While Welles intended F For Fake to be a warning against the growing popularity of hucksters, I doubt that even he could have foreseen what a surprisingly bright future they would soon have.The public has shown an increasing appetite for Hollywood fakers and charlatans who have launched careers with a serious bit of reality manipulation and then parlayed those early efforts into the big leagues of power and stardom.

A visitor from space would likely be confused by America's aesthetics: its things frequently look wonderful. Its people, despite having a combined net worth that's never been higher, frequently look like hell.