Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
Director: Peter Wintonick and Mark Achbar
Year Released: 1992
Rating: 3.5
Fantastic introduction to the great linguist and anarchist Chomsky and his radical ideas about big business controlling the information we receive (not to mention his profound knowledge of foreign affairs and the precise details of historical movements). Worth seeing just to experience the unstoppable logical genius the man possesses - the New York Times quote about him being 'arguably the most important intellectual alive' makes the professor roll his eyes; anyone that's actually read him knows his disdain for the 'newspaper of record'. Of all the people that interview him, the Student Radio station out of Massachusetts probably asks the best and most reasonable questions; that he'll allow himself to be interviewed by students reveals a very Socratic interest in educating people of all races and ages on matters of politics, which makes sense, since Chomsky views socialist mass-movement as the force that can change the world. [The DVD is worth purchasing for the inclusion of his debates with William F. Buckley (who gets flabbergasted when his pomposity is challenged by an in-control Chomsky) and French poststructuralist Michel Foucault (who is just as in-command as Noam; you can sense two phenomenal minds mentally deciphering and understanding similar issues in much the same manner).]