Well, I'd be happy to...
Maybe you can start by giving me some ideas for the non-fiction section...
TV-Detox is a unique curated selection of the best and most interesting counter-information movies banned from commercial television networks.
I have decided to put together this special feature as a mini-guide dedicated to collect, over-time, all of the great and rare to find movie titles that are in one way or another very much part of the "Robin Good" attitude: be smart (ask questions), be independent, be good.
Photo credit: Kiyoshi Takahase Segundo
As a strong advocate against the use of traditional mass media like television, commercial cinema and newspapers, I invite anyone who wants to seriously change her ability to "see" and understand the reality around her to trash her TV set and to stop reading traditional dailies. You may initially feel a little less certainty about what is really happening around you, but that is indeed the very symptom of a much improved mental health condition.
The Internet offers such a large swath of truly inspiring, insightful and revealing movies and videos that you need not search too far and wide to find something valuable that can replace your old kick.
The only problem is in finding, that unique content.
So here, as my gift to you, is a growing hand-picked selection of th best counter-information, wake-up to-this!-films and videos that you will not be able to see by staring at your standard TV screen.
For now, my curated selection is grouped into "longer feature-length" and "semi-feature length films" and "shorter online videos". The recurring theme between them is that each tackles themes no longer welcome on the public commercial TV networks in most any country around the world.
Questions are raised, allegations made, common sense is turned upside down, and most of all - the viewer is challenged into viewing or considering things with a new eye.
Once again, here's the mantra for all change agents out there: Switch off your TV, trash your daily papers and start asking some real questions.
(Of course you will badly need a fast, broadband Internet connection - a good ADSL at minimum - to watch any of these. For those who want to also download the clips please check out Hey!Watch ) .
Now let the TV-detox begin.
What's it all about?
This collaboratively created film documents the direct action that shut down the financial district of San Francisco in the weeks following the United States' invasion of Iraq.
Watch it here
Watch it there
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You can learn more about the film at its official website
What's it all about?
The film - which is sometimes shocking, sometimes hilarious - follows the actions of two anti-corporate pranksters who impersonate World Trade Organization spokesmen at business conferences around the world. To their shock, every time they push the envelope with tasteless suggestions, they find their efforts applauded by their audiences.
Watch it here
Watch it there
Learn more
There is plenty of information on both the movie and the ongoing project behind it at the yesmen.org website.
What's it all about?
This deftly-edited documentary by Alex Jones accuses the 9/11 and 7/7 bombings of being self-inflicted attacks designed to further erode our rights and civil liberties.
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You can learn more about the film via Infowars, the filmmakers website.
What's it all about?
Outlawed pulls back the veil enshrouding the systematic torture and human rights abuses carried out by agents of the US government upon suspects in their shady 'war on terror'.
Watch it here
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In addition to my own previous coverage of the film, you can learn more about it at the Outlawed official webpage
What's it all about?
In this film the often taken for granted federal income tax is outed as being an illegal fraud, and connected to the steady erosion of civil liberties in America since its inception in the earlier part of the last century.
Watch it here
Watch it there
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You can learn more about the film at its official website
What's it all about?
This documentary feature film asks key questions about the 9/11 attacks, focusing primarily on the scientific evidence of detonation charges at the site of the World Trade Center, eye witness accounts of key players and the questions that this evidence raises.
Watch it here
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For more information on the film, which is in the public domain, you can visit the 911 We Know website.
What's it all about?
This documentary feature details Al Gore's campaign to make global warming a problem that both individuals and governments address and deal with, before it is too late.
Watch it here
This is a trailer for the film:
Watch it there
At the time of writing, you can watch the full feature at Google video. Get there before it gets pulled. The video has now been removed from Google video.
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You can learn more about the film at its official website
What's it all about?
Breakdown is a feature length documentary that intelligently tackles the issue of the USA's aggressive foreign policy, and its implications for both the present and future.
Watch it here
Part one:
Part two:
Watch it there
View part one and part two of the movie at Google video.
Learn more
You can find out more about Breakdown at the film's official website and also in my earlier coverage of it.
What's it all about?
The Corporation takes an insightful look into the history and working practices of the global corporate culture, casting a critical eye over the rise to dominance of huge corporations in the last century.
Watch it here
Part one:
Part two:
Watch it there
View part one and part two of the movie at Google video.
Learn more
You can find out more about the film by visiting its official website.
What's it all about?
The central contention of this internet documentary is that the 9/11 disaster was orchestrated by the US government to justify its aggressive foreign policy decisions
Watch it here
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You can find out more about the film at its official website
What's it all about?
The film explores the connections between the private corporations making a huge profit in Iraq, and the decision makers that enable them to do so.
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To find out more, visit the film's official website
What's it all about?
Steal This Film details the US-government instigated raid of the popular Swedish file sharing website 'The Pirate Bay', and explores the politics of file sharing and piracy.
Watch it here
Watch it there
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To find out more about the film, you can visit its official website
What's it all about?
This short video yanks back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry and exposes the ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created by them in the interests of lining their pockets.
Watch it here
Watch it there
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You can find out more about the video at its official website
What's it all about?
Behind the Screens takes a look at the rampant product placement that has consumer Hollywood entertainment. It was recently featured in my article on Hollywood hypercommercialism
Watch it here
Watch it there
Learn more
To find out more about the video, you can visit its official website
What's it all about?
This short video shows in time-lapse animation the process of an ordinary woman being transformed into an other-worldly beauty for the purposes of advertising.
Watch it here
Watch it there
Learn more
You can learn more about the campaign for real beauty, for which this video was made, by visiting its official website
Additional resources
If you're looking to find more videos you won't find on TV, you could do worse than look at some of the following websites:
N.B.: This is a growing, dynamic mini-guide. I will be adding new clips and movies as you help me find more great ones. Please do add via the comments section below your video recommendations and rare film gems that I have yet not listed in this growing Robin Good's mini-guide.
TV Detox - A Robin Good's Mini-Guide
2007-02-05 17:11:51 |
Well, I'd be happy to...
Maybe you can start by giving me some ideas for the non-fiction section...
2007-02-05 16:50:21 |
Isn't it ironic to find a site that carries wall-to-wall Google ads while promoting anti-capitalistic ideas. You have put together a fairly comprehensive list of fiction entertainment. When will you be posting the list of non-fiction?
2007-02-03 07:21:17 |
Great idea Robin,
thanks for putting this first skeleton of a guide together. I am sure it will grow into something formidable as your readers share their favourite out-of-the-box movies and videos to include here.
Sepp
2007-02-03 06:56:46 |
Google has already pulled "An Inconvenient Truth"