The Century of the Self is an award winning British television documentary film. It focuses on how Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have analyzed,‭ dealt with, and controlled ‬people.^[1]

Overview[link]

"This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." —Adam Curtis' introduction to the first episode.

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings. His influence on the twentieth century is generally considered profound. The series describes the propaganda that Western governments and corporations have utilized stemming from Freud's theories.

Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in public relations, are discussed. Freud's daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychology, is mentioned in the second part, as is one of the main opponents of Freud's theories, Wilhelm Reich, in the third part.

Along these general themes, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism, representative democracy, commodification and its implications. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitudes to fashion and superficiality.

The business and political world uses psychological techniques to read, create and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population.

Paul Mazur, a Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in the 1930s, is cited as declaring "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs."

Awards[link]

• Best Documentary Series, Broadcast Awards
• Historical Film Of The Year, Longman/History Today Awards

Nominated for:

• Best Documentary Blubb, Royal Television Society
• Best Documentary, Indie Awards
• Best Documentary Series, Grierson Documentary Awards
• Best Documentary, William Coupan Memorial Award

Episodes[link]

1. Happiness Machines (17 March 2002)
2. The Engineering of Consent (24 March 2002)
3. There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed (31 March 2002)
4. Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering (7 April 2002)

In Episode 4 the main subjects are Philip Gould and Matthew Freud, the great grandson of Sigmund, a PR consultant. They were part of the efforts during the nineties to bring the Democrats in the US and New Labour in the United Kingdom back into power. Adam Curtis explores the psychological methods they have now massively introduced into politics. He also argues that the eventual outcome strongly resembles Edward Bernays vision for the "Democracity" during the 1939 New York World's Fair. It is well-known his series was inspired and informed by a book written by the American historian, Stuart Ewen, "PR! A Social History of Spin."

Music[link]

• Raymond Scott: Portofino 2 (From Manhattan Research Inc.)
• Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, beginning of the third movement (poco allegretto)
• Louis Armstrong: What a Wonderful World
• Arvo Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel, Für Alina
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
• Dmitri Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich), Prelude 1 (C major)
• Aaron Copland: Billy the Kid (ballet)

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Century of the Self at BBC Online (archive copy)
• The Century of the Self at the Internet Movie Database

• Episode guide:
  1. Happiness Machines at www.bbc.co.uk (archive copy)
  2. The Engineering of Consent at www.bbc.co.uk (archive copy)
  3. There is a Policeman Inside All Our Head: He Must Be Destroyed at www.bbc.co.uk (archive copy)
  4. Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering at www.bbc.co.uk (archive copy)
• The Observer: How Freud got under our skin

Adam Curtis
Adam Curtis at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2005
Born	Adam Curtis (1955-05-26) 26 May 1955 (age 57)
Nationality	United Kingdom
Occupation	Documentarian

Adam Curtis (born 1955) is a British BAFTA winning documentarian and a writer, television producer, director and narrator. He works for BBC Current Affairs.

Early life and education[link]

Curtis was born in 1955. He attended the Sevenoaks School.^[1]

Curtis completed a Bachelor of Arts in Human Sciences at Mansfield College, University of Oxford, where he studied genetics, evolutionary biology, psychology, politics, anthropology and statistics.^[2] He started a Doctor of Philosophy and was a Tutor in Politics at the University of Oxford but became disillusioned with academia.^[3]

Career[link]

He left academia to make a career in television, obtaining a post on That's Life!, a programme that often placed serious and humorous content in close juxtaposition.

Curtis makes extensive use of archive footage in his documentaries. He has acknowledged the influence of recordings made by Erik Durschmied and to "constantly using his stuff in my films".^[4] An Observer profile said of Curtis' style:

Curtis has a remarkable feel for the serendipity of such moments, and an obsessive skill in locating them. "That kind of footage shows just how dull I can be," he admits, a little glumly. "The BBC has an archive of all these tapes where they have just dumped all the news items they have ever shown. One tape for every three months. So what you get is this odd collage, an accidental treasure trove. You sit in a darkened room, watch all these little news moments, and look for connections."^[5]

The Observer adds "if there has been a theme in Curtis's work since, it has been to look at how different elites have tried to impose an ideology on their times, and the tragicomic consequences of those attempts."^[5]

Curtis received the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2005.^[6] In 2006 he was given the Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television at the British Academy Television Awards. In 2009 Sheffield Doc/Fest awarded Curtis the inaugural Sheffield Inspiration Award for his inspiration to documentary makers and audiences.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "What's the big idea?", interview with Adam Curtis in the Guardian, May 2011
• Adam Curtis's blog, BBC
• Adam Curtis at the Internet Movie Database
• Film Review, Heso magazine