"We Live In Public" has got to be the most important documentary for all of us to see RIGHT NOW because it addresses the fragmentation of our psyches--(individual and collective) --displaying fully how we've all gotten disconnected from our own hearts and minds and, subsequently, disconnected from each other and from everything that matters. We simply cannot sustain our ability to CARE about the environment or about teen suicide or about any of the "societal/global ills" for which we fleetingly wave banners when we've collectively agreed to being 100% addicted to sitting and staring into illuminated plastic boxes all day long, engaging only the most superficial aspects of our inner selves and shutting down the rest. It's SO insidious--and the younger people have no frame of reference for any other way of living. Young people's baseline orientation to enjoying a rock concert or a day at the beach or an art exhibit or an anything else (YOU-NAME-IT) is to text about it and/or film it with a smart phone and/or write a status update about it, rather than give themselves over to the experience. Being PRESENT in one's life is not a priority anymore; stepping back and COMMENTING on one's life has become the norm--as is laid out SO THOROUGHLY and EXPLICITLY in that movie. Man oh man oh MAN!!
I feel passionate about sharing this movie with folks, but I also feel like I have to warn them: "Brace yourselves, my friends. This is an exceedingly tough MIRROR being held up here." I mean, I suppose we COULD tell ourselves that this is simply "a movie about some eccentric Dot-Com Dude who indulged in extravagant Reality TV experiments 10 years ago," but puh-leeze! This is a documentary about OUR lives--about something that has completely infiltrated our day-to-day operations, personally and professionally--and we are NOT just watching this phenomenon from the outside--we are actively PARTICIPATING in it! (I'm participating at this very moment, ferfucksake.) One reviewer called it "a cautionary tale" but I call it a BALLS-OUT CONFRONTATION of our life in the new millennium!
That said, as disturbing as it all is--I DO believe that this is a phase in our evolvement, and it will lead to the next thing and the next thing--and we will grow from the pain. I DO believe that. And we will suffer, too, of course. Absolutely. We are already suffering. But we will grow, too. More to say on this...later!)
Here's the link to the movie--it's free on Hulu for the next few weeks:
