The legacy of famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud informs the lives of people throughout the world even to this day, though it's a phenomenon to which most are unaware.…
Documentary, War & Politics • Series • 2002 • 1 season
Starring: Adam Curtis, Anne Bernays, Martin Bergmann
Created by: Adam Curtis
S1 E1 - Happiness Machines
The story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays. Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was 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.
Mar 17, 2002 • 58m
S1 E2 - The Engineering of Consent
The programme explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses.
Mar 24, 2002 • 58m
S1 E3 - 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 in America. They were inspired by the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, a pupil of Freud's, who had turned against him and was hated by the Freud family. He believed that the inner self did not need to be repressed and controlled. It should be encouraged to express itself.
Mar 31, 2002 • 58m
S1 E4 - Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
How both the Labour Party in Britain and the Democrats in America have sought to gain power through use of the focus group, invented by psychoanalysts to fulfil desires of the inner self.
Apr 7, 2002 • 58m
About This Show
The Century of the Self
The legacy of famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud informs the lives of people throughout the world even to this day, though it's a phenomenon to which most are unaware. The film is an exhaustive examination of his theories on human desire, and how they're applied to platforms such as advertising, consumerism and politics.
Documentary, War & Politics • TV Series • 2002
