External Site: Adam Curtis - The Medium and the Message[info]
Filmmaker Adam Curtis uses this BBC-hosted site to express his own opinions in a series of blogs which are illustrated with footage and stills from the BBC archives. The results here echo his films in that they are highly associative, creating layers and levels of meaning from the use of fragments of archival footage and music, but less sprawling than his films, which means that often they can seem more to the point without losing the sense of playfulness and originality which characterises his work. The post Rupert Murdoch - A Portrait of Satan is the story of the media mogul’s rise to power in Britain as told via the BBC’s coverage, in which Curtis aims to illustrate "how far [Murdoch’s] populist rhetoric is genuine, and how far its is a smokescreen to disguise the interests of another elite". In another post - While the Band Played On - Curtis elegantly demonstrates how the use of music can manipulate our emotional reactions to watching film.