Happiness Machines, a part of a documentary series called “Century of Self”, describes how psychoanalysis has been used throughout the last century in efforts to make mass communication more effective. The documentary focused on the thoughts of two important people; Sigmund Freud and his nephew, Edward Bernays. Freud had developed a whole theory on psychoanalysis, but in his home of Vienna it was overlooked as useless. Bernays, who was working in America, however, found that he could put his uncle’s theory to good use. In fact, if Bernays had not provided money to Freud to get print copies of his works to America, they may have gone unrecognized for years more.
Bernays noted that the word “propaganda” was being received with negative connotations so he developed a new word: “public relations”. The groundwork for today’s media was laid in the early 20th century and its remnants can still be seen. He was one of the first to uncover the idea that the car could symbolize sexuality for men, a thought that still exists despite the changes to cars and who drives them over the years. Bernays’ use of psychoanalysis in public relations is best exemplified by how he was able to change the perception of female smokers.
Without the discoveries made in the early 20th century it is impossible to know what things would have been like in the mid 20th century when televisions entered the home. The media as we know it now might be complete different without the theories of psychoanalysis.