Television is advertising. It is a medium whose purpose is to sell, to promote capitalism. In 1977, Jerry Mander, a former advertising executive in San Francisco, published Four Arguments For The Elimination Of Television. In the book, Mander reveals how the television networks and advertisers use this pervasive video medium for sales.
Four Arguments talks about a lot more than just advertising. Mander attacks not only the contents of the television images, but the effects television has on the human mind and body. His discussion includes: The induction of alpha waves, a hypnotizing effect that a motionless mind enters. How viewers often regard what they see on television as real even though the programs are filled with quick camera switches, rapid image movement, computer generated objects, computer generated morphing and other technical events. The placement of artificial images into our mind's eye. And the effects that large amounts of television viewing have on children and the onset of attention deficit disorder.
However, at the heart of Mander's arguments, lies advertising. In the words of writer Charles Bukowski: "[America is] not a free country -- everything is bought and sold and owned."
Documentary about how propaganda is being used to manipulate your mind.
Sources for this film:
-Beder, Sharon -- Consumerism: an Historical Perspective
-Chomsky, Noam -- What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream
-Darwinia -- WWI Propaganda
-Ewen, Stuart -- Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture
-Lazere, Donald -- American media and mass culture
-Lutins, Allen -- An Eclectic list of Events in US Labor History
-Millies, Stephen -- The Ludlow Massacre and the Birth of Company Unions
-Parenti, Michael -- Super-Patriotism
-Simpson, Christopher -- The Science of Coercion
-Smith, Sharon -- Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States
-Snow, Nancy -- Propagnda, Inc., Selling America's Culture to the World
-Stauber, John and Rampton, Sheldon -- Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq ; Toxic Sludge is Good For You
-Tye, Larry -- The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays & The Birth of PR
Film created by: http://www.metanoia-films.org/index.php
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