Reviews of Zeitgeist (2007) and related work
- Sequel: Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008)
Zeitgeist (2007
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A milestone of cinema, comparable to deepfakes a decade later. Zeitgeist signalled that the power to make reasonably attractive, misleading mass-market documentaries was now in the hands of driven individuals, no longer requiring a pile of money or talent. It’s charmingly misanthropic, sprinkled with half-truths and involuntary appearances by Bill Hicks, Carl Sagan and long quotes from Network (1976) for rhetorical flair. It pains me to see the historicity of Jesus challenged so poorly.
‣ Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008)
Somewhat lower in bullshit content, but still enormously unreasonable. For a more sane overview of the economics, see e.g. When Corporations Rule the World (1995).