The Century of the Self
The Century of the Self Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.2 |
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About
"The hidden machinery behind manufactured desire"
The Century of the Self traces how Sigmund Freud's theories of the unconscious were repurposed by his nephew Edward Bernays and later thinkers to shape modern public relations, advertising, and politics. Adam Curtis's four-part documentary argues that governments and corporations learned to manage populations not through reason but by appealing to hidden desires. It's dense, archival-heavy, and narrated in a steady, almost hypnotic voice, unfolding like a slow-burn argument rather than a story. Watching it feels less like entertainment and more like having your assumptions about choice and freedom quietly dismantled.
the unsettling case that your desires were engineered rather than chosen.
you need narrative momentum rather than a dense, archive-driven historical argument.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
| Ep | Title | Rating | Yours | Votes | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▶ | 1 | Happiness Machines | 8.5 | 302 | 59 min | |
| ▶ | 2 | The Engineering of Consent | 8.4 | 221 | 59 min | |
| ▶ | 3 | There Is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed | 8.4 | 190 | 59 min | |
| ▶ | 4 | Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering | 8.2 | 179 | 59 min |