“Videocracy”: Berlusconi’s empire of boobs

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:20:00 +0000

In "Videocracy," an intriguing but portentous documentary now getting a limited theatrical release after a year on the international film-festival circuit, director Erik Gandini paints a nightmarish vision of contemporary Italy, seemingly torn from the pages of Guy Debord's political-philosophical tract "Society of the Spectacle." Under media tycoon-turned-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Gandini suggests, Italy's ancient cultures and customs have been supplanted by a dazzling but mind-deadening brew of celebutainment that makes "American Idol" look like Boccaccio's "Decameron."

Especially for Americans accustomed to complaining about the high-octane vapidity of our own media culture, "Videocracy" is like a startling glimpse into a funhouse mirror or a science-fiction alternate reality, one that suggests things could be a lot worse than they are. If you imagine an America in which Rupert Murdoch owns all the major broadcast networks along with most of the cable channels and publishing houses, and then gets himself elected president for life -- and further imagine replacing the American blend of sexual Puritanism and hypocrisy with the cheesiest kind of Euro-licentiousness -- you've got the democracy of boobs (in all senses) depicted by Gandini.

Salon.com > Videocracy

“Videocracy”: Berlusconi’s empire of boobs