We people

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Television series
Original title We people
Country of production Germany
original language German
Year (s) May 1966 to December 1966
Production
company		 International Institute for Submarine Research
length about 29 minutes
Episodes 13
genre documentary
idea Hans Hass
First broadcast May 23, 1966 on SDR , ORF , BBC
occupation

Wir Menschen is the title of a 13-part television series by diving pioneer and natural scientist Hans Hass about his human-ethological expeditions from 1962 to 1966. Hass founded this new research direction together with Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt .

The "mirror technology" used for the first time as pilot studies in this film series for unobserved film recordings was an essential tool in the development of the human ethological film archive of the human ethology research center in the Max Planck Society .

content

The leitmotif of this television series is the inscription above the Temple of Delphi : “Know yourself!” After his underwater research, Hans Hass specialized in humans and their position in evolution . With the help of a mirror lens he developed, he filmed people in all parts of the world without their knowledge, and at the same time changed the normal course of time through gathering and slow motion . This made it possible to “dehumanize” people and to critically analyze their behavior free of the prejudices of the usual self-assessment.

At tenfold acceleration, for example, a picture of a road junction suddenly shows behavior patterns that cannot be recognized at normal speed. Conversely, the slowdown reveals what is changing in the faces. He asked himself the following questions: are these facial movements already innate and therefore the same all over the world? Or are they influenced by race and upbringing?

Hans Hass spent three years roaming, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by his wife Lotte Hass and Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, with his camera through lonely and lively areas of all countries and continents. He filmed z. For example, a bullfight in Mexico, a brickmaker in Bali, a couple in love on a French beach, a Chinese greengrocer in an outburst and the expression of extreme anger presented in the classical Japanese theater. All of this changed as the passage of time changed. The series first ran in black and white in 1966 on television. However, since the recordings were already filmed in color, they were broadcast in color again in 1975. The content of the two versions of the series is not entirely the same. For the color version, topics have been rearranged and titles have been redesigned. Each episode focuses on a specific instinctual behavior .

background

The television series on human behavior was produced for Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR), Austrian Broadcasting and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Natural History Unit between 1962 and 1966. The series title of the English-language series was Man . With the help of time expansion, time lapse and new types of optics, Hans Hass succeeded in documenting human behavior unobserved on film. Hans Hass developed a new camera technology to be able to analyze behavior as objectively as possible: A mirror attachment placed in front of the lens makes it possible to film people without their knowledge. A simultaneous change in the normal course of time ( time lapse with two to six images per second and slow motion with 48 images per second) "alienates" the processes and behavior patterns that are normally not observed become visible. With this method, Hass wanted to try to observe the behavior within human communities as free from prejudice as that of the fish in a coral reef.

The titles of the black and white version

  1. Expedition to ourselves ("Know yourself") (SDR first broadcast: 23 May 1966)
  2. Curiosity (SDR first broadcast: June 6, 1966)
  3. The artificial organs (SDR first broadcast date: June 20, 1966)
  4. The Soul Barometer (In the Mirror of the Face) (SDR first broadcast: July 4, 1966)
  5. The Friendship Sign (The Friendship System) (SDR initial broadcast date: July 18, 1966)
  6. The regulatory system (SDR first broadcast: August 9, 1966)
  7. The exchange of services (SDR first broadcast date: September 12, 1966)
  8. The Life Players (SDR first broadcast: September 26, 1966)
  9. Air Movements (SDR first aired October 10, 1966)
  10. Community service (SDR first broadcast: October 24, 1966)
  11. The coined essence (SDR first broadcast: November 7, 1966)
  12. The waiting being (SDR first broadcast date: November 21, 1966)
  13. The Lucky Seeker (SDR first broadcast: December 5, 1966)

Title of the episodes broadcast in color in 1975/1976

episode First broadcast date title description
1 December 28, 1975 The starting point In the studio, Hans Hass and Eibl-Eibesfeldt tell how the new research direction in behavioral research came about. Hass explains how the observation of marine animals gave him the idea to view human behavior from the point of view of an extraterrestrial observer. Which parts of our behavioral repertoire are guided by instincts, which are acquired through learning and tradition?
2 4th January 1976 Expedition to ourselves This episode gives examples of how much is innate in human behavior, such as the basic elements of facial expressions and gestures. About the insights into behaviors that can only be gained through filmic representation in slow motion and fast motion.
3 January 11, 1976 The flame of curiosity A peculiarity that distinguishes humans from their animal relatives is that their curiosity instinct is effective well into old age. Analysis of curious behavior that most vertebrates lose after reaching sexual maturity.
4th January 12, 1976 The extended hands The human being is the being that creates "extended hands" through artificial organs such as tools. The skills and peculiarities of the hands that made it possible for humans to manufacture tools, weapons and machines - and with them the conquest of the planet.
5 January 25, 1976 The battlefield of the face Charles Darwin already suspected that the basic movements of facial signals are innate in humans. Close-ups filmed unnoticed by Africans, Chinese, Europeans, Indians and Arabs provide the proof. They show that most of these signals are innate behaviors.
6th February 1, 1976 In the cobweb of order Numerous examples are used to show how human order unfolded - in traffic, at work, in the factory, but how humans, on the other hand, become entangled in this order and how this can lead to enmity, brutality and war. Presentation of the basics of the energon theory. About the various forms of human order that are a product of intelligence.
7th February 8, 1976 The arms of the smile A particularly important facial signal is the smile. Smiles can mix with hundreds of other facial signs - and then acquire a wide variety of individual meanings. An analytical look at the smile and its functions.
8th 15th February 1976 The exchange of services Human intelligence expresses itself in the fact that we can see cause and effect in the mind, even if they are far apart in space and time. Analysis of our professional and manual skills. About money as an intermediary for the services of others.
9 February 22, 1976 The signals to the environment With his hands, people carry out targeted actions - but very often, it seems, also meaningless. About the meaning and origin of gestures and signs in conversation, prayer and dance.
10 February 29, 1976 The individual and the community In this episode, humans are viewed like ants - the behavior of humans in groups is contrasted with that of animals in packs. Parallels become clear in the shortened recording and raise questions. How individuals behave within groups. How much in truth our supposed “free will” is influenced by the community.
11 March 7, 1976 The child and its pattern of life In animals, behavioral research has demonstrated the phenomenon of imprinting - in humans, Sigmund Freud already recognized that there are sensitive periods in child development when external stimuli determine subsequent behavior. How children are individually shaped for their later life in certain, sensitive phases of their development on social values, beauty and ethics.
12 March 14, 1976 Behind the bars of waiting Using the tools of his imagination, man can look into the future - and what he hopes for from this future is what he is waiting for. Animal and human behaviors caused by the nervous system. An extreme example are stereotypes that cannot be suppressed by the individual.
13 March 21, 1976 The search for happiness A summary of the aspects of human behavior discussed in this TV series. This is followed by an analysis of a typical human trait - the search for personal happiness. Conclusion from Hass: We shouldn't trust the usual ratings too much. If mankind does not want to perish and destroy all life in the world, then the warning word applies more than ever: "Know yourself".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Human ethological film archive ( Memento from August 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) The human ethological film archive.

Web links