HyperNormalisation (2016)

I've mentioned Bitter Lake (2015) in previous reviews, and if you're in any way familiar with Adam Curtis's style, you'll know what sort of thing you're in for here. Whereas Bitter Lake concentrated on the historical relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S, HyperNormalisation touches on this in an epic sweep of how we got into the position we are in today, where cultural and historical issues, along with the emergence of heightened technology, and increasingly altered reality all clash to leave those of us with half a brain scratching our heads somewhat. The irony of the documentary is that to watch it, you have to use a screen. The enormous proportion of humanity who live their lives almost entirely in an unreality of social media with phones glued to their faces, frequently scrolling monotonously through pictures of themselves, or reading mind-numbing dysfunctional and perfunctory lists of bloggers or 'influencers' is no secret. This is not to say all of this is pointless however. Well written, important, innovative and well researched pieces are available everywhere. The problem is the idea that people don't want to think or learn; if it's complicated, people look the other way. This sort of oversimplification to the point of dead-behind-the-eyes monotony, as Curtis stipulates, is similar to the political and cultural climate of today, where inexplicable world events have lead to politicians and their representatives retreating into a damaging, massively pruned version of what is actually happening. No-one in power appears to be know what's going on, but on the dangerous flip side, more and more people just withdraw into their alternate realities of social media, taking pictures of themselves to upload to people they don't know, in an endless quest for self gratification, falling further and further away from the truth of reality. The problem is if they're called down for dinner, for example, that's them being forced to enter their own version of an alternate reality, when they may have to interact with real people. Trump's race for presidency, modelled somewhat on Vladislav Surkov's approach to promoting Putin in Russia- that of confusing everyone by supporting every group, left and right, is one of the many fascinating touchstones for Curtis in explaining the hypernormalisation of current reality. If something is slightly confusing, the power of screens and social media combined with the staggering self absorption and the almost anti-self actualisation of individuals today, make it far easier to return to screens, wanting approval from others, through 'likes' and 'comments' to justify their continuing existence in a reality that doesn't physically exist. This is preferable to these people rather than trying to think about what's actually happening, making it easier and easier for those in power to continue to deflect truth and explanation elsewhere. Individualism and self actualisation, as Curtis explains in this staggering piece of work, is not what it once was. 9.1/10