Glossary of Broken Dreams

I saw GOBD at the Vermont International Film Festival. Loved every overbearing second of it. I'd call it a braindump on stages of disappointments with persistent political ideologies. Being embedded deeply in leftist, political nerd culture, the movie tries to address topics in depth, and as the filmmaker stated in the Q&A, he couldn't have dumbed it down further. It's also a marvelous trip through film styles and packed with popcultural inside jokes. Buffer overflow! (Can't believe I'm giving a doc with a political agenda 8 stars. I've never done that before! I usually like films about animals!)

It was Mark Fisher who pointed out that capitalist reality always needs a certain level of anti-capitalism to become tolerable. This film definitely gets into your head, it tackles some of your inner beliefs, yet, of course, it cannot fundamentally change anything. Critique is its own category, its own precious thing. It simply shows us what's wrong, even gives a couple of suggestions what we could do better, but in the end, political critique is nothing more than a friendly invitation. You accept it, or you don't. Either way, after watching Glossary of Broken Dreams you will have learned a lot. What you do with your new mental tools is up to you.

"Glossary of Broken Dreams" definitely has an interesting concept: what kind of buzzwords do we use in our (social media thread) bubbles, but most people don't really understand what they mean? Through a series of short vignettes and using pop culture as the prime example, that concept succeeds in more ways than one. It's one of more entertaining documentaries I've seen and it's massively thought-provoking. Highly recommended!

Shameless plug for the Glossary of Broken Dreams, which I saw last night. Deleuze, Latour, Marx, Foucault and loads more but my favorite was the scene where the American President explains the Global Economy and Labour Economics with green slime.

'Glossary of Broken Dreams' is a colorful and imaginative film about the problems of the 21st century, but addressing them through the lens of old ideas (aka ideologies). An alternative tag line could be: "We can only shape the future if we understand the past."

The film openly promotes the idea of New Commons. This relates to network-based cooperation and localized bottom-up initiatives that often work outside of dominant markets and traditional state programs. Another world can be born out of the understanding and fostering of these notions.

The reality of a globalized world where migration, climate change, technology, capital have long surpassed any national borders is already here. We need to start getting realistic about this and seriously explore new answers. This film gives an in-depths analysis of the status quo and possible blueprint for solutions. Plus puppets. Win win.