Obviously. And yet, I keep watching, trying to see if hints, seeds of revolution will pop through the screen. Of course, the fundamental problem with screened revolutions is that we the people end up wanting the screen, not the ‘else’ or ‘elsewhere’ that real revolutions promise.

Another problem with this particular screened ‘revolution’ is that both the creators and many viewers (and reviewers) truly believe that because corrupt systems do, in fact, hold our lives together, to tear them down would be to tear ourselves down. So we might as well… what? Get a job in advertising?

We have to want something else. We have to want each other directly. We have to want – unmediated – the natural world around us, to struggle in it, balance ourselves with it. We have to trust ourselves and each other and not buy into the low self-esteem and fear they’ve shown/sold us.

There is no winning at this.

To play along is to play ourselves.

We must direct our attention, our energy, our selves elsewhere.

I wish I were better at taking my own advice, though. I’m still watching. And, I feel a bit let down, a bit betrayed. Even though I know it’s not the real thing, whenever I see shades of this unmediated, or, at least, less mediated life on the screen, it’s presented in a way that undermines it’s power, it’s possibility.