How hyper capitalism dealt a blow to the world, and how cinema has some answers for journalists.
Adam Curtis has a new film out, TraumaZone and this article about how UK PM Liz Truss should be cautious about importing Russian hyper capitalism experiment into the UK made me reflect on my Russian tour speaking about a more apt form of news making for this era.
Far from being an expert in Russia one of the first things I did when I was on a lecture tour in Russia in filmmaking & videojournalism was go to an Eisenstein exhibition. Strugatsky, author of Stalker, made into a Tarkovsky film also fascinated me. Watched Stalker many times.
Soviet filmmakers incl very much Vertov (big fan — used in my PhD) hugely influenced ‘psychological’ cinema, docs and News. Vertov laid the ground for cinema verite and a videojournalism that borders cinema. My journalism hosts got really into this.
Lenin’s “of all the arts, for us the most important is cinema” under played emerging visual news making. TV News developed a literal interpretation of events as the priority. It worked so long as tacit agreements were in place. Then PR/ Spin saw how they could game News.
They would use behavioural psychology, theatre, the arts. Surkov wasn’t the first. See Curtis’ film. Edward Bernays was also a master. Surkov though understood film’s impact and how to reshape news because News lived for obvious strong images / narratives.
Politicians learned to drive news agenda with bold statements and photo ops that newsmakers couldn’t ignore. Except in the 90s a new group of news makers in UK, and around the world found solutions. They too were learning cinema to understand news and act as a counterweight to spin.
Unfortunately in the UK etc, by 2000 big news institutions had absorbed videojournalism dulling its primacy into their culture. Today, few TV news making courses teach behavioural psychology and the cognitivism of narrative (cinema), and how to thwart being led by others.
The great Robert Drew saw this power in the lens of cinema affecting news. It was undeniable, but he too had a hard time convincing news makers back in the 60s. My interview with him played at Apple Store London.
I’ve been pondering how a new generation of news makers will rise to create films of our time, and challenge the status quo. If not, if you keep on doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep on getting what you got. This from me.
Must add here many thanks to @DergachevaD — a lifelong friend, Ha! and brilliant woman. Oksi Lantt ( amazing woman) Olga Kravtsova (also amazing), Maksim Kournikov and the team of great journalism who entertained my thoughts.
#russia #capitalism #politics #journalism #learning #events
Via Jose Velazquez, MA
