Oct 24 2008
Century of the Self – Reprise
On yesterday’s edition of Uprising, we aired lengthy excerpts from a four hour documentary by Adam Curtis. And, if you missed yesterday’s show, not to worry – we’ll fill you in. The Century of the Self is a four-hour tour-de-force that focuses on the history of psychoanalysis in the US, starting with the theories of Sigmund Freud and those who followed him. Today we’ll explore that history through the words of Adam Curtis, whom many of you may remember as the film maker of the extremely popular documentary The Power of Nightmares. BBC producer and film maker, Adam Curtis’ other meticulously documented and powerfully presented documentary, The Century of the Self is part of our “thank you gift†to you today. In a four part, four-hour series created for the BBC, Curtis details the impact of Freud’s theories on the perception of the human mind, and the ways public relations agencies and politicians have used this during the last 100 years for their “engineering of consentâ€.
Among the main characters in the film are Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in advertising. He is often seen as the “father of the public relations industryâ€. Freud’s daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychology, is mentioned in the second part, as well as Wilhelm Reich, one of the main opponents of Freud’s theories. Along these general themes, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism, representative democracy and its implications.
The Sonali Six-Pack, End of Funddrive Blowout – available online here.
1. The Century of the Self 2 DVD pack – $90
2. Boogieman: The Lee Atwater Story – $100
3. The Chomsky Sessions: Noam Chomsky on the World – $100
4. Ralph Nader Speech on DVD – $100
5. Naomi Klein Speech on DVD – $100
6. Slacker Uprising BONUS DVD
One Response to “Century of the Self – Reprise”
Dr. Reich departed from Freud on key issues, such as the concept of a “Death Instinct” – Reich would have nothing to do with that, to him, this was a simple misunderstanding of simple frustration.
Also, Freud rejected any concept of there being an energy function of the psyche, something that to Reich, was self-evident.
It is also notable that Reich was the first psychologist to actually sit IN FRONT of the patient – spawning the crucial discovery of transference – something he is rarely credited with, despite the fact that the rest of the psychoanalytic community at the time declared was irresponsible and reckless, and used as an excuse to remove him, a founding member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Association…