Stupidity

Stupidity (2003)

An exploration into the nature of stupidity in Western society and its history of our perception of it.

Date of release
2003-01-01
TMDB
5.4 / 10 (13)
Runtime
1h 1m
Genres
Documentary, History
Director
Albert Nerenberg

Casting

Interesting facts

Stupidity is a 2003 Canadian satirical documentary film directed by Albert Nerenberg and produced by Shannon Brown, as the first film commissioned by the Documentary Channel. Nerenberg was also the film's executive producer. The film proposes that willful ignorance has increasingly become a strategy for success in the realms of politics and entertainment, that is, the "stupid" things that seemingly smart people do every day. The film questions "why stupidity is such a slippery concept to grasp and why so few people are talking about it." The film features songs by The Arrogant Worms and original music by The Morons.

Production

In a podcast interview, Albert Nerenberg told Steve Paulson he was watching a "boring" documentary about intelligence when it occurred to him that stupidity would make a much more interesting film. He also said that the media has been dumbing itself down for a long time, and that he was tired of doing it himself.

Reportedly "made for little money" (Nerenberg's Elevator Films website says it had a "modest TV hour budget"), much of the footage featuring off-the-cuff commentary by celebrities was obtained "by taking advantage of" attendees of the Toronto International Film Festival. Commentary on the DVD indicates that the film was shot using a 1.33:1 ratio, subsequently matted for the feature film to 1.85:1, affecting compositions in some areas.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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