All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Ep. 1)

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Documentary auteur Adam Curtis executes his cut-up brilliance in a new television series analyzing the fallout of the technoculture we take for granted.

Airing Monday on BBC2, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace — which takes its name from Richard Brautigan’s prophetic poem — explains how humanity now sees through the dead eyes built into the machines to which we have ceded our lives.

Beginning with the techno-utopian ’90s and that era’s fervent belief that computers could positively reshape democracy and power, Curtis‘ engaging new series of films goes on to examine how technology has enveloped us in a loveless digital dragnet of ubiquitous surveillance, flash crashes and way too much information.

Judging from All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace’s surreal image juxtapositions and edgy sonics from artists like Angelo Badalamenti, Nine Inch Nails and Stereo Total, Curtis’ new documentary series will likely feel similar to his astounding previous projects The Century of the Self and The Power of Nightmares.