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Civilizations DVD

$49.99 $39.99
Item #: WB1852
Survey the history of art, from antiquity to the present, on a global scale. Discover the role art and creative imagination have played in forging humanity, and see works of beauty, ingenuity, and illumination across cultures.
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Survey the history of art, from antiquity to the present, on a global scale. Discover the role art and creative imagination have played in forging humanity, and see works of beauty, ingenuity, and illumination across cultures.

Civilizations Survey the history of art, from antiquity to the present, on a global scale. This nine-part series reveals the role art and creative imagination have played in forging humanity, and introduces viewers to works of beauty, ingenuity, and illumination across cultures. Principal contributors Simon Schama, Mary Beard, and David Olusoga travel across the globe, visiting such cultural landmarks as the great mosques of Istanbul, the ancient cities of Mesoamerica, the Buddhist caves of Ajanta in India, the Aztecs' Templo Mayor in modern Mexico City, the funeral site of China's first emperor and many more. Narrated by Liev Schreiber.

Producer: Melanie Fall, Shaun Trevisick, Denys Blakeway, Michael Jackson, Jane Root, Mark Bell, Jonty Claypole, Tim Niel
Executive Producer: Mark Bell, Jonty Claypole
Production Company: BBC; Public Broadcasting Service; Nutopia Ltd
Production Year: 2018
Copyright Year: 2018
Rating: TV-PG
Narrator: Liev Schreiber
Writers: Simon Schama, Mary Beard, David Olusoga
Number of Discs: 3
Length: 480 minutes
Subtitled: Y
Subtitle Languages: English (SDH)
Language Track: English
Audio Format: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen

Item can only be shipped to US destinations.

5 Reviews
C
Charles C.
Anonymous User
5.0 star rating
08/30/23
Brilliant
Review by Charles C. on 08/30/23 review stating Brilliant
Excellent, eclectic, photography. Great organization and writing. Difficult to fault, except for occasional super-poetic flights of descriptions of basis impulses of the artists. Overly romantic ideas of why they did this or that, and what the artists were trying to express.
n
nova
Verified Buyer
3.0 star rating
04/12/23
Civilizations
Review by nova on 04/12/23 review stating Civilizations
Good on art criticism but poor on how it affected society. If you wanted to show how art affected society, you should have included music.
I
Irishmike
Anonymous User
1.0 star rating
02/07/21
I cannot stand the way this was filmed
Review by Irishmike on 02/07/21 review stating I cannot stand the way this was filmed
We are getting sick and tired of so much of the program being out of focus or filmed from behind something or the camera shaking. There are scenes were it goes from out of focus to in focus then back to out of focus. This is ridiculous and TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. Someone thinks this is cute but no one we know likes this, enjoys this, nor feels its necessary. Everyone is spending a lot of money on high definition television to get the best picture possible then we get these people that do these foolish gimmicks. I wonder if these people that make us watch these shows out of focus walk around all day with dirty glasses because thats what watching these shows are like.
A
Altair
Anonymous User
5.0 star rating
01/11/21
I enjoyed this so much I am buying a copy.
Review by Altair on 01/11/21 review stating I enjoyed this so much I am buying a copy.
We streamed this and found it enthralling. It raises intriguing questions, provides plenty of interesting information and is visually stimulating.
P
Peri H.
Anonymous User
5.0 star rating
01/11/21
Like a great book, youll want to revisit this masterpiece
Review by Peri H. on 01/11/21 review stating Like a great book, youll want to revisit this masterpiece
It is not a simple step to think of this produced and conceptualized program as a bit of a revolution in the formal discipline of art historybut I will brave that path from my small perch. It presents to us histories (and the plural I use here is quite intentional) specific to a placeand placesand to a timeand times. A grand global lattice comprised of artistic creations and inspirations acro cultures and societies not addreed in, and drawn together, by historisizing but by a truer ( or more truthful) consideration of complex sources and inspirations driving artistic creation. And that is (in the sense of historys etymological origins: as a learned enquiry explored through seeing) depiction rendered in and through the context (locally, of place and self) of visions that are shared between societal, political, economic, and environmental changes and upheavals in motion by people/artists separated by signal distances and sociocultural/political evolutions. This is NOT the art history narrative that has been conventionally taught in academia in decades pastin fact it literally blew my minds educated mental mindsetan established false reference deep in my intellect. This productions genius is, to my mind, in no small measure due to the great minds of its primary writer/presentersthe brilliant and iconoclastic claicist Mary Beard and art historian Maya Jasanoff, historians Simon Shama and David Olusoga.Civilizations is a stand-out archival survey and narrative of our humanity linked deeply and far beyond the rhetoric of paradigms and prejudice that has too-long been the progenitor of art historical academic education.

Highlighted Customer Reviews


A
Altair reviewed Civilizations DVD
5 star rating
I enjoyed this so much I am buying a copy.
Review by Altair review stating I enjoyed this so much I am buying a copy.
We streamed this and found it enthralling. It raises intriguing questions, provides plenty of interesting information and is visually stimulating.
P
Peri H. reviewed Civilizations DVD
5 star rating
Like a great book, youll want to revisit this masterpiece
Review by Peri H. review stating Like a great book, youll want to revisit this masterpiece
It is not a simple step to think of this produced and conceptualized program as a bit of a revolution in the formal discipline of art historybut I will brave that path from my small perch. It presents to us histories (and the plural I use here is quite intentional) specific to a placeand placesand to a timeand times. A grand global lattice comprised of artistic creations and inspirations acro cultures and societies not addreed in, and drawn together, by historisizing but by a truer ( or more truthful) consideration of complex sources and inspirations driving artistic creation. And that is (in the sense of historys etymological origins: as a learned enquiry explored through seeing) depiction rendered in and through the context (locally, of place and self) of visions that are shared between societal, political, economic, and environmental changes and upheavals in motion by people/artists separated by signal distances and sociocultural/political evolutions. This is NOT the art history narrative that has been conventionally taught in academia in decades pastin fact it literally blew my minds educated mental mindsetan established false reference deep in my intellect. This productions genius is, to my mind, in no small measure due to the great minds of its primary writer/presentersthe brilliant and iconoclastic claicist Mary Beard and art historian Maya Jasanoff, historians Simon Shama and David Olusoga.Civilizations is a stand-out archival survey and narrative of our humanity linked deeply and far beyond the rhetoric of paradigms and prejudice that has too-long been the progenitor of art historical academic education.
C
Charles C. reviewed Civilizations DVD
5 star rating
Brilliant
Review by Charles C. review stating Brilliant
Excellent, eclectic, photography. Great organization and writing. Difficult to fault, except for occasional super-poetic flights of descriptions of basis impulses of the artists. Overly romantic ideas of why they did this or that, and what the artists were trying to express.

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