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Thanks to the DVD special add-on of the 'talking head' Sir David Attenborough no less, we now have the definitive origins of this the first and one of the best of the great modern TV documentaries.
It seems that American color TV had failed. Failed to the extent that companies were pulling out of production of the hardware and the programing. England had developed a slightly different, less garish and more accurate color broadcast technique and it fell to BBC Channel 2 to find the program that would sell color TVs. That is a program that would showcase what could only be attempted by a color broadcast. It had to be so appealing that people, at least people with money would buy a new color TV just to watch this broadcast.
At that time soccer fans were mostly known as hooligans and they were used to football in black and white. So at BBC2 the play went from David Attenborough (not yet Knighted ) to K Clark (not yet Lord), a well-known writer and Michelangelo scholar. Between them and a number of now much better known masters of television production and directing, scripts (writen by Lord Clark) were turned into the great Civilization Series.
This 13 hour documentary traces the development of western painting, architecture, music and philosophy from the fall of the Roman Empire into the mid-20th Century. This is clearly labeled as a personal view and Lord Clark rarely needs to quote other authorities to back his view of western progress in the arts and humanities.
Elsewhere it has been reported that the series was limited to the Europe to keep the length of the documentary to 13 parts. BBC programming at that time was built in quarters of 13 week units. This is a convincing argument but I cannot find any evidence that his lordship had any confidence on the subjects of Asian, African , Indian or anything but European Arts. Confidence being one of his major pillars that define civilization, a viewer cannot imagine this narrator covering topics he cannot command. Indeed he barely touches what was then called Modern Art. He will say about Modern Art only that he and the `experts' are only ever in agreement by coincidence.
Civilization is a masterful tour of Western Art. Logical arguments are made as to why progress was made, how it was funded, and why it progressed in particular order, both in space and time. Lord Clark admits when he is guessing but supports his guesses with a mix of facts and speculations leaving it for you to write Your documentary should you choose to disagree.
His is clearly inspired by religions inspiration yet he seems to favor a more humanist than specifically religious philosophy. Religion he seems to say is a civilizing force, except when it becomes too powerful, and always it becomes stagnant. The ultimate religious question to ask is: What duties and opinions are more pleasing to the divine. The merchants question is: What is most practical/profitable? Lord Clark's question seems to be what is the most beneficial? "Beneficial" here define as taking in both the concept of beautiful as applied to art and what is inclusive of the larger population.
On the first and second viewing one can be swept into the flow of beautiful things, and beautiful music- Gregorian chants seems to echo as if recorded live in those great Cathedrals. Lord Clark never leaves you waiting for the next image or the next explanation. He always seems alone and in singular command of every landscape, real or painted and at home in every castle, monastery, Palazzo and library.
In later viewings, one may feel bolder about having diverging opinions. I for one am slightly bored by the over gilded putti cluttered Baroque (As he says it rhymes with Roch) and Rococo (rhymes with cocoa). Even so each additional viewing make clear just how acid and subtle can be his humor. He is for example optimistic about the future, just not joyous.
Civilization is for anyone open to lectures about what we might now think of as "White" history. The visuals include the bad teeth that even BBC now makes an object of fun. Allowing for the occasional nude, male and female, the contents are family friendly. This is an advanced education in the arts and humanities, plus entertaining and beautiful. This document is a historic first. It is a strong case for the decision to own color television and programming worthy of more than one viewing.
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Reviews with images
Praise your heritage, praise what was handed over to you!
The first time I saw Civilization documentary I was a kid. The Spanish dubbing was great in the wonderful voice of the late Mexican American actor Claudio Brook. Then as a young adult I saw it again carefully admiring Clark’s dogma-free phrases, elegant, calm, and no less insightful which was his trademark. Now at 63 years old I saw with deep sadness how both America and Western Europe mainstream opinion often repudiate their cultural heritage instead of being deeply grateful for that. Some intellectuals such as Adorno, Marcuse et al. put in motion all this followed by French postmodernist (I think time Clark was aware of that trend at the time). The mania of making sociology about everything became colleague syllabus and then in the following decades those attitudes spread all over institutions and society in a sort of trickle-down effect. Despite their convoluted theoretical views cannot be popular by themselves, attitudes those intellectuals pushed for are what counts at the end to the point of becoming common place these days. Most of these Uber critics and repudiators do not realize they took western civilization benefits for granted; simply cannot imagine a world with a different set of assumptions. Ideology and ideologues age badly meanwhile Clark's Civilization documentary is a treasure for the ages.
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J. Gobeil
High quality Blu-ray Transfer
Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2020
J. Gobeil
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Cliente Amazon
Il bello al centro della civiltà come epifania della “vera vita”
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Kristina Breen
On time and in good condition
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