The initial remarks on this documentary were made during the viewing and are so very much initial thoughts but there will be some more considered ones, more of an overview at the end. The programme did not turn out to be wholly what I expected and my final reactions to it were rater more nuanced I think, than I was expecting them to be.
From the start, the interactions between Bryan J and his son, Talmage (that name!! Mormon?) had a somewhat ‘staged’ quality but one of the characteristics of the story of Bryan Johnson is how very aware he is of PR and image – in one way his entire focus on remaining young, is as much an image as the actual reality. I think wanting to be seen as something is of vital importance to him and his sense of self. There is also definitely something ‘cultish’ about the whole matter, particularly clearly shown towards the end with the burgeoning groups of ‘believers’ and throughout the programme, we were very aware of his young PR girl’s constant presence with her camera. But as he himself has, in way, escaped from a cult (he was brought up a Mormon but has now rejected it, fracturing his family relationships), I suppose that is not so unusual. Every cult has the central belief that it has ‘the answer’ and that all other possibilities are wrong.
His routine is breathtaking in its rigidity and dullness – the astonishing number of pills he takes every day running into hundreds… A brief remarks made on, I think, The View’ was made that, very ironically, he is in one way, not actually living and enjoying life – which is very sad given the almost infinite financial resources that he has.
For me the main focus of the documentary was the relationship between him and his son who was spending his final year of school living with him, unlike his siblings who remained with his estranged wife. I did often feel that the relationship between the two, notably as far as how Bryan regarded his son, definitely gave out an odd at times disturbing vibe. He really did seem to want him as a close personal teen-style friend (perhaps because he does not seem to have any friends as we would understand the term). And there were definitely a few moments where the expression on the son’s face momentarily suggested that as well. I suspect it will do the son good to be away from his father. It IS ‘odd’ to say, out loud, in his presence and on film that you wish you had your son’s legs! And as far the inter-familial blood plasma sharing – involving three generations, well…
Along with the major social media presence, the monetization of his whole project was mentioned but not fully explored. However, the term ‘new-age style scammer’ if not actually used, certainly hung over the proceedings. This would be interesting to be explored further.
The people who appeared were also intriguing. Oliver Zolman who seemed to be the main academic/research supporter looked disconcertingly young and somehow, did not give the air of expertise that the other major academics did who were researching the whole area of ageing/gene therapy. Many of these were doubtful of the value of what Johnson is doing but a very revealing remark was made by one leading researcher in this field who, saying how important this area could be and how very expensive doing human trial is (prohibitively so for universities). He told us that he had been blocked by Johnson on social media for daring to suggest that he fund or help to fund clinical trials rather than focus on himself. This confirmed what I have long suspected – that those with vast and almost immeasurable wealth are often completely solipsistic and have no sense of social duty or obligations. It’s like their support for those parts of the world where there is great/excessive economic freedom – little enclaves of almost complete libertarian freedom. One such area was in Honduras where the blood plasma transfers took place where the institute seemed to be run by two frankly rather skeezy looking characters Mac and Walter. It was not said where they came from, what their backgrounds were, what their areas of expertise were.
Finally, as I indicated in the title of this, it was a rather sad picture of a man who, in one sense, has everything financially but almost nothing else in any other area of human experience. That old adage about what shall it serve a man if he has limitless wealth but no soul…