular folk while chowing down at the Golden Arches. Spurlock's grueling drive-through diet spirals him into a physical and emotional metamorphosis that will make you think twice about picking up another Big Mac (IMDB).

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

2008-06-16T13:35:00.004+02:00

Language: English
IMDB Rating: 7.6/ 10

Plot: Dear America, is most certainly one of the really great war films, and this is because nearly everything is real, all footage and the letters read are real, the only things that aren't authentic are the actors voices, however these are some of Hollywoods finest so believing them to be the actual soldiers, mothers, nurses is easy.

Accompanied by a great soundtrack (has there ever been a Vietnam movie with a bad one) this is one of the most moving and poignent movies you will see, it is through its realness that ones gets a feel of how bad war really is, it is probably one of very few war movies that really makes you fear war, because there is no adventurous sub plot, just some letters from young guys, most of whom just want out (IMDB).

Hearts and Minds

2008-06-16T13:32:00.002+02:00

Language: English/ French/ Vietnamese - English subtitles where needed
IMDB Rating: 8.5/ 10
Prices won: Oscar (1974)

Plot: This film recounts the history and attitudes of the opposing sides of the Vietnam War using archival news footage as well as their own film and interviews. A key theme is how attitudes of American racism and self-righteousness militarism helped create and prolong this bloody conflict. The film also endeavors to give voice to the Vietnamese people themselves as to how the war has affected them and their reasons why they fight the United States and other western powers while showing the basic humanity of the people that US propaganda tried to dismiss (IMDB).

"Possibly the best documentary ever made" (Source)

Head On

2008-06-15T13:30:00.008+02:00

This movie, Gegen die Wand (Head on), is not to be missed. Probably one of the best love films ever made. Don't think of Pretty Woman now, because Gegen die Wand shames conventional Hollywood romantic comedies with its fresh take on love and loss as rich as Rhett and Scarlett (Gone with the Wind).

Title: Gegen die Wand (German)/ Head on (English)
Language: Turkish and German/ English subtitles
IMDB rating: 8.1/ 10

Plot: Cahit is a German Turk in his 40's. He has given up with his life after his beloved wife's death, and he's living a miserable life right in the core of cocaine and excessive drinking. One night, he semi-intentionally crashes into a wall, and barely survives. At the hospital he's taken to, he meets a girl, Sibel, another German Turk who's tried to commit suicide. She's sick and tired of her family's ultra-traditional issues, and asks Cahit to carry out a white marriage with her out of the blue, so that she can become a married woman and get rid of her family's revolting pressure. Cahit is turned off by the idea at first, but then he agrees to take part in this plan. As Sibel tells him straightaway that she's interested in absolute freedom involving other men and he agrees, they live as roommates with separate private lives for a while. Then things take a different turn, and they're no longer two indifferent roommates. But their love story won't be anywhere as simple as any other... (IMDB).

"Raw, impassioned and provocative" (BBC)

Algeria

2007-10-24T21:09:00.003+02:00

When I lived in Paris, I remember always being surprised by the lack of general or critical discussions on the issue of the France- Algeria conflict. I remember asking an Algerian about this and if there was any public debate in his country. He argued "In France they are afraid of destroying the Douce France pictures the world has and in Algeria we are afraid of bringing back the dead".

As I am not compelled to protect France's culture nor obliged to take Algeria's grief in consideration, I would like to give you La Battaglia di Algeri (Battle of Algiers) (1966). I reckon it to be well worth of your time, as it is by far the best movie ever made on the subject and argued to be one of the best films ever made.

Plot: La Battaglia di Algeri show the Algerian revolution from both sides. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove. The Algerians are seeking independence. The two clash. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. A look at war as a nasty thing that harms and sullies everyone who participates in it.

Rape of Nanking

2007-10-23T21:40:00.004+02:00

Ever thought of the Russian losses in WWII... About 25 mil. The Chinese then... 15 mil. Shocking truth is it not? If you are up for it, check the following movie (very brutal scenes, watch out!)...

Part 1

Part II