The Century of the Self is widely considered to be the best documentary ever made, and I agree. Its' the tits! But what's odd about this earth-rattling four-part documentary is that it's never had an official video release (in any format), with a horrible VHS rip (with tracking problems)the only option. Hmmmmmm...maybe this should have bee a Conspiracy Theory Jamboree post.So here's a hard-to-find upgrade from that horrid VHS. In no way is it perfect (BBC Worldwide logo throughout), bit it's a definite upgrade.
If you've never seen The Century of the Self, I'd have to wonder what rock you've been hiding under since 2002. Then I would implore you to download it, before it's too late and you end up purchasing an iPad and succumbing to The System. L&S wants to design an app for FTD (its icon eerily resembling an ethereal Canadian flag), but I'm all that stands in the way of "progress".
Enjoy some truth!
From BBC Four:
To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?
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.
From BBC Four:
One: 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.
Bernays was one of the main architects of the modern techniques of mass-consumer persuasion, using every trick in the book, from celebrity endorsement and outrageous PR stunts, to eroticising the motorcar.
His most notorious coup was breaking the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom. But Bernays was convinced that this was more than just a way of selling consumer goods. It was a new political idea of how to control the masses. By satisfying the inner irrational desires that his uncle had identified, people could be made happy and thus docile.
It was the start of the all-consuming self which has come to dominate today's world.
Happiness Machines Technical Information:
Show Title: The Century of the Self
Episode Title: 1. Happiness Machines
Director/Host: Adam Curtis
Original Airdate: 29 April 2002
Country: U.K.
Source: DVD Rip- Not from a VHS source
Video Codec: DivX
Container: .avi
Size: 661 MB
Length: 01:07:30
Programs used: Unknown
Resolution: 632x480
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Video: MPEG4 @ 1367 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- mp3 @320 kb/s
Subtitles: None
Synopsis: The first episode of the series introduces us to Edward Bernuys, Sigmund Freud's American nephew, and his groundbreaking ideas on population control.
1. Happiness Machines Megaupload Link
From BBC Four:
Two: 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.
Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise - that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany. To stop it ever happening again they set out to find ways to control this hidden enemy within the human mind.
Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna, and his nephew, Edward Bernays, provided the centrepiece philosophy. The US government, big business, and the CIA used their ideas to develop techniques to manage and control the minds of the American people. But this was not a cynical exercise in manipulation. Those in power believed that the only way to make democracy work and create a stable society was to repress the savage barbarism that lurked just under the surface of normal American life.
The Engineering of Consent Technical Information:
Show Title: The Century of the Self
Episode Title: 2. The Engineering of Consent
Director/Host: Adam Curtis
Original Airdate: 30 April 2002
Country: U.K.
Source: DVD Rip- Not from a VHS source
Video Codec: DivX
Container: .avi
Size: 575 Mb
Length: 00:58:47
Programs used: Unknown
Resolution: 624x464
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Video: MPEG4 @ 1369 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- mp3 @ 320 kb/s
Subtitles: None
Synopsis: Episode two looks into the theories of Edward Bernuys and Anna Freud, and how different organizations, CIA and corporate America included, applied them to society.
2. The Engineering of Consent Megaupload Link
From BBC Four:
Three: 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.
Out of this came a political movement that sought to create new beings free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people's minds by business and politics.
This programme shows how this rapidly developed in America through self-help movements like Werber Erhard's Erhard Seminar Training - into the irresistible rise of the expressive self: the Me Generation.
But the American corporations soon realised that this new self was not a threat but their greatest opportunity. It was in their interest to encourage people to feel they were unique individuals and then sell them ways to express that individuality. To do this they turned to techniques developed by Freudian psychoanalysts to read the inner desires of the new self.
There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed Technical Information:
Show Title: The Century of the Self
Episode Title: 3. There Is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed
Director/Host: Adam Curtis
Original Airdate: 01 May 2002
Country: U.K.
Source: DVD Rip- Not from a VHS source
Video Codec: DivX
Container: .avi
Size: 486 Mb
Length: 00:57:54
Programs used: Unknown
Resolution: 640x464
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Video: MPEG4 @ 1174 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- mp3 @ 320 kb/s
Subtitles: None
Synopsis: Part three addresses how the concepts established by Bernuys were re-assessed during the 1960s, and led to the creation of the "Me" generation in the USA.
3. There Is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed Megaupload Link
From BBC Four:
Four: Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
This episode explains how politicians on the left, in both Britain and America, turned to the techniques developed by business to read and fulfil the inner desires of the self.
Both New Labour, under Tony Blair, and the Democrats, led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group, which had been invented by psychoanalysts, in order to regain power. They set out to mould their policies to people's inner desires and feelings, just as capitalism had learnt to do with products.
Out of this grew a new culture of public relations and marketing in politics, business and journalism. One of its stars in Britain was Matthew Freud who followed in the footsteps of his relation, Edward Bernays, the inventor of public relations in the 1920s.
The politicians believed they were creating a new and better form of democracy, one that truly responded to the inner feelings of individual. But what they didn't realise was that the aim of those who had originally created these techniques had not been to liberate the people but to develop a new way of controlling them.
Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering Technical Information:
Show Title: The Century of the Self
Episode Title: 4. Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
Director/Host: Adam Curtis
Original Airdate: 02 May 2002
Country: U.K.
Source: DVD Rip- Not from a VHS source
Video Codec: DivX
Container: .avi
Size: 486 Mb
Length: 01:08:37
Programs used: Unknown
Resolution: 632x464
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Video: MPEG4 @ 1369 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- mp3 @320 kb/s
Subtitles: None
Synopsis: The final chapter explains how contemporary politicians on both sides of the Atlantic adopted and applied the ideas and techniques studied in this series.
4. Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering Megaupload Link
