Hi everyone, here are three Non-Fiction DVD recommendations for the week.
Generation Like
Description: Thanks to social media, today’s teens are able to directly interact with their culture — artists, celebrities, movies, brands, and even one another — in ways never before possible. But is that real empowerment? Or do marketers still hold the upper hand? In Generation Like, author and FRONTLINE correspondent Douglas Rushkoff (The Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders) explores how the perennial teen quest for identity and connection has migrated to social media — and exposes the game of cat-and-mouse that corporations are playing with these young consumers. Do kids think they’re being used? Do they care? Or does the perceived chance to be the next big star make it all worth it?
Dewey Decimal System Call Number: DVD 006.7 GEN
Trailer:
Generation Like Request Link:
The Day The Universe Changed
Description: I’ll just add a brief preface and note that although this series was recorded in the 1980s it offers a fascinating look at both how we see the world based upon the knowledge we have at any given time and how western societies have valued technological advancement over the centuries from the printing press, to the telegraph to the automobile to the computer and beyond. If you haven’t seen this series and you’re interested in history and/or technology — check it out!
And here’s an overview of the entire 5 disc series: The Day the Universe Changed: A Personal View by James Burke is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast on BBC1 from 19 March until 21 May 1985 by the BBC. The series’ primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western society in its philosophical aspects.
The title comes from the philosophical idea that the universe essentially only exists as one perceives it through what one knows; therefore, if one changes one’s perception of the universe with new knowledge, one has essentially changed the universe itself. To illustrate this concept, James Burke tells the various stories of important scientific discoveries and technological advances and how they fundamentally altered how western civilization perceives the world. The series runs in roughly chronological order, from around the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present.
The series won the following Awards:
Booklist Nonprint Editor’s Choice
National Educational Film Festival
Columbus International Film & Video Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
Dewey Decimal System Call Number: DVD 509 DAY
Trailer: (This one is a bit long; it features the first ten minutes of the first episode of this excellent series and it is a bit fuzzy — but if you haven’t seen this series I urge you to at least watch the 10 minute trailer as it give you an idea of what this series is about)
Day the Universe Changed Request Link:
Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story
Description: Booker Wright was an African-American restaurant owner who also served double-duty as a waiter in a “whites-only” restaurant in Mississippi in the 1960s. He became an unlikely activist for the Civil Rights movement when he appeared on a network TV documentary reporting on the changing times in his small town. Exploding the myth of who he was and his experience serving the white community, Booker’s appearance set off a chain of events that eventually led to his untimely murder.
BOOKER’S PLACE: A MISSISSIPPI STORY follows director Raymond De Felitta (City Island), whose father directed the original 1966 documentary, as he journeys through past and present-day Mississippi with Booker’s granddaughter, searching for details around Booker’s courageous life and shocking murder, while also exploring the impact the film had – not only on the local community, but also on Raymond’s father.
Dewey Decimal System Call Number: DVD 323.1196 BOO
Trailer:
Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story Request Link:
References:
References
A Film Settles Accounts From the ’60s by Felicia R. Lee. The New York Times. April 20, 2012.
Legacy of Booker Wright, waiter murdered after speaking out on ‘whites only’ restaurant in Mississippi. The Grio interview with Lester Holt. July 13, 2012.
The Song and the Silence: A Story about Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright by Yvette Johnson.
Have a great weekend!
Linda, SSCL
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 