MULTIVAC

Why Smart People Believe Silly Things

The Problem With Human Rights

A BAFTA award-winning BBC series with John Berger, which rapidly became regarded as one of the most influential art programmes ever made. In the first programme, Berger examines the impact of photography on our appreciation of art from the past. Ways of Seeing is a 1972 BBC four-part television series of 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb. Berger's scripts were adapted into a book of the same name. The series and book criticize traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images. The series is partially a response to Kenneth Clark's Civilisation series, which represents a more traditionalist view of the Western artistic and cultural canon.

Colin Wilson, Strange Powers    

Ben Burgis

The pervert's guide to ideology With Slavoj Zizek

Professor Slavoj Žižek | Full Address and Q&A | Oxford Union

Animating Poststructuralism A short animated introduction to poststructuralism, focusing on the concept of the signifying chain. Script and storyboard by Christopher Bolton (Williams College). Animation by Galen Corey (Williams '14).

In the last week of December, 2028, humanity forgot about more than a century of pop culture. You've probably never thought about it, and never found it strange — but the reason is an artificial intelligence called Earworm.

What Sam Hyde exposes about the world of comedy Torture your memory enough and you might remember a time where comedy was fresh, largely non-partisan, and good-natured. Those who’ve been following news cycle will notice a pattern emerge: a continuing trend downwards, into viciousness and moral browbeating. It’s weaponized to insult and defame. Arguably, though, it’s worst offense is that it isn’t even funny.

A series of interviews featuring linguist, philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky done in hand-drawn animation. From Michel Gondry, the innovative director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, comes this unique animated documentary on the life of controversial MIT professor, philosopher, linguist, anti-war activist and political firebrand Noam Chomsky. Through complex, lively conversations with Chomsky and brilliant illustrations by Gondry himself, the film reveals the life and work of the father of modern linguistics while also exploring his theories on the emergence of language. The result is not only a dazzling, vital portrait of one of the foremost thinkers of modern times, but also a beautifully animated work of art. Director: Michel Gondry Writers: Michel Gondry, Noam Chomsky Actors: Noam Chomsky, Michel Gondry Genre: Documentary

YouTube, owned by Google, has become one of the most powerful online media platforms in the world, fast to be replacing the viewership of television with over 30 billion hours watched per month in 2017. Young people flock to the platform in the hopes of fame and fortune, which comes for a select few, but not all, hence the allure to ‘make it.’ YouTube celebrities are now mainstream celebrities. The result is troves competing to live their lives as monetised open-wounds for the corporate platform, constantly pleading for subscribers, attention and engagement, all at the hands of Google, its secret algorithms, and the screen culture of spectacle, pornography, and targeted advertising. On both sides of the screen, the treadmill is all about keeping the ad dollars constantly rolling. YouTube, YouTubers and You offers a glimpse into this new media and advertising world, pondering how this culture may continue to undermine our future media and informational landscape. What sort of people and world is this culture creating and perpetuating?

A short film by Adam Curtis for readers of VICE.