The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis tells the untold and controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society. How is the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interest?
To many in both business and government, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power is truly moved into the hands of the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really?
The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund’s devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund’s great grandson, Matthew Freud. Sigmund Freud’s work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society’s belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man’s ultimate goal….Check out this post with more info. about them and The Tavistock Institute: http://bc.vc/aR2kK
Part 1-Happiness Machines:
Part one documents the story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays who invented ‘Public Relations’ in the 1920s, being the first person to take Freud’s ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn’t need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires.
Part 2-The Engineering of Consent:
Part two explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud’s ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses. Politicians and planners came to believe Freud’s underlying premise that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany, and in response to this, they set out to find ways to control the masses so as to manage the ‘hidden enemy’ within the human mind.
Part 3-There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed:
In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas, which lead to the creation of a new political movement that sought to create ‘new people’, free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people’s minds by business and politics. This episode shows how this idea rapidly developed in America through “self-help movements”, into the irresistible rise of the expressive self: the Me Generation.
Part 4-Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering:
This episode explains how politicians turned to the same techniques used by business in order to read and manipulate the inner desires of the masses. Both New Labor with Tony Blair and the Democrats led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group which had been invented by psychoanalysts in order to regain power. Both set out to mold their policies to manipulate people’s innermost desires and feelings, just as capitalism had learned to do with products.
There Are Currenty 13 Comments for this Post
Basically his point is that in the olden “conformist” times your individual feelings and desires were protected by this barrier of conformity. You couldn’t always show your feelings and act upon them, but at least they were safe and innocent. In our so called individualist times, feelings have been taken over by corporations that manipulate them and leave very little individuality in them so people are less authentic than ever before. Good point.
With the internet at our disposal, there is no longer any excuse for ignorance. Stupidity can no longer be excused. It’s a choice. Will you spend your time informing yourself, and breaking free of ignorance? Or will you spend your time watching television, and reinforcing the conditioning that is talked about in this documentary? Take the red pill for the sake of humanity.
“Man’s appetite for goods must be quickened and increased”, said Paul Mazur…Our enormously productive economy…demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual statisfactions, our ego satisfactions in consumption….We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate.–Victor LeBow
This is the greatest documentary ever made – in my opinion. I love the honest detail, the family, kingmaker and ‘last interviews they’ll ever give’ quality to all of Adam Curtis’s interview/talking head clips, as well as his unwavering commitment to plaiting the three or four threads that he illuminates in a way I cannot see how any intelligent person can’t appreciate. It is breathtaking how relevant (UK riots perhaps?) these bodies of work still are. Incredible.
I guess the fundamental issue regarding the future of society is how much people would rather be ‘unconscious bundles of emotion’ as opposed to respectable, rational beings. I genuinely fear the former being chosen, because it’s true, business is now about meeting those desires, and traditional politics does indeed promote a respectable, rational society, and it does seem that most people are rapidly seeing themselves as their emotional desires.
you should watch Zeitgeist Moving Forward, it’s on youtube. Governments don’t work for the interest of the people, especially under a monetary system. I truly do believe that we are capable of one day being able to be our own leaders and destroy the hierarchical mentality we’ve been conditioned in. Again I really recommend watching Zeitgeist, it’s a great!
“Government Free” societies don’t work period, no matter what kind of people you had. History has proven this. Man on average is not “virtuous” there is a reason the good book says to obey the laws of the land.
Civilized societies need government, we just need a government that knows it’s place & stays there. A government that serves the people, not people who serve the government. The founding fathers of America (though not perfect) had it right. A system of checks & balances to ensure that government doesn’t become to large & thus tyrannical. Sadly, greed & the lust for power & control has led to corruption & ultimately the destruction of the once great America.
I believe in capitalism with national protection from countries dumping products to destroy industries or gaining power and control. We do not have capitalism. We have a bunch of super large, power multi-country corporations that pay politicians to keep little guys from competing with them so they can extend their market share. I believe in some government controls which protect the people like from GMO (which they haven’t done since they’ve been paid off).
Its sad that people who do such great research like Adam Curtis are overshadowed by dumb shit like Zeitgeist. People would rather have simple conspiracy theories than a genuine understanding of whats going on.
Watch The Money Masters on youtube or google – it is very eye opening. These people are responsible for WWII – Hitler wouldn’t have gotten into power if Germany hadn’t been thrown into a deep recession by the Feds and other central banks. The wheat (and I might add vaccines) eugenics have been used against other nations through the State Dept. (Henry Kissinger)/CIA – read Seeds of Destruction by F. William Engdahl. Look up GMO on you tube.
Communism say they want to treat everyone equally but at the same time elits such as Lenin, Trotsky, ect become autoritarian figures who tell people whats Right or Wrong and dispose of people or ideas that dont suite their agenda. the core ideas of all small # of people of all these ISM’s is basically the same people cant be trusted therefore we have to indoctrinate them disqusing our goals in a higher good af all.
Communism killed a lot of people but I’d wager capitalism has killed more, just not as directly. A decent example is Goldman Sachs and other banks speculation on commodities(like wheat) that caused millions of people in the third world to starve due to rising food prices, despite no actual shortage of wheat. This isn’t ancient history either, this is barely 3 years ago and is happening again.