The Century of the Self (2002)
Produced and Written by Adam Curtis
#03 - There is Policeman Inside all our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed
![]()
The teachings of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud and Edward Bernase that underneath every individual lies an irrational self is soon to be challenged. They profess that the inner being is not all that bad and need not be repressed or controlled. Human were described as not mere vessels but need to express themselves. This propelled a revolution which ended producing isolated, vulnerable and greedy individuals who were more easily manipulable than before. This was liked by the powers that be and fed it for their own liking!In the 50s, a renegade group of psychotherapists (including Wilhelm Reitch, a former disciple of Freud) encouraged people to release their hidden anger and other repressed feelings. Repressed feelings by the society made it dangerous. Reitch's approach met opposition from Anna Freud (a virgin) when he suggested that lack of orgasm led to depression and release of libido led to freedom. This conflict killed Reitch's career. Treated as a pariah in the psychotherapy community, he retreated to Northern America to venture more venture which bordered on ludicrous experiments like capturing libidal energy from the atmosphere which could ward off UFO attacks! He was imprisoned when he tried to treat a cancer patient with his orgon energy!
In response the deep involvement of psychoanalysts in advertisement, came groups (including thinker Herbert Marcuse) who tried to attack 'Corporate America' whom they complained of trying to change the population to brainless one dimensional consumers of the products of mass production. They accused of keeping its citizens contented and docile while the Government went on to attack Vietnam.
Suddenly, the youths embarked on a mission to overthrow the Government which they say 'Put the Policeman in the Head'.
Numerous failed demonstrations and mortality on the side of the students proved that the State was too strong against the demonstrators/ leftists.
They decided to change strategy. Instead of changing the external force (i.e. Government), they advocated changing themselves -making them strong against the set of rules set by the society. With the change of autonomous individuals, it was hoped the society would finally change.
Like mushrooms after a rain, sprang Esalen Institutes which taught self revelation and releasing of inner demons. They tried to solve racial disharmony in the society but failed. In a convent however, they managed to persuade nuns to disrobe the tunics for regular clothes. More than half of the nunnery had their nuns giving up their divine call and some even became lesbians after releasing themselves from the shackles of conformity of the community.
A trend began to develop in the Western world where people had individual likes and needs. To them only the individuals matter, not the society. The market forces again try to bring them under their spell.
Stanford Research Institute with the help of economists and psychologists, tried to discover man inner values and to measure their desires! They discovered a pattern of choices and values which transcended social class. They called it lifestyle choices. Again, the big companies managed to discover the need of the specific type of people and targeted their advertisements to this end.
Produced and Written by Adam Curtis
#03 - There is Policeman Inside all our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed
The teachings of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud and Edward Bernase that underneath every individual lies an irrational self is soon to be challenged. They profess that the inner being is not all that bad and need not be repressed or controlled. Human were described as not mere vessels but need to express themselves. This propelled a revolution which ended producing isolated, vulnerable and greedy individuals who were more easily manipulable than before. This was liked by the powers that be and fed it for their own liking!In the 50s, a renegade group of psychotherapists (including Wilhelm Reitch, a former disciple of Freud) encouraged people to release their hidden anger and other repressed feelings. Repressed feelings by the society made it dangerous. Reitch's approach met opposition from Anna Freud (a virgin) when he suggested that lack of orgasm led to depression and release of libido led to freedom. This conflict killed Reitch's career. Treated as a pariah in the psychotherapy community, he retreated to Northern America to venture more venture which bordered on ludicrous experiments like capturing libidal energy from the atmosphere which could ward off UFO attacks! He was imprisoned when he tried to treat a cancer patient with his orgon energy!In response the deep involvement of psychoanalysts in advertisement, came groups (including thinker Herbert Marcuse) who tried to attack 'Corporate America' whom they complained of trying to change the population to brainless one dimensional consumers of the products of mass production. They accused of keeping its citizens contented and docile while the Government went on to attack Vietnam.
Suddenly, the youths embarked on a mission to overthrow the Government which they say 'Put the Policeman in the Head'.
They decided to change strategy. Instead of changing the external force (i.e. Government), they advocated changing themselves -making them strong against the set of rules set by the society. With the change of autonomous individuals, it was hoped the society would finally change.
Like mushrooms after a rain, sprang Esalen Institutes which taught self revelation and releasing of inner demons. They tried to solve racial disharmony in the society but failed. In a convent however, they managed to persuade nuns to disrobe the tunics for regular clothes. More than half of the nunnery had their nuns giving up their divine call and some even became lesbians after releasing themselves from the shackles of conformity of the community.
Stanford Research Institute with the help of economists and psychologists, tried to discover man inner values and to measure their desires! They discovered a pattern of choices and values which transcended social class. They called it lifestyle choices. Again, the big companies managed to discover the need of the specific type of people and targeted their advertisements to this end.
Politicians like Reagan and Thatcher joined in the bandwagon and started preaching self expressiveness and non meddling by the Government. With the new discovery of lifestyle, economy started booming again and everybody was happy.
Comments
Post a Comment