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"The belief in the Big Other as an invisible power structure which
exists in the Real is the most succinct definition of paranoia" -
Slavoj Zizek

We've seen these horror documentaries before. They all claim that a
"secret order" is slowly conspiring to reduce human rights and enslave
the world population. These documentaries attempt to create a
mono-myth, linking various conspiracies and hidden agendas into a
single all encompassing myth. A myth that explains the purpose and
point and future of everything.

"Zeitgeist", which plays on the paranoia of the internet generation,
implies that evil politicians and mysterious world leaders are secretly
conspiring to oppress the human race. The truth is, these leaders are
themselves servants to an invisible system.

In his lectures, Zizek uses a simple analogy to demonstrate how these
systems work in the real world. He asks the reader to imagine a school
in which children keep falling down and hurting themselves during
recess. Parents would complain to the principal, urging him to rectify
this problem. But what are the principal's options? He can spend money
and put a safety tarmac all over the playgrounds, or he can ban the
kids from playing outdoors. The moral thing to do would be to act in
the interest of the children, but if he increases his spending budget
he will get fired for not serving the school. So in order to cut costs
and keep his job, the principal is forced to restrict the rights of the
kids. He anticipates, however, that parents will protest. To coerce
them, he thus has to do two things. He has to make the parents scared
of sending their kids outside, and he has to keep the kids cheaply
entertained whilst inside. So maybe he lets them play on some classroom
computers and maybe he sends a newsletter out to the parents, telling
them that the playground is far too dangerous for the children to
remain outdoors.

Zizek's point is that whatever he does, the principal's aim is not to
control the kids or to steal power for himself, but rather to act in
the best interest of the school as an invisible system. A system which
increasingly needs more and more power in order to survive.

Zizek sees the world as lots and lots of different invisible systems
which humans serve and which slowly encroach on your rights. And the
scary thing about these systems is that they're psychopathic and purely
rational. They only act in their own self interest.

So "Zeitgeist" is false to imply that there is some "order" out to get
you. There is no order. These "evil politicians" and "mysterious world
leaders" are every bit the used slaves as the kids on the playground.
The actual entity doing the controlling does not exist.

"Zeitgeist" goes on to say that human beings will "accept this new
order", because they've become mindless slaves to pleasure seeking
activities. Essentially this echoes Marx's ideas that a comfortable
populace will never overthrow or challenge their ruling government for
fear of losing the amenities they have. ie- why risk violence when you
have something to lose?

And yet, according to sociological investigations, people are
increasingly finding less and less pleasure in recreational activities.
This growing indifference towards intense pleasure contrasts with the
official view that our postmodern society is bent on instant
gratification. Lacan foresaw this decades ago, when he stated that
subjects who dedicate their lives to pleasure would increasingly become
so involved in preparatory activities that the joy of the official goal
of their efforts fades away. We see this today, with millions of people
obsessed with prolonging youth, dedicating their lives to maintaining a
certain level of pleasure, yet obviously living in permanent anxiety
and under the shadow of ultimate failure.

The superego has thus successfully accomplished its work. The command
"Enjoy!" is a much more effective way to hinder man's access to
enjoyment than out-right prohibition, which maintains a space for
transgression. The lesson is that the selfish "care of the Self," and
not a "repressive group of conspirators", is the ultimate enemy of
intense pleasure experiences. Man's dream Utopia, where he whimsically
takes part in every conceivable pleasure, has morphed into a
disinterested Antonioni-like boredom. The direct intervention of pain
(weird sado-masochistic sexual practises etc) seems the only remaining
path to the intense experience of pleasure.

Thus, the fact that "The Big Other" doesn't exist, has two
consequences. Firstly, the failure of symbolic fiction causes man to
cling more and more to imaginary simulacra (films, computers etc), and
secondly, it triggers the need for violence of the body (ie David
Cronenberg).

We see these themes of repression, sexuality, knowledge and utopia in
the Bible. In Genesis, Adam and Eve tended to the Garden(society),
obediently doing their duty and obeying the orders of God(bureaucracy).
They were naked, repressed and stupid, but they had food and water and
enough mindless entertainment to keep them busy. Along came Satan, the
actual hero of the story. He taught them the truth: that it is wise to
eat from the Tree of Knowledge. And so Adam and Eve taste the fruit of
knowledge, gain wisdom, develop a moral sense, learn of their nakedness
and challenge God.

In the real world, society is evolving toward this sad Eden State. Man
doesn't want to eat from the Tree of knowledge. He wants to live in his
private utopia, in a sealed off home, thoughtless and comfortable in
his routines. He wants restrictions, because he is too weak to have
pleasure without prohibition. What's more, he wants all his troubles,
decisions and fears to be taken care of by a fatherly God, where God
represents bureaucracy and the symbolic Order.

5/10 - Skepticism is good, but all this film really wants to be is a
sensationalist horror movie..

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Is this true?.

zzzzzzzzz.

curious about this film i heard so much about it.

I love documentaries , and this one scared me .. what if it is a true ???.

everyone has to watch it and see the truth already.

it kinda tells the truth but not all the truth.

Red riding hood sucks.

It was pretty good. A great film to watch while sipping a goblet of red wine and eating savory Swiss fondu. .

interesting one, isn't it?.

This movie goes into a lot of detail, I found it amazing, it has
inspired me to look into and fact check for myself on the information
provided. Between government's and church's that choose to start wars
it shows you how little is paid to humans and the basic needs that we
need. If you look thou shall find. Do your research and see if the
information leads in the direction of the movie. Then 9/11 I at first
could not believe our government could do something like blow down the
trade centers but with the officials now that are now in office, I can
see it being happening in some back room. If you paid close attention
to the trade center buildings you can see a demo effect in the way the
buildings collapsed, then wtc 7 wasn't hit at all and it as while had a
demo like effect.Wake up.