HyperNormalisation · reception & legacy
2016 · Adam Curtis
How HyperNormalisation has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Dropped quietly on BBC iPlayer in October 2016, it got a huge second wind three weeks later when Trump won and the whole thing suddenly read as prophecy — it's since become the default entry point for Curtis converts.
What's debated
The forever-debate: is Curtis a visionary essayist connecting the dots of modern power, or a vibes merchant whose 'everything is connected' method is just conspiracy thinking with better music?
Its footprint
Curtis's deadpan 'but then something strange happened...' narration style is endlessly imitated and parodied online, and the film's title gave the internet a go-to word for the feeling that the world is fake but nobody can act on it.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd politics-bro rite of passage and the consensus 'start here' Curtis film — one of the rare TV documentaries treated as canon by film people.