Re: Strategy of the shock
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:34 pm
Watched it yesterday and I had seen parts of it before. I like Naomi klein's books in general, and her lectures featured in the doc were interesting. But I felt that it was a clunky premise to compare behavioural re programming ( or de programming) on individuals with the societal version from the Chicago boys and Pinochet onwards. I'm not a fan at all of Milton Friedman and his concepts ( or crank economics as they were viewed not too long ago ). In fact his theories as applied by Thatcher in the UK caused a lot of pain for a lot of people.
In fact I'd go so far as to consider some of the points in the doc naive if they assume that that kind of stuff is a recent invention. Also, whilst I agree with most of the points in the doc, I still felt it was manipulative in it's editing and graphics style, anyone can edit part of what someone says out of context and I saw this maybe 2 or 3 times ( having seen longer versions of some of the interviews featured.) I don't think they needed to do that and it lessens the impact of the message when they use cheap techniques like that.
The narrator was a bit crap too, ( Michael Winterbottom ? ) His tone could have been a bit more even, but instead came across as a tad bolshy in places.
However, it is worth watching if only to compare to other docs in the same theme, and I did learn one fact that I didn't know before ( i.e. at the time it was made Moscow was the city with the most billionaires living in it ) but which made a lot of sense concerning how their money was made. Maybe the book is a better option ( No Logo is a great read ) but I doubt many people here would buy one of Klein's books never mind watch the doc.
So from my perspective, nothing new in the Doc really, might be a good primer for people who don't have a clue what has happened in the last 50 years and spur them on to more research. I agree with the main message about the Shock Doctrine in society, but think it could have been put across a lot better. And it will leave itself open to criticism from just about anyone with right wing or republican tendencies and maybe even some left wingers/democrats who felt that the Doc tries to manipulate rather than inform.
In fact I'd go so far as to consider some of the points in the doc naive if they assume that that kind of stuff is a recent invention. Also, whilst I agree with most of the points in the doc, I still felt it was manipulative in it's editing and graphics style, anyone can edit part of what someone says out of context and I saw this maybe 2 or 3 times ( having seen longer versions of some of the interviews featured.) I don't think they needed to do that and it lessens the impact of the message when they use cheap techniques like that.
The narrator was a bit crap too, ( Michael Winterbottom ? ) His tone could have been a bit more even, but instead came across as a tad bolshy in places.
However, it is worth watching if only to compare to other docs in the same theme, and I did learn one fact that I didn't know before ( i.e. at the time it was made Moscow was the city with the most billionaires living in it ) but which made a lot of sense concerning how their money was made. Maybe the book is a better option ( No Logo is a great read ) but I doubt many people here would buy one of Klein's books never mind watch the doc.
So from my perspective, nothing new in the Doc really, might be a good primer for people who don't have a clue what has happened in the last 50 years and spur them on to more research. I agree with the main message about the Shock Doctrine in society, but think it could have been put across a lot better. And it will leave itself open to criticism from just about anyone with right wing or republican tendencies and maybe even some left wingers/democrats who felt that the Doc tries to manipulate rather than inform.