The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth

The series presents the story of the Stanford Experiment. It's divided into three episodes. The first presents the most well-known version of events, the second focuses on criticism of the methodology, the experiment, and the presenter himself. The third episode allows everyone to express themselves freely and present their own version, including Professor Zimbardo.

The series' appeal depends largely on how little you know about the Stanford Experiment. If you don't know much, the series can be a bit chaotic. For example, Professor Zimbardo isn't named until halfway through the first episode, so if you weren't familiar with him, you might wonder who he is. The series will be much better for intermediate learners. It includes many details that aren't widely known, so you can expand your knowledge if you already knew something before watching the film. The interviews with the participants and the experimenter are very informative.

The program allows them to express themselves completely freely, and what some of them say is truly shocking. It's not about what happened during the experiment, but how all these people came to terms with the experience. For example, one of the "prisoners" says he faked it to be released, one of the "guards" says he only pretended to be evil to subvert the system, and the experiment's creator has absolutely nothing to reproach himself for and considers any criticism groundless. All of this is somewhat reminiscent of a popular song in my country by soccer fans who, after losing a match, celebrate that nothing happened and will win in four years.

It's also worth noting the bitter reflection on the media and scientists (though this is more my observation than the film's message). Although the Stanford experiment was-to put it mildly-very controversial, and its official results-to put it mildly-not very reliable, no one questioned it for over 30 years, and Professor Zimbardo was an undisputed authority and public figure. Although today the Stanford experiment is heavily criticized and its results are less and less recognized, it did happen in 1970. The fact that so many years had to pass unfortunately does not reflect well on either the media or other researchers.

This could have easily been a 80-minute documentary but (typical these days with streaming services) it is stretched to 3 full episodes where half the content is legit, and the other half is padding.

Episode 1 built a good understanding of the history of the actual experiment, why it happened and illustrates its impacts on the participants who testify for themselves.

Episode 2 meanders a bit, mainly depicting the show's recreation of the experiment with hired actors, in part to make up for lack of real archival footage but also to set up the next episode where this will somehow come into play. So already we are seeing a lack of focus. About half the episode is still good, however, for the research shown by people who exposed myths about the real experiment and dispel any hype stirred up by its creator in years since for his financial gain.

Episode 3 confirms this series got drawn out for view time. Almost nothing is gained, despite finally hearing from the doctor behind the experiment for his side of the story. But this is spliced between a needless sentimental reunion of the original participants (now middle-aged) whom we've already heard from for 2 episodes, but now they observe actors recreating their experience on a closed set... for amusement, I guess. Otherwise, their testimony becomes redundant by this point and the viewer gains too little.

Kind of ironic that a major point of the series was how the initial experiment got milked for publicity and overblown. Then, this series does that further.

It's still a fascinating story but you may find yourself skimming through, as you realize how much this could've been effectively told in a shorter, concise, single film.