The Century of the Self_'Happiness Machines'

The Century of the Self (BBC,2002.) is a four-part documentary series made by Kevin Adam Curtis (1955- ), an English documentary film-maker. Curtis says that his favorite theme is "power and  how it works in society“, so by using BBC Archive he tells stories about modern power, society, politics and culture through the medium of the film. Also, he presents his work on the BBC blog Medium and the Message.  And as Curtis says The Century of the Self is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy.  

I would like to focus on the first episode of this four-part documentary - Happiness Machines (the Youtube video is above) that documents how Sigmun Freud's theories were applied by his less-known nephew Edward Bernays, the  inventor of Public Relations, to manipulate the masses. When Sigmund Freud presented his theory about human nature he suggested that if the primitive (sexual and aggressive) instincts hidden deep inside the mind of every human being were not controlled, this may lead the individual, and the society as a whole, to chaos and mass destruction. Taking these theories in consideration, Edward Bernays was the first to use them with the purpose of manipulating the masses. Connecting several cultural industries, Bernays was also the first person that incorporated Freud's ideas into the work of the American corporations in order to link the hidden human needs with produced goods. This episode (and the whole documentary) shows us how the foundations of the advertising industry we know it today were set and how the contemporary 'perfect' consumer was produced. Regarding all we discussed in classes, and the ideas given on changing the contemporary situation in  the world, I highly recommend you to become familiar with theories presented in Curtis' series.

Kristina Mandarić, n:149888