Theories in the Movie
The first part of the movie The Century of the Self is characterized by two key theories and is described in the critical review example. One of the most significant theories evident in Happiness Machines is Freud’s theory on human consciousness. This theory highlights the view that the human mind is made up of all things that people are aware of or can easily bring into awareness. This also points to the human mental processing that can be thought and talked about in a rational manner. The second theory that is evident in the movie is Freud’s theory on the human unconscious mind. In line with this theory, the unconscious mind entails all things that are outside the awareness of individuals. Therefore, the unconscious mind is mainly made up of diverse desires, feelings, memories, and urges that lie outside the awareness of individuals, but continue to influence their behavior. These theories are conspicuously evident in this first part of the movie as Edward Bernays relies on them to manipulate the public and its desires relating to politics, business, and economics. It is crucial to understand the link between these theories and the events that occur in the first episode from the view of a social psychologist.
Events in the Movie and Connection to Social Psychology
One of the most significant happenings in the first episode of the movie occurs in the 1920s when Bernays works for the American Tobacco Company. He understands that it is easy to manipulate women and increase tobacco sales hence the overall profitability of the company. In line with this understanding, Bernays sends a group of young models to march to the New York City Parade. He wittingly tells the press conference that women participants will be automatically “Lighting Torches of Freedom.” This explains the challenge on men’s dominant power and the adoption of self-autonomy. I can relate this to the theory of the unconscious mind where women have the desire to challenge men’s power and their behavior can be easily influenced toward this direction. In line with the Class notes on previous concepts (2014), the ease of influencing their behavior emanates from their inner desire to do anything that would help them challenge the power of men in the society. This manipulation tends to attract most women to cigarette smoking with the hope that they would actually challenge the power of men in the society. No woman wants to be viewed as the one against the move for autonomy among women. In light of this happening, as a social psychologist I think it is because of the automatic processing that is directly related to the unconscious mind. This is because their decision to embrace smoking occurs outside their awareness of the actual intention of Bernays and the company. According to the Class notes on social influence (2014), most women tend to conform to this manipulation because of the fear of appearing deviant to the new trend among women. The social psychological view brings this out as normative conformity where everyone wants to behave in a particular manner because of the fear of appearing to be deviant to the group behavior and mode of operation. Therefore, Bernays’ persuasion of women to smoke highlights his cunning approach to their unconscious minds, which is automatically beneficial to the American Tobacco Company because of increased smoking translating into increased sales volumes for cigarettes.
The episode also entails the use of famous celebrities and leaders to promote products with the aim of creating a firm connection between such celebrities and ordinary citizens. This is tailored toward ensuring that ordinary citizens follow the example of famous celebrities and leaders by purchasing the same products. This emanates from Bernays’ overall assumption that people are generally irrational and are ruled by the desire to get particular goods. From the perspective of a psychoanalyst, this is a direct manipulation of the population’s unconscious mind. Bernays employs his public relations skills to help companies and governments change public behavior using famous celebrities and leaders. In another instance, he asserts that democracy will be ineffective in cases where it depends on rational people. This is directed to the government to rethink its position on democracy in terms of allowing people make independent decisions on matters such as the purchase of goods. In line with Bernays’ antics, most American corporations make people want things they did not need by systematically linking the mass produced goods to their unconscious desires. I can directly relate this behavior to the theory of the unconscious mind, because people are made to make decisions about goods they are not aware of and without intentions to purchase on their own. When most people are swayed to purchase goods, because some famous celebrities and leaders did the same, I think this is informational influence, because they tend to believe that such famous individuals are automatically correct in their behavior to make purchases. The Class notes on social influence (2014) bring out the view that the conversion of rational consumers into passive consumers is a sign of their changed perceptions because of the influence emanating from famous celebrities and leaders in line with consumption. As a social psychologist, I perceive this happening controlled processing, because rational consumers are intentionally controlled to embrace the consumption of goods that they did not really want. In fact, they are consciously aware of the influence of famous celebrities and leaders in terms of making their purchases. Overall, Bernays’ emphasis on the use of famous celebrities and leaders to influence people to make purchases of mass-produced goods leads to informational influence from a social psychoanalytic view.
Another most significant happening in the episode entails the desire by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to change the approach to the consumer world by eliminating the existing forms of control derived from Hitler’s system of government. He believes that humans are rational thinkers hence introducing New Deal Policies that lead to wide investments in new industries and infrastructure. According to Class notes on previous concepts (2014), I can relate this to the conscious theory of the mind because of the appreciation that human beings are fully aware of what they want without necessarily being controlled. This highlights the desire to change the attitudes of an individual through informational influence, which creates overall conformity among all individuals. It is worth acknowledging that the new approach employed by Franklin D. Roosevelt helps create positive attitudes among ordinary citizens as they are made to understand that democracy and investment is the only way to a better future. When this happens, I think that people are likely to develop a strong attitude hence respond to the need to change and move forward in a society that bestows on them some form of power to make independent decisions in terms of making purchases. In tandem with the Class notes on attitudes (2014), this happens because every population has rational human beings who will not accept to be swayed to particular directs. When most people start conforming to the new policies of democracy, industrial investments and empowerment, I think that they have strong attitudes that are consistent with their awareness of what they want. They do not want to be controlled into purchasing particular products against their wish. This leads to the belief that the conscious mind of human beings can only be impressed by actions that tend to conform to most of its actions. Again, social psychology brings out the view that human beings are likely to comply in a more effective manner in cases where they have some space to make their own decisions. Therefore, the change in the approach of treating consumers resonates well with social psychology because of its effect on the attitudes of consumers. They become more positive and accommodative of the emerging industries with the hope for a better future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the first part of the movie The Century of the Self brings out two Freud’s theories of human consciousness and unconsciousness. Human conscious mind contains things that individuals are aware of or are bound to be aware of. On the other hand, the unconscious mind is composed of things that individuals are not aware of. Such things include desires and feelings that can easily change their behavior. The significant happenings in the movie can be clearly argued in connection with social psychology. For instance, the manipulation of women to smoke as a sign of gaining freedom and control over men’s dominance aligns with the unconscious theory. This is because their desires are manipulated through the automatic process beyond their self-awareness. However, this only comes to the benefit of the tobacco company, because it realizes more profits from its increased sales. Additionally, the use of famous celebrities and leaders to sway consumers toward the purchase of particular goods is indicative of the unconscious theory of the mind. When this happens, as a social psychologist, I think informational influence that takes place as most people only buy to conform to the overall behavior of other members of the society. There is no strong attitude among consumers to resist this influence. Lastly, the emphasis on democracy and investment as the source of empowerment changes the attitudes of individuals leading to the required level of compliance in moving toward this direction. The New Deal brings about relief to consumers, as they are able to make independent decisions on what to buy according to what they want.