The Century of the Self (2002)

SERIES

20021 Season58m episodes8.4

Documentary, War & Politics

TMDB8.4

Votes125

Your rating

Runtime: 58m episodes
Genre: Documentary
Origin: GB

About

A secret history of the 20th century.

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.

Where to watch

Region

Not available to stream in United States yet. It is in United Kingdom.

Details

Writing: Adam Curtis, Adam Curtis
Status: Ended
First aired: Mar 17, 2002
Network: BBC Two
Studio: RDF Media, BBC

Time to finish

4 hrs

4 episodes. About 1 week at an hour a night.

View on IMDb ↗

Cast

Adam Curtis

Narrator

Anne Bernays

Self

Martin Bergmann

Self

Robert Reich

Self

Edward L. Bernays

Self (archive footage)

Sigmund Freud

Self (archive footage)

Anna Freud

Self (archive footage)

Wilhelm Reich

Self (archive footage)

Tony Blair

Self (archive footage)

Margaret Thatcher

Self (archive footage)

Bill Clinton

Self (archive footage)

Ronald Reagan

Self (archive footage)

SERIES

20021 Season58m episodes8.4

Documentary, War & Politics

TMDB8.4

Votes125

Your rating

Runtime: 58m episodes
Genre: Documentary
Origin: GB

About

A secret history of the 20th century.

Where to watch

Region

Not available to stream in United States yet. It is in United Kingdom.

Episodes

0 of 0 watched

E1 · Airs Mar 17, 2002 · 58m · ★ 8.5
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.
E2 · Airs Mar 24, 2002 · 58m
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.
E3 · Airs Mar 31, 2002 · 58m
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.
E4 · Airs Apr 7, 2002 · 58m
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.

Details

Writing: Adam Curtis, Adam Curtis
Status: Ended
First aired: Mar 17, 2002
Network: BBC Two
Studio: RDF Media, BBC

Time to finish

4 hrs

4 episodes. About 1 week at an hour a night.

View on IMDb ↗

Cast

Adam Curtis

Narrator

Anne Bernays

Self

Martin Bergmann

Self

Robert Reich

Self

Edward L. Bernays

Self (archive footage)

Sigmund Freud

Self (archive footage)

Anna Freud

Self (archive footage)

Wilhelm Reich

Self (archive footage)

Tony Blair

Self (archive footage)

Margaret Thatcher

Self (archive footage)

Bill Clinton

Self (archive footage)

Ronald Reagan

Self (archive footage)

About

Where to watch

Details

Time to finish

Cast

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About

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