'Age of Stupid': first post of (probably) many

The Age of Stupid: final trailer, Feb 2009 HD from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Well it looks like this film is about to take over my life so I thought I should begin with an introduction...

I started following the filmmakers' progress after encountering this film during research for my MA dissertation. After many books, articles and interviews my conclusion went something along the lines of saying that we can't rely on journalism, bound as it is by norms and conventions that come under the tag of 'journalism ethics', to communicate the emergency of a problem like climate change as urgently or engagingly as needed. And that there needs to be a much wider cultural response and conversation regarding the issues. That's a very inadequate summary of months of work and thousands of words, but the basic gist of what I'm getting at is that 'Age of Stupid' is a fantastic example of the kind of response I concluded was needed.

Sure, there are some 'deniers' who are probably never going to be convinced, especially not by a documentary with such a clear viewpoint, but if the minds of those who accept that manmade climate change is happening can be shifted to comprehend the urgency and importance of the problem a little bit better then maybe a film like this can have a real impact. And although I have yet to see the film, all the responses I've seen suggest that it has a real emotional impact, is gripping throughout, and leaves you with no doubt about how big a problem we have on our hands.

My MA in media & communications did more to confirm the negative and/or surprising impacts that media can have on society than the positive, but surely this confirms that there is a point in believing that films can make a difference. And the 'Not Stupid' campaign that is being launched on the back of this film has the potential to ignite discussion in a much wider way. Although there isn't much on the website about it yet, you can bet there'll be some interesting ideas. It's going to be very interesting seeing how it all goes.

I almost forgot to mention, I start next week in their office so I'm sure there will be more posts about the film and the campaign, and hopefully it won't all take up too much time to stop me blogging!

(If you want to know more, the website is great and has lots of interesting stories, snippets and background)