All Illusions Must Be Broken

The other day I listened to an episode of The Gray Area (one of the few podcasts I feel like I should listen to more). In it, Sean Illing interviews Jef Sewell, one of the filmmakers behind All Illusions Must Be Broken, a new documentary inspired by the work of Ernest Becker, author of the brain-reorienting book The Denial of Death.

Here’s a trailer:

As a fan of Becker’s work (see, e.g., this 2014 tweet in which I was only half joking), Illing and Sewell had me at the “Ernest Becker.” I became even more interested, however, after listening to their conversation, finding out that Terrence Malick and Robert Redford served as executive producers on the project, and that previously Sewell made (along with Laura Dunn) a documentary on the work of Wendell Berry called Look & See, which I now want to see.

I’m also re-inspired to read Illing’s book (co-authored with Zac Gershberg) The Paradox of Democracy because of its American Studies-meets-media ecology vibe, which is where my own interests intersect.

I don’t remember exactly how I first heard about Becker’s The Denial of Death, published 50 years ago this past fall. It might have been on a parent’s bookshelf. Or maybe because it’s referenced in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, which I first saw as a teenager. Or maybe because, growing up in Seattle, I was aware of the activities of the (recently-disbanded) Ernest Becker Foundation, and even attended at least one of their events. Or maybe it was something a professor at USC hipped me to. Whatever the case, it’s a book I should probably revisit. My used paperback copy is around here somewhere. I imagine it’s something I’ll appreciate more now that I’m older, now that I’ve seen a little more death.