Pandora's Box

Adam Curtis | 1992

Pandora's Box marks a crucial developmental phase in Curtis's distinctive filmmaking style, serving as a transitional work that bridged his earlier, more conventional productions, A key departure in Pandora's Box was Curtis's assumption of full creative control, literally using his own voice to narrate, a stark contrast to the use of external presenters like David Dimbleby in previous works. This autonomy allowed for a more singular authorial voice, unburdened by the perceived "BBC kind of house style breathing down his neck".

The series delves into the perils of Rationalism, Managerialism, and grand utopian visions, examining how attempts to impose order and control on complex human systems often lead to unforeseen, and frequently destructive, consequences.

Looking at the intellectual and political currents that shaped the 20th century, revealing the often-unacknowledged connections between seemingly disparate ideologies and their societal impacts.

Rational Calculation and the Illusion of Control

A central theme explored in Pandora's Box is the pervasive and often dangerous application of rational calculation as a means of managing human societies.

One episode, titled "The Engineers Plot," specifically details how this mindset was embraced and implemented within the Soviet Union. This involved a concerted effort to organise society according to scientific principles and precise mathematical models, aiming to achieve a perfectly predictable and efficient system.

Highlighting the inherent belief in this approach: that human behaviour, societal structures, and even future outcomes could be accurately predicted and controlled through rigorous, quantitative analysis. This quest for total order was rooted in the conviction that chaos and unpredictability were problems to be solved by the application of pure reason and systematic planning.

However, Curtis deftly demonstrates that this analytical approach was not exclusive to totalitarian states. He reveals that the exact same mindset of rational calculation was simultaneously at work in America. This revelation is central to the series' critique, suggesting that the underlying impulse towards technocratic control transcends political ideologies, whether communist or capitalist.

By juxtaposing seemingly opposing systems, Pandora's Box implies a shared, underlying flaw in the human ambition to perfectly engineer society.

The drive to remove human unpredictability through rational systems, even with noble intentions, can inadvertently create rigid and dehumanising environments, leading to a disenchanted age within an iron cage of rationality.

Economic Models and the Post-War British Malaise

Pandora's Box also dedicates significant attention to the economic models implemented during the Thatcher-Reagan Years. While An Ocean Apart concludes the broader Anglo-American Relations narrative during this period, Pandora's Box focuses more intensely on the domestic British context, offering context to the nation's condition.

Britain was bugged after World War II, a state of affairs that persisted through the 1960s, 1970s, and arguably into the 1980s. This term "bugged" implies a deep-seated dysfunction, likely encompassing economic stagnation, social unrest, and the perceived failures of the post-war consensus and its established institutions.

Thatcher's response to this national malaise involved the adoption of particular economic models and a political formula based on a romantic vision of the past which overwhelmed opponents by summoning up this vision and invent a consensus of the nation.

This vision drew from a made up history by Winston Churchill who painted a picture where the nation was built on Individualism and Liberal economics. Despite Britain's perceived "heart being in the right place" and her initial potential to be "great", she was corrupted by these liberal economic principles and an over reliance on this fictional narrative.

Britain's policies, including the opening of global markets and allowing foreign companies to acquire domestic assets, led to increased vulnerability for the nation.

Thatcher's political formula aimed to create wealth for people by encouraging a "fierce spirit of entrepreneurial enterprise". This was framed as "popular capitalism," with freedom being associated with the ability to "buy shares in what used to be State monopolies" like British Gas and British Telecom.

The underlying assumption was that wealth generated by a "wealth creating class" would "trickle down" and that the "cake keeps on getting bigger" under capitalism, benefiting everyone. However, this vision was limited, and primarily address only a minority, and proved meaningless to those who did not benefit from such opportunities.

The series thus portrays Thatcher's approach as an imposition of an elite's vision onto the broader population, based on a specific, perhaps flawed, understanding of human nature and economic drivers.

This is a broader theme in Curtis's work: the critique of how power structures, even those claiming to liberate, can inadvertently lead to new forms of control and rigidity. This romantic vision, though powerful enough to rally support, also inadvertently "raised other ghosts," particularly those from Ireland's complex history with Britain.

Decolonisation and the Assertion of National Power

A less conventional, yet thematically significant, aspect of Pandora's Box is its exploration of decolonisation and the assertion of national power through the lens of Ghana's Independence. The episode "Black Power" focuses on this period, a topic considered obscure for Curtis's broader filmography.

Through the narrative of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president, the series presents a complex assessment of post-colonial leadership. Nkrumah had "a vision but not enough wisdom", idealistic yet impractical approaches to national sovereignty in the face of established global power structures.

The documentary proceeds to draw a stark lesson from Ghana's experience, particularly as it developed under later leadership. It suggests that if a country finds itself "riddled with American business interests," the path to true independence and national benefit may necessitate a forceful approach.

Such nations should play hard, use what you got, hold them to ransom if you have to, use force, and nationalise your industry.

This aggressive stance is a pragmatic response to external economic dominance, implicitly endorsing strategies that defy conventional liberal economic principles. The improved constant GDP per capita under Rawlings, leading to him being considered a "legend" for them, serves as factual support for this "play hard" strategy, linking the assertion of national control over economic interests to tangible positive outcomes.