# HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis

14 Hacker News commenters recommended HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a go-to Adam Curtis starting point, praised for tying recent history into a theory of political power. One viewer found it entertaining but less enlightening.

## Why people recommend it

- Viewers call it excellent and essential (3 comments): "Watching that one and Yuri Bezmenov's masterclass and long interview are life changing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47927411)) "I can't recommend Adam Curtis' Hypernormalisation more than ever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47927136)) "Yes, it's awesome and exactly what I had in mind." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49462142))
- Explains current events through history (3 comments): "Adam Curtis made a movie HyperNormalisation and we're living it also today." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46931471)) "The Adam Curtis documentary Hypernormalization is the ultimate tale of this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48182827)) "explores this in great detail" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48447583))
- Classic starting point for Curtis films (2 comments): "HyperNormalization or Bitter Lake are probably my go-to starting recommendations for classic Curtis" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49223938)) "HyperNormalisation is one of many great documentaries by Adam Curtis" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46588468))
- Ties history into political power theory (2 comments): "lifts the news artifacts into a synthesis of a theory of corporate political power" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736279)) "the way he brings it all together is nothing short of incredible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48165175))

## What people warn about

- Less enlightening than expected (1 comments): "an entertaining (though not as enlightening) description" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47497865))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [You Can See Everything](https://hackerapproved.com/p/you-can-see-everything.md): 39 recommend
- [The Thinking Game](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-game-documentary.md): 15 recommend
- [It's Quieter in the Twilight](https://hackerapproved.com/p/it-s-quieter-in-the-twilight.md): 12 recommend
- [BBS: The Documentary](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bbs-the-documentary.md): 11 recommend
- [Listers documentary](https://hackerapproved.com/p/listers-documentary.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hypernormalisation/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).