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Monday, May 07, 2012

Light Bulb Conspiracy - Planned Obsolescence
It is all around you - drugs that you take, that
need another drug to cure the side effects ...
capitalism! Consumerism at work!

04-13 May 2012 - Vancouver Documentary Film Festival

The Light Bulb Conspiracy

Cosima Dannoritzer, Spain, 2010, 75 mins
Saturday, May 12 | 12:00pm | Vancity Theatre

By now we barely even question it: consumer products don’t last. But, as this doc helpfully shows us, there was a time when the goods we spent our hard-earned money on could be counted on to keep working for years and years. What happened? Collusion of big business and the short-sighted desire for more manufacturing and sales created what is called “planned obsolescence.” Director Cosima Dannoritzer explores this phenomenon, centring on the seminal plan among light bulb manufacturers to create short-lasting products in order to increase their profits. And there’s much more: the film takes on the particulars of contemporary consumerism, the remarkable story of an American fire station with an old-fashioned light bulb that’s been working for decades, and the determined quest of one man to fix a printer that everyone he talks to tells him to throw out. Brisk and fact-filled, this is a disturbing but hopeful eye-opener. –MA

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