Can't Get You Out of My Head (TV series)

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Can't Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World
Can't Get You Out of My Head TV Series.jpg
GenreDocumentary
Created byAdam Curtis
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producerRose Garnett
ProducerSandra Gorel
Running time66-120 minutes
Production companyBBC Film
Release
Original networkBBC iPlayer
Original release11 February 2021 (2021-02-11)
Chronology
Preceded byHyperNormalisation (2016)

Can't Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World is a six-part BBC documentary television series created by Adam Curtis. It was released on BBC iPlayer on 11 February 2021.[1]

Premise[]

Like many of Curtis's previous works, the documentary explores and links together various topics such as individualism, collectivism, conspiracy theories, national myths, American imperialism, the history of China, artificial intelligence, and the failure of technology to liberate society in the way that technological utopians once hoped it might.

Background[]

Originally titled What Is It That Is Coming?, the series was inspired by the rise of populism in 2016.[2] Curtis wanted to investigate why the critics of Donald Trump and Brexit were unable to offer an alternative vision for the future, and why these sociopolitical circumstances were being continued beyond ethical breaking points.[3]

Episodes[]

Episodes of Can't Get You Out of My Head
No.Title
1"Bloodshed on Wolf Mountain"
Adam Curtis explores the beginnings of revolution in America, Britain and China: how people had grown wary of the corruption that power brings and yet found it difficult to move on. The title of the episode is taken from the Chinese film Blood on Wolf Mountain, in which Jiang Qing, credited as Lan Ping, appeared.
2"Shooting and F**king are the Same Thing"
The continued exploration of the revolutions of the 1960s from the points of view of Michael X, Jiang Qing and Afeni Shakur and the ways in which they failed in their revolutionary mission. The title of the episode is a quote attributed to Andreas Baader whilst in a Fatah military training camp in Jordan.
3"Money Changes Everything"
How money had been used as a way of allowing people to live their desired life, yet money brought new problems.
4"But What If the People are Stupid"
The emerging idea in the 1970s of a world without borders; non-governmental organisations (NGOs) feel compelled to change the world because, says Curtis, "politicians left and right had become corrupted by power and petty nationalism"; the unintended consequences of sending humanitarian aid to Ethiopia in 1984; the Chinese Communist Party resists calls within China for transparency; Russian democracy in turmoil after the fall of the Soviet Union; and how in the West a declining faith in politics among voters may have led to politicians becoming representatives of big business.
5"The Lordly Ones"
The changing face of Britain: how Britain reinvented itself to avoid its past of the British slave trading and opium wars and how the British people started to believe the reinvention.
6"Are We Pigeon? Or Are We Dancer?"
Tying the series together. How we have arrived where we are, a populace fearful of the future and how we might change that future.

Critical reception[]

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan gave the series five out of five stars and called it "dazzling" and "a dense, ambitious triumph".[4] Sarah Carson of the i also rated Can't Get You Out of My Head five out of five stars, describing it as "terrifying" and a "masterpiece".[5] The Independent's Ed Cumming, who gave the series five out of five stars, called it a "fascinating and disorienting" series that "aims to show how radical movements, emerging after the Second World War, were neutralised and co-opted by an establishment determined to maintain the status quo".[6]

James Walton of The Spectator thought the series was just a variation on Curtis's theme of "how hopeless — in both senses — human beings are", deriding it as "incoherent and conspiracy-fuelled", though only having been able to preview four episodes of the six-part series.[7] Ed Power in The Telegraph found the series "completely implausible", awarding it only three out of five stars.[8]

In a sceptical review for Sight & Sound, Hannah McGill wrote: "Curtis practices journalism absent the qualities that give it credibility: specificity, corroboration, consistency. Instead, he serves up a soup of interesting, oddball historical anecdotes, accompanied by a voiceover favouring giant, blurry assertions about how 'we' interact with 'those in power' during the 'strange days' in which we live. Who are 'we'? English speakers? Men? People who watch Adam Curtis documentaries?"[9]

Music[]

Curtis's style is typified by the use of frequent and often incongruous cuts of film and music, often lasting only a few seconds, in a technique similar to sampling. Music used in the series includes (in order of appearance):[citation needed]

References[]

  1. ^ "New six-film series from Adam Curtis". BBC Media Centre. Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  2. ^ Knight, Sam (28 January 2021). "Adam Curtis Explains It All". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  3. ^ Usborne, Simon (6 February 2021). "'You could be a cult leader': Diane Morgan and Adam Curtis on Brexit, Trump and his new series". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  4. ^ Mangan, Lucy (11 February 2021). "Can't Get You Out of My Head review – Adam Curtis's 'emotional history' is dazzling". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  5. ^ Carson, Sarah (11 February 2021). "Can't Get You Out of My Head, BBC iPlayer, review: Adam Curtis's terrifying documentary is a masterpiece". I (newspaper). Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  6. ^ Cumming, Ed (11 February 2021). "Can't Get You Out of My Head review: Adam Curtis's emotional history is fascinating and disorienting". The Independent. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  7. ^ Walton, James (13 February 2021). "Incoherent and conspiracy-fuelled: Adam Curtis's Can't Get You Out of My Head reviewed". The Spectator. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  8. ^ Power, Ed (11 February 2021). "Adam Curtis's mind-bending series is like a never-ending Radiohead video in search of a purpose". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  9. ^ McGill, Hannah (29 March 2021). "Can't Get You out of My Head gets lost in its own thoughts". bfi.org. Retrieved 23 June 2021.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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