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 Outdated-neo-Marxist tripe....

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.

this is the best documentary i have ever seen, considering i have seen quite a lot of it. don't miss out on watching something that will change your life.I'll try not to spoil anything, but you must swear to watch this documentary. it'll change you to change the world!!!I mean, it tells you why you buy stuff, it tells you what is really going on with the government, it even has topless girls (artistic) and lesbian nuns (nice). plus all of the knowledge of yourself, its a win win situation. seriously don't hesitate, watch it now!! now!!Oh also, it explains a lot about life.

It cannot have been easy to make a documentary series about the history of advertising and consumer society, about ethics (and their absence), about notions of the self and its manipulation in the interests of power and profit. In "Century of the Self" Adam Curtis lays bare the mechanisms of consumerist brainwashing. He does so in an entertaining and engaging manner, using archival footage, amateur videos and interviews of great historical and ideological value. His voice-over is sometimes humorous but the script never loses touch with the seriousness of the topic. This series is so important and watchable that I expose my students to a few of its most crucial extracts. At the best of times, the more thoughtful students seem anyhow to wonder what weird kind of world they have been dumped into. After seeing this film most of them start asking essential questions about ethics, propaganda, manipulation, individual liberty, etc. Essential viewing, I think, for anyone endowed with a brain, a critical spirit and a modicum of self-respect.