Zeitgeist: The Movie is a 2007 film by
Peter Joseph presenting a number of
conspiracy theories. The film assembles
archival footage, animations, and narration. Released online on June 18, 2007, it soon received tens of millions of views on
Google Video,
YouTube, and
Vimeo. are the subject of part II of
Zeitgeist: the Movie. Part II alleges that the September 11 attacks were either orchestrated or allowed to happen by elements within the
United States government to generate mass fear, justify the
war on terror, provide a pretext for the curtaillment of
civil liberties, and produce economic gain. It asserts that the U.S. government had
advance knowledge of the attacks, that the military
deliberately allowed the planes to reach their targets, and that
World Trade Center buildings 1, 2, and 7 underwent a
controlled demolition. Part III states that the
Federal Reserve System is controlled by a small
cabal of
international bankers who conspire to create global calamities to enrich themselves. A review in
The Irish Times wrote that "these are surreal perversions of genuine issues and debates, and they tarnish all criticism of faith, the
Bush administration, and
globalization—there are more than enough factual injustices in this world to be going around without having to invent fictional ones". Ivor Tossell in
The Globe and Mail cited it as an example of how modern
conspiracy theories are promulgated, though he praised its effectiveness: The film is an interesting object lesson on how conspiracy theories get to be so popular ... It's a driven, if uneven, piece of propaganda, a marvel of tight editing and fuzzy thinking. Its on-camera sources are mostly conspiracy theorists, co-mingled with selective eyewitness accounts, drawn from
archival footage and often taken out of context. It derides the media as a pawn of the International Bankers, but produces media reports for credibility when convenient. The film ignores expert opinion, except the handful of experts who agree with it. And yet, it's compelling. It shamelessly ploughs forward,
connecting dots with an earnest certainty that makes you want to give it an A for effort.
Michael Shermer, founder of the
Skeptics Society, mentioned
Zeitgeist in an article in
Scientific American on skepticism in the age of mass media and the
postmodern belief in the
relativism of truth. He argues that this belief, coupled with a "clicker culture of mass media," results in a multitude of various truth claims packaged in "
infotainment units", in the form of films such as
Zeitgeist and
Loose Change.
Jane Chapman, a film producer and reader in
media studies at the
University of Lincoln, called
Zeitgeist "a fast-paced assemblage of
agitprop," an example of "unethical film-making". Chapman accused Peter Joseph of "implicit deception" through the use of standard film-making propaganda techniques. While parts of the film are, she says, "comically" self-defeating, the nature of "twisted evidence" and use of
Madrid bomb footage to imply it is of the
London bombings amount to "ethical abuse in sourcing". She finishes her analysis with the comment: "Thus, legitimate questions about what happened on 9/11, and about corruption in religious and financial organizations, are all undermined by the film's determined effort to maximize an
emotional response at the expense of reasoned argument."
Alex Jones, American radio host, conspiracy theorist and executive producer of
Loose Change, stated that film segments of
Zeitgeist are taken directly from his documentary
Terrorstorm, and that he supports "90 percent" of the film.
Skeptic magazine's Tim Callahan, criticizing the parts of the film on the origins of Christianity, wrote that "some of what it asserts is true. Unfortunately, this material is liberally—and sloppily—mixed with material that is only partially true and much that is plainly and simply bogus." Chris Forbes, Senior lecturer in
Ancient History of
Macquarie University and member of the
Synod of the Diocese of Sydney, severely criticized Part I of the film, stating that it has no basis in serious scholarship or ancient sources, and that it relies on amateur sources that recycle frivolous ideas from one another, commenting that "[i]t is extraordinary how many claims it makes which are simply not true". Similar conclusions were reached by Dr. Mark Foreman of
Liberty University. In
Tablet magazine, journalist
Michelle Goldberg criticized
Zeitgeist: The Movie as being "steeped in far-right, isolationist, and covertly
anti-Semitic conspiracy theories," writing that the film borrowed from the work of
Eustace Mullins,
Lyndon LaRouche, and radio host Alex Jones, and that it portrays a
cabal of international bankers purportedly ruling the world. In an interview with
TheMarker, Joseph said that while the film does mention bankers it does not seek to blame any individual or group of individuals. He argued they are merely a product of a
socioeconomic system in need of change.
Chip Berlet wrote that the 9/11 conspiracy theories "are bait used to attract viewers from the
9/11 Truth movement and others who embrace conspiracist thinking to the
idiosyncratic antireligion views of the
videographer and the world of right-wing
antisemitic theories of a global banking conspiracy".
Jay Kinney questioned the accuracy of its claims and the quality of its arguments, describing it as agitprop and propaganda.
Use in other media In June 2013, Peter Joseph directed the music video for "
God Is Dead?" by
Black Sabbath, using extensive imagery from
Zeitgeist: The Movie and its sequels. ==
Zeitgeist: Addendum==