Capitalism: Documentary Series
Fri, Nov 29
|Epsilon Spires Sanctuary
Counter-celebrate Black Friday by viewing and discussing CAPITALISM, an ambitious and accessible documentary series that looks at both the history of ideas and the social forces that have shaped the capitalist world.
Time & Location
Nov 29, 2019, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Epsilon Spires Sanctuary, 190 Main Street, Brattleboro VT 05301
About the event
Capitalism has been the engine of unprecedented economic growth and social transformation. With the fall of the communist states and the triumph of "neo- liberalism," capitalism is by far the world's dominant ideology. But how much do we understand about how it originated and what makes it work?
With on-the-ground footage shot in twenty-two countries, CAPITALISM questions the myth of the unfettered free market, explores the nature of debt and commodities, and retraces some of the great economic debates of the last 200 years.
An impressive series that makes economics accessible through an interdisciplinary approach that explores the work of great thinkers, while embedding economics in specific social, political, and historical contexts. Featuring conversations with some of the world's top economists, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists, including Thomas Piketty, Noam Chomsky, Yanis Varoufakis, Nicholas Phillipson, Kari Polanyi Levitt, David Graeber, and Abraham Rotstein. All events in the series are free and open to the public.
The six-part documentary series will be screened in three installments on the evenings of: November 29th, December 4th, and December 8th. Screenings will be followed by a discussion facilitated by Bob Johnson, Founder/CEO of Omega Optical.
"I'm both captivated and persuaded by the discourse... Demystifies both key economic theories and their selective evolutions and perversions into marketing slogans and other deceptive catchphrases, each chapter has a cleansing and clarifying effect." —Cinema Scope
Each 52 minute episode stands alone, for this screening we will include the first two in the series with an informal discussion to follow.
Episode 1: Adam Smith, The Birth of the Free Market Capitalism is much more complex than the vision Adam Smith laid out in The Wealth of Nations. Indeed, it predates Smith by centuries and took root in the practices of colonialism and the slave trade.
Episode 2: The Wealth of Nations: A New Gospel? Adam Smith was both economist and moral philosopher. But his work on morality is largely forgotten, leading to tragic distortions that have shaped our global economic system.