The Secret (2006 film)

The Secret
Directed by	Drew Heriot
Produced by	Rhonda Byrne (Executive Producer), Paul Harrington (Producer)
Distributed by	Prime Time Productions
Release dates	March 26, 2006
Running time	87 mins
Language	English

The Secret is a feature length film produced by Prime Time Productions. The film is comprised of a series of interviews and dramatizations, related to the concept of the "The Law of Attraction" and is distributed primarily through online streaming media, and DVD, but has also screened on the Nine Network in Australia. A related hardcover book has also been released.

Synopsis

The Secret uses a documentary format to present its "transforming" message—the "Law of Attraction". This law is the secret that, according to the tagline, "has travelled through centuries to reach you". The film features interviews of professionals in the business of promoting, teaching, or writing about the concept of the "Law of Attraction". Interspersed among the interviews are testimonials, real-life stories, and quotes from historical figures.

As put forth in the film, the "Law of Attraction" principle posits that our feelings and thoughts attract real events in the world into our lives; from the workings of the entire cosmos to interactions among individuals in their physical, emotional, and professional affairs. The film also suggests that there has been a conspiracy to keep this central principle hidden from the public. The previews or "clues" to the film, show men who "uncovered the Secret...". On the DVD, Rhonda Byrne, creator, explains that she got inspired to create The Secret after reading the 1910 classic The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.

Teachers of the Law of Attraction

The film identifies specific historical figures and contemporary individuals as purported teachers of the "Law of Attraction."

Current Secret Teachers

The film interviews "Secret teachers" (professionals and authors) in the fields of quantum physics, psychology , metaphysics, theology, philosophy, finance, feng shui, medicine, and personal development, with some of these individuals, at their websites, promoting the film and their connection to it. A few of these individuals do not speak of this "Law of Attraction" in their interviews, and evidence that these individuals are teachers of the "law" or agree with it is not provided in the film or at the film's website.

The Secret teachers interviewed in the film, and then later featured on prominent american TV shows, are: John Assaraf, Rev. Michael Beckwith, John Demartini, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, James Arthur Ray, and Joe Vitale. Other so-called "Secret teachers", interviewed in the film, are: Lee Brower, Marie Diamond, Mike Dooley, Bob Doyle, Hale Dwoskin, Cathy Goodman, Morris E. Goodman, John Gray, John Hagelin, Bill Harris, Esther Hicks, Ben Johnson, Loral Langemeier, Lisa Nichols, David Schirmer, Marci Shimoff, Denis Waitley, Neale Donald Walsch, and Fred Alan Wolf.

Past Secret Teachers

The film also includes quotes by historical figures with Rhonda Byrne, the producer, stating in a voice-over in the film, "I can't believe all the people who knew this; they were the greatest people in history", claiming they are "past secret teachers". The people mentioned include Aristotle, W. Clement Stone, Plato, Isaac Newton, Martin Luther King, Carl Jung, Victor Hugo, Henry Ford, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Robert Collier, Winston Churchill, Andrew Carnegie, Joseph Campbell, Alexander Graham Bell, Ludvig Van Beethoven, Charles Fillmore, Wallace D. Wattles, Thomas Troward, and Charles F. Haanel.

Release date

The Secret premier was broadcast through the Internet on March 23, 2006 using Vividas technology. It is still available by pay per view through streaming media, and available on DVD at The Secret, the official site for the film. A new extended edition of The Secret was released to the public on October 1, 2006 and later featured on two special episodes of The Larry King Live Show on November 2, 2006 and November 16, 2006. The episodes are called "Beyond Positive Thinking" or "The Power of Positive Thinking."

On December 1, 2006, comedienne Ellen Degeneres followed suit by presenting two of The Secret teachers on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

Oprah Winfrey presented The Secret on her show on Thursday February 8, 2007.

The Australian television premiere was on channel 9 on Saturday, February 3, 2007.

Marketing campaign

The movie is advertised on the Internet using tease advertising and viral marketing techniques in which "The Secret" and the specific details of the film were not revealed.

The movie has been made available at Google Video by Dragon 8 Publicists and DrewPictures.net to promote the DVD and other related titles.

Although the DVD is not sold at national bookstores, it was one of the top five DVDs sold at Amazon during Christmas week, 2006. A book version, also called "The Secret" reached the top ten of The New York Times bestseller list.

Time Magazine describes the brisk sales of the DVD through New Age bookstores, and New Thought churches like Unity and Agape.

Criticism

Material greed

Journalist Jeffrey Ressner, reporting in Time Magazine, writes that some critics are concerned with the films attitude towards "using ancient wisdom to acquire material goods". In one example in the film, "a kid who wants a red BMX bicycle cuts out a picture in a catalog, concentrates real hard, and is rewarded with the spiffy two-wheeler."

Aggressive marketing

Since the first release of the DVD, Esther Hicks declined to continue with the project, mentioning contractual issues in a letter to friends. Also, in the letter she and her husband say: "Jerry and I were uncomfortable with what felt to us like a rather aggressive marketing campaign (just not our style, nothing wrong with it)... allowing them to edit us out was the path of least resistance."

Health claims

ABC news referred to claims that the mind has power over our health as "perhaps the most controversial" in The Secret. They quote Michael Bernard Beckwith, founder of Agape International Spiritual Center, as saying: "I've seen kidneys regenerated. I've seen cancer dissolved,"

External links

• Official website for the film
• Chicago Tribune's "The Secret" article
• Larry King shows featuring selected teachers from The Secret
• Free Oprah Winfrey Show on The Secret