Hjernevask | |
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Title card
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Genre | Documentary miniseries |
Created by |
Harald Eia Ole-Martin Ihle |
Country of origin | Norway |
Original language(s) | Norwegian |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 7 |
Production | |
Running time | 40 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | NRK1 |
Original release | March 1 | – April 19, 2010
Hjernevask ("Brainwash") is a Norwegian science documentary miniseries that aired on NRK1 in 2010. The series, consisting of seven episodes, was created and presented by the comedian and sociologist Harald Eia. Each episode featured Eia interviewing Norwegian social scientists about their theories of gender and social constructionism, and then confronting them with contrary data and testimony he had obtained from experts in other fields, such as biology and evolutionary psychology. Experts interviewed for the series included Simon Baron-Cohen, Steven Pinker, Simon LeVay, David Buss, Glenn Wilson, and Anne Campbell. The documentary caused embarrassment for the Norwegian social scientists and generated much public debate in Norway. The entire series has since been released online.
Eia and coproducer Ole Martin Ihle have named Steven Pinker's book The Blank Slate as an inspiration for the documentary series. The series was a huge success, and Eia was awarded the Fritt Ord Award for "having precipitated one of the most heated debates on research in recent times". Shortly afterward, the Nordic Council of Ministers closed down the Nordic Gender Institute.
The producers have made the series available online. Episodes linked here have English subtitles: