Fun with Filmstrips

It's odd to see contemporary digital media used for a retrograde technical form like the film strip, but that's exactly what the political agitators Filmstrip International do. To see how the rhetoric in this intentionally anachronistic media works, you can see two versions of the anti-Bush filmstrip at "You're an Asshole." They also play around with the didactic notion of the "educational" film by posting the 1946 Encyclopedia Brittanica film on "Despotism." Check out Brittanica's "information" access index to see why the message about dangers to democratic institutions might still be considered up-to-date.

It's not the only angry political filmstrip out there. There's also the "Walmart is Evil" filmstrip on YouTube.

Strangely, these filmstrips lack the characteristic annoying "beep" that those of us who actually watched filmstrips in school remember. See this one on Chinese Painting to go down memory lane.

My favorite "filmstrip"/meditation on life is the one that Sivacracy's Ann Bartow plugged: "Dance, Monkeys, Dance."