ThiefHott Too much of everything

Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

isaacroccoco Adam Curtis documents the rise of consumer culture, public relations, propaganda and advertising. The main focus is Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew who used his uncle's behavioral theories in his advertising, public relations, and propaganda business. He was also hired by the US to soften public resistance to entering WWI. In 1928 Bernays wrote a book called "Propaganda" and its first paragraph should be all you need to read to want to watch this documentary;"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."Got that? That was in 1928, His methods have since evolved into predictable science.

elizabethfritz-74-56518 Four hours of often interesting historical information on the parallel development of the business of psychology with the business of marketing. Other than that the four hours are consumed with disjointed and veiled attacks on business and consumers. The tone of the presentation is monotonously ominous.For reasons never explained, businesses springing up to give people exactly what they want - and this is always suggested to be evil. The viewer is told on one hand that people have grown more and more selfish and big-bad business has been there to contribute to this ailment ... while on the other hand we are told that people really don't decide much of anything at all without being manipulated by these dark forces called capitalists.So which is it, businesses catering to the base impulses of people or people feeling base impulses because they are wooly-headed sheep manipulated by business? We are told that unbridled emotionalism governs selfish people, but it is suggested that properly enlightened leaders are somehow not guided by emotionalism but by heartfelt and properly-caring rationalism. Just how the leaders manage to grow up and avoid being manipulated by business and capitalism and develop properly to become rational gurus we are never told... However it is clear that we the people somehow never reach this nirvana. Outdated-neo-Marxist tripe....

dragokin The Century of the Self is one of the best documentaries i've ever seen. Using archive footage Adam Curtis told the story of how today's consumer society came into existence. Also it goes to show how we, the today's consumers, make our choices.It all began by Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, who did consulting in corporate marketing. Using Freud's ideas Bernays created demand for products people didn't consciously need.As the twentieth century progressed, these ideas grew beyond marketing and influenced contemporary politics. They remained between two poles, though. One claimed that people can't and shouldn't make their choices and needed guidance from those in the know. The other stated how we should be liberated by peeling layer after layer of consciousness until we find what we really want.Of course, the truth was probably somewhere in between, but this hadn't prevented those in power from doing what they want. The joke is that eventually even the politicians started fulfilling the needs and wants of the voters instead steering them.You might as well check Adam Curtis blog on BBC website.

hlyen Caught this fantastic documentary at Cinema Village in NY. In short, it traces the tremendous influence of Freudian ideas and the family Freud - Siggie, Anna, and nephew Edward Bernays - on the development contemporary capitalist societies.Using chilling footage and lucid voice over, it traces the methods by which Freud's discoveries about the sub/unconscious mind were systematically implemented by corporate America in the 1920's and later the U.S. government to increase their wealth/power while at the same time giving people the impression of greater personal freedom. It was Bernays who founded the 1st public relations firm and coined the term "engineering consent".Its thesis spans everything from the invention of public relations, modern advertising techniques, Nazi Germany, CIA brainwashing, the self-help movement, consumer culture and current U.S./British electoral politics. All of which have direct antecedents in the ideas of Freud.Apparently, due to lack of copyright clearances, it is not available on DVD or tape. But hopefully it will make the art house circuit. His follow-up, The Power of Nightmares, is supposedly even better. It deals with 9-11.More comprehensive and persuasive than "The Corporation" and more objective and grounded that Michael Moore's work, "Century of the Self" is essential viewing. If you think corporate and government collusion in controlling the masses is tin hat stuff, well, start measuring your head...