Minimalism - A Documentary On The Important Things

To start the new year, I found a gem on Netflix that truly grasps the idea that our reality is created for us by government, media, and especially consumerism. A well researched and directed documentary about the post modernist world that we live in regarding consumerism. The movie suggests that our choices that we make for consumer spending are manipulated for us by corporations.

The movie's premise is simple, we from an early age are taught that life is based on owning stuff. So much stuff, that we want more stuff. The first thing that came to my mind while watching this is the IPhone. Sure enough the IPhone was one of the examples of how users are controlled and manipulated to buy new phones through clever marketing. Each new phone has about a dozen improvements, and advertising and clever marketing is employed by Apple to get you to stand in line for the next IPhone.
The movie explores every aspect of consumerism in our post modern world. From birth, our decisions are impacted by media and advertising. In fact, children are saturated with consumerism. Companies spent 100 million on children's advertising in the 80s. Today they spend 17 billion. Maximum saturation to ensure kids want more stuff. Gaming systems operate on a life cycle of 2-3 years.
The movie offers solutions to remove ourselves from the reality. From smaller homes to examining our choices, we can change. We will be seen as odd or weird for downsizing. Yet, it would reshape the world we live in if change were sustaining. We fight wars for profit. A world of minimalists would reduce the need for war when you ponder the possibilities.
I could not help but wonder if minimalism has a place in our educational system. We could teach it in our health classes. Surely happiness can be impacted by these practices. Learning how the brain is hardwired to react to consumerism could help our children grow into adults that understand needs v. wants. This fight flight reaction to consumerism is why we lose sight of ourselves if not careful. Do we need all the extra stuff? Probably not.

Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States

Truth be know, I am not a big fan of Oliver Stone's movies. I always have felt he takes the same liberties at rewriting history as the same people he often criticizes. Often times, he uses his excuse as a film director as the reason for taking such liberties. JFK for example was ripe with assumptions. This demonstrates he allows bias to touch upon his filmography.

On the other hand, if I was given the role of director, I would probably do the same. I can not fault Stone for a behavior that is based on his passions that history has been somehow wronged by misinterpretation, as I also feel the same way. Stone wants people to understand that perceptions guide our realities, not facts. I had to acknowledge this as I watched and reviewed his series on American History.

Stone's efforts were better than I had thought. As an avid reader of Howard Zinn and someone who reads alternative history sources and watches independent films, I was thinking what could Stone offer that was new? Stone does follow the Howard Zinn script. As in, what do the textbooks exclude from our history. He also editorializes new material which is to be expected with his own take on history. I will always struggle with this approach. I prefer a layout of information and allowing the viewers to decide what is real versus fiction. However, this is Oliver Stone, and we can not expect him to leave well enough alone, and he has to editorialize as his fans have come to expect.

With all this being said, it is an excellent series for adolescents and adults to watch that choose to accept the modern course of history. The series clearly can provide historical narratives that cause us the viewer to question what we have learned in our social studies classes. It also provides insightful examinations into motive for our foreign policy. This is the best part of the series. Economics rules the day. So important for people to understand the connection between profit and war.

The series in my opinion borrows from the movie Why We Fight. It's focus is the 20th century war machine. The warnings unheeded that the post military industrial complex is a dangerous precedent in our society. This is an important connection for all Americans to understand. The motives behind the policies are solidly behind profiteering. The textbooks stray from critically thinking about wars and profit in public education. For this reason, series like this help counter American Exceptionality that is the purpose for compulsory education.

The bottom line is, if you have a friend that is conservative in thought when it comes to American History, this is the series to get a discussion started. It may not change their opinions, however it does open the door to critical thinking of one's own thought patterns. And that's what cerebral cinema is all about!