Adam Curtis directed the 1992 BBC documentary series Pandora’s Box about political and economic rationalism.
Pandora’s Box is a six-part documentary series written and directed by British filmmaker Adam Curtis. It examines the influence of technocratic and mathematical ideas on modern politics and economics. The series uses archival footage, interviews, and historical examples to question the consequences of treating social problems as systems that can be managed through technical calculation.
The title is metaphorical, drawing on the familiar image of a container whose opening releases unforeseen consequences. The documentary is not about the ancient Greek narrative itself, although its title invokes that tradition. Its subjects include political decision-making, economic policy, and the use of scientific language in government.
Curtis later became known for documentary series such as The Century of the Self and HyperNormalisation. Pandora’s Box belongs to his early BBC work and helped establish his distinctive archive-driven essay style. It is therefore separate from films titled Pandora’s Box and from the original Greek myth.