Documentaries do have power, the eco-drama 2009 “The Age of Stupid” relays a message the audience will never forget. The year is 2055, in a world devastated by mankind’s lack of foresight. The film maker attempts to make the documentary informative yet personal, the film maker innovative the film by adopted a new model of funding known as crowd funding. By selling shares to over 200 individual and groups who donated between 500-35000 euros, it created the best possible chance for the documentary to reach a mainstream multiplex audience, whilst being able to retain complete editorial control.
The audience is given various observations of the future, the unnamed archivist Pete Postlethwaite, is locked away in a bunker underground, stripped of all freedom, entrusted with to safeguard to humanity’s storage of art and knowledge. In a world ravaged by catastrophic climate change, the sole archivist reviews footage of the past to see where it all went wrong….
By creating a desolate and dead future combining facts and fiction, it changes the viewer’s ideology. In today’s worlds; climate change is a serious problem which needs to be addressed, over the past 20 years pollution has been increasing about 10% every year. The documentary underlining message strives to inform the audience the importance of climate change, that if you don’t make a change, the earth will be swept from under your feet. That the effects of climate change are becoming apparent at an alarming rate and soon will become irreversible, that the time to change is now.
The title “The Age of Stupid” challenges the viewers to change their ways, whilst crafting a surreal illustration of the future, demonstrating that earth cannot sustain itself forever. It challenges the audience to be the change, after viewing this apocalyptical film, who…
