The Century of the Self - Part 1: "Happiness Machines"

Why HN readers recommended it

HN commenters recommend it constantly in threads about advertising, propaganda and manipulation as the origin story of the consumer society.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

JustAdamCurtis

Topic

history of public relations

Format

documentary

Level

general

HN recommenders in dataset

13

HN mentions in dataset

20

Recommendation years in dataset

2017–2025

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• Thanks for your part in getting this story published! If you have not seen it, the BBC series "The Century of the Self" details the pre-history of these tendencies in the creation of the public relations industry by Freud's nephew Edward Bernays [0]. It is …

• There's a great four-part documentary by Adam Curtis about Edward Bernays, his career and the rise of marketing in the 20th century called "The Century Of The Self". It's available on YT: [VIDEO]

• I highly recommend the documentary, Century of the Self, which details how Bernays' theories about advertising were put to use by Nazis. [VIDEO] [LINK]