HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 17 documentary films by recommenders
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.
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.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 93%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 14 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Viewers call it excellent and essential
“Watching that one and Yuri Bezmenov's masterclass and long interview are life changing”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “OpenAI: Our Principles” “I can't recommend Adam Curtis' Hypernormalisation more than ever.”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “OpenAI: Our Principles” “Yes, it's awesome and exactly what I had in mind.”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “Worst-case glacial lake flood scenarios in a transboundary Himalayan basin 2022” Explains current events through history
“Adam Curtis made a movie HyperNormalisation and we're living it also today.”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Bye Bye Humanity: The Potential AMOC Collapse” “The Adam Curtis documentary Hypernormalization is the ultimate tale of this”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “For 20 years, Stephen Colbert distinguished truth from truthiness” “explores this in great detail”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds” Classic starting point for Curtis films
“HyperNormalization or Bitter Lake are probably my go-to starting recommendations for classic Curtis”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “The USSR in 100 Photographs” “HyperNormalisation is one of many great documentaries by Adam Curtis”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Jerome Powell Responds” Ties history into political power theory
“lifts the news artifacts into a synthesis of a theory of corporate political power”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “What Is Hypernormalization?” “the way he brings it all together is nothing short of incredible”
Comment from 17 May 2026 in “We've made the world too complicated”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Less enlightening than expected
“an entertaining (though not as enlightening) description”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “AI Risks "Hypernormal" Science”
Other documentary films people recommend
The four most recommended other documentary films, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| You Can See Everything | 39 | 30 | 57% | 2 | — | — |
| The Thinking Game | 15 | 8 | 65% | 3 | — | — |
| HyperNormalisation by Adam CurtisThis page | 14 | 1 | 93% | 7 | — | Approved |
| It's Quieter in the Twilight | 12 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| BBS: The Documentary | 11 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
16 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Yes, it's awesome and exactly what I had in mind.”
“There’s a great doc by Adam Curtis about HyperNormalisation”
“HyperNormalization or Bitter Lake are probably my go-to starting recommendations for classic Curtis”
“Adam Curtis is great, definitely check out his other work.”
“explores this in great detail”
“The Adam Curtis documentary Hypernormalization is the ultimate tale of this”
“the way he brings it all together is nothing short of incredible”
“Watching that one and Yuri Bezmenov's masterclass and long interview are life changing”
“I can't recommend Adam Curtis' Hypernormalisation more than ever.”
“lifts the news artifacts into a synthesis of a theory of corporate political power”
“an entertaining (though not as enlightening) description”
“Well worth watching, Adam Curtis takes you on a wild ride around recent history”
“Adam Curtis made a movie HyperNormalisation and we're living it also today.”
“The films of Adam Curtis touch on this”
“I just watched the first ~30 min and I'm not seeing the "bit picture".”
“HyperNormalisation is one of many great documentaries by Adam Curtis”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.