5 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
British documentary filmmaker at the BBC who made The Living Dead, The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares, The Trap, It Felt Like a Kiss, All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace, and HyperNormalisation — known for his distinctive style (archive footage, ambient music, voice-over narration) and his thesis that hidden power structures shape our perception of reality.
Adam Curtis's 2002 BBC documentary series tracing how Freudian theory was used by Edward Bernays and his successors to manipulate mass consumer behavior and political opinion — arguing that the 20th century's mass consumer society was built on the deliberate manipulation of the unconscious.
James Burke's 1978 BBC documentary series — each episode tracing unexpected historical connections between events, inventions, and ideas across centuries — one of the most influential science history documentaries ever made.
Adam Curtis's 2016 BBC documentary arguing that governments, finance, and technology have constructed a simplified false version of the world that both they and we know is fake — but continue to inhabit because no one can imagine an alternative.
British broadcaster, author, and peer — host of In Our Time (BBC Radio 4, 1998–) — South Bank Show host (ITV) — Lord Bragg — who has created the most intellectually serious current affairs and arts programmes in British broadcasting history.