I just finished an episode in Derren Brown's 'The Experiments' series. If you don't know who Derren Brown is, he's an illusionist and mentalist who is prominent on British TV and has gone from doing the standard illusionary tricks on 30 minute episodes to working on shows highlighting the lies told by Television Evangelists in the USA to making a man who is petrified of flying in planes to make an emergency landing (or so the subject thought at least). There are many people in the UK who are skeptical of him, who believe that most of what he is does is set up or manipulated heavily (many of whom are my friends) but I absolutely adore his work and find the man and what he does both intriguing and highly entertaining. I love that he's incorporated a form of social morality into his shows and I think there's alot to be learnt from what it is he does. Check him out on Youtube and you will find a number of clips showing off some of his earlier illusions and tricks. Unfortunately my favourite videos can't be embedded on here but search for 'Derren Brown Subliminal Advertising', 'Derren Brown How to Get Drunk Without Drinking', 'Derren Predicting Behaviour'. These video's show how how much of what he does comes down to basic psycology and sociology and is fascinating. To me at least. Let me know what you think!
Anyway, to my point. So, on the latest show that I just watched 'The Gameshow' (British based readers can watch it within the next 4 days on Channel 4 here) otherwise it's available in 4 parts starting with part 1 below
The Gameshow part 1
The show delves into the psycological term 'individuation' and in basic terms it is an experiment to see whether being in a group and anonymous affects people's capacity to choose between right and wrong. The premise was interesting but as mob mentality is pretty clear already in our society (not just in the UK of course), I figured it would be quite obvious what would happen and therefore I wasn't sure there would be so much of interest to see from the episode but I must admit that the crowd went further then I thought and it is an interesting insight into what has happened to us. I found it most appropriate that they included a brief clip of a baying crowd at a Big Brother eviction booing at one of the exiting contestants as this is something I have always found fascinating. I admit that I watch Big Brother still. I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea but I still find that amongst the vanity and desperation for stardom of the housemates, there is still alot to learn from the people and I have always been interested in human behaviour. Seeing 'The Experiments' has reignited this fascination of mine and I now want to find some books on the subject of 'indivuation'. I have previously read alot on criminology (my favourite subject in this field), on stalking and on Stockholm Syndrome and I have always said that were I ever to become rich (unlikely I know but you never know!) then I would take a course in criminology. I've checked them out on 'Open University' but as my interest is purely that rather then a will to get into the field for work or the like, it costs just too much to do. Maybe one day though.
If you watch the show then please do let me know what you think.
I love to read your comments so please feel free to let me know what you think...
Since reading this, I have found and watched all four episodes.
ReplyDeleteThe Game Show (ep2) didn't surprise me one bit. The hypnosis one (ep1) did feel a little staged. No one in the supposedly unsuspecting audience seemed to mind Stephen Fry getting shot. The murder mystery (ep3) was very well done, and the reaction was somewhat believable. The last one about the lucky dog felt just a little too orchestrated at the end, but I suppose it could've been genuine.
Anyway, thank you very much for bringing this series to my attention. I love some good mentalist tricks, and do generally trust Derren Brown. But I also trust him not to broadcast the failures.