Zeitgeist the Movie

I pulled this link from Boing Boing. It is a staggering two hours of conspiracy theory, anonymously posted to Google video. From and aesthetic point of view, It is a lot of quick editing, and not that arty, of course it is not trying to be. The premise, however is intriguing to me because of the impact of the viral video. Information from the fringes in video can work in many ways (for, against, backlash) and have the potential for many more viewers on the web. There is a lot of media theory in there somewhere. The impact and the outrage of some of the responses to this video are going to tell more of a story about what America is than the actual story. Yet it speaks of the disheartening and confusing complexities in government, religion and the perpetuation of the ultra rich. It is good to see people stand up to the institution from the conspiracy camp. Hopefully a healthy dialog will ensue instead of trollfights. Somehow, I doubt it though.

Please forgive my comparison here because Zeitgeist is attempting a world view of humanity, but there is a great deal of horrifying shots all slickly edited together for effect. Several parts make you feel like your eyes are going to bleed. I understand the premise, but feel that perhaps by stretching the facts to force a point it becomes almost a "historical fiction in the making".

So, it has me thinking about the esoteric "Trailer for the Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula" by Francesco Vezzoli. I think of this because it has the potential to speak on several levels about culture, while accepting and promoting the media as "entertainment". I find this angle brilliantly subversive, although I am pretty sure the intention of the Zeitgeist video may be informative (or dis-informative), it acts similarly in the end.