Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Narrated by Matt Damon, Ferguson's Oscar-winning documentary takes apart the 2008 financial crisis: the deregulation, the ratings agencies, the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington and the economists who were paid to say it was fine. He interviews the people responsible, and watches some of them squirm.

Why it’s here: The film shows the crisis as a decision, not a natural disaster. What's punk is the interview chair: the people who profited are asked to explain themselves on camera, and several do not. What's pedagogical is the way it follows the money and the incentives, including the academic ones. It is the film companion to Too Big to Fail and The Big Short, and a fitting pair for the Capitalism bundle. Note: Ferguson was criticized for the access some interviewees were given and for the narrow focus on the US; the film is a one-sided prosecution by design.

A documentary about Kids on Fire, an evangelical summer camp in North Dakota, where children are taught to see themselves as soldiers in a spiritual war. We watch them pray, weep, pledge allegiance to a Christian flag and lay hands on a cardboard cutout of the president. The directors let the pastors and parents speak for themselves, and a radio host argues the other side.

Why it’s here: It's a film about how a movement raises its next generation. What's punk is its refusal to narrate for you, which makes some viewers laugh and others shudder. What's pedagogical is the question it raises for every parent: what do we teach our kids to be for, and who is in the room? Pairs with The Power Worshippers, Jesus and John Wayne and The Family. Note: the subjects have said the film was edited to look worse, and the directors were Americans from the outside looking in; kids are the subjects, so watch with context. English.