I've been fascinated by the work of Derren Brown for years. Mostly, for his ability to show how susceptable we are are to suggestion. How most of what we have come to believe has actually been placed there by the media, education system, religion or cultural conditioning. He shows how easily thoughts and behaviour can be implanted in our consciousness - much as the media does everyday.
In the past he has investigated the possibility of creating a Mancurian Candidate (a brainwashed assassin) managing to lead his unwitting subject to take a gun and 'shoot' Stephen Fry in a packed theatre. The subject afterwards had no idea what he had done. Just like the group he took on a 'personal development' course that was actually intended to persuade them it would be a good idea to rob a security van at gunpoint. Only one of the final group backed out at the last minute.
Still more unnerving was his repeat of an old psychology textbook favourite intended to show how so many people participated in extreme cruelty during WW11. The participants in the set-up experiment were given the job of sending increasingly strong electric shocks to the supposed 'subject' for incorrect answers to simple questions. The fact that even the screams of the 'subjects' failed to deter many of the participants from administering severe shocks was amazing enough let alone the numbers willing to deliver what they believed to be lethal shocks for the 'crime' of an incorrect answer.
His recent project on Channel 4 - 'Apocalypse' where he took the carefully chosen subject through a fabricated end of the world scenario showed something else though. Something fundamentally important to awakening a new humanity. That no matter how lazy, bored, or disengaged with life we have become there lies within each and every one of us the potential to break through the dulling smog of everyday life as we know it to bring forth compassion, courage and huge creative ability. To find a gratitude for our loved ones and for every day that we are given to become the best person we can be.
If you missed it - it's worth watching on www.4OD.com
