Are movies reprogramming our brains in a harmful manner?

The dangers of films and movies is always talked about in regards to content, sex ,violence, and an over all desensitization to many forms of questionable moral behaviors and attitudes. While i believe what the bible says about sowing into our selves and that such things can take root and reinforce the actions and attitudes of people,the not so obvious question is: What does the stylized recontructing of space, time, and content do to the observer?For all of us who have enjoyed movies we can recognize the deep immersion that takes place! we are placed into a trance like state fixated on the journey that unfolds on the screen. Its as close to virtual reality as we can get! Thats its appeal. But are neural connections being made that are specific to the medium of film? To rehash Mcluhan what if "THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE" if you are unfamiliar with the idea as simply as i can put it is that the MEDIUM which you use to communicate an idea has a bigger impact on the person receiving the MESSAGE then the idea itself.Like seeing pictures of an atomic bomb and its destruction on tv as opposed to reading a detailed description, for most the simple clip of the BOOM!!!!! will say what a 40 page document about the boom cant. Now Mcluhan can be abit convoluted and there is alot of debate regarding what the hec hes talking about but lets keep with the simple idea just described.I am not a proponent of evolution but it can hardly be contested that enviornment can shape both the individual and a culture as a whole and that cultures do experience "paradigms" and that enviormental rewiring can get the ball rolling in changing those paradigms reshaping the way a people views themselves and reality. What if any effect does this new medium of film have on our perceptions of reality. what undetected rewiring are we taking from our film experiences to our real lives? below a few examples of what i mean.

Editing: Our visual perceptions are linear, to see whats behind me my eyes take the 180 degree trip over time and through space to experience that view. But in film an edit can take us from a front view of someone passing through a door way to the back view of that peson passing through the door way instanly. what do constant non linear jump cuts tell our brain about perceving our surroundings?

elapsed time: When we are engaged in a movie we can get really involved. we feel for the characters and often share in their emotions regarding their situations.But what the character is experiencing as days, months or years we enjoy in 2 hours while still being able to experience the greater passage of time expressed in the movie. What could this hyper experience of time do to our perceptions of time in our real world?

perspective:Comedy they say is tragedy from a distance. perspective is everything. If i guy gets kicked in the groin its funny but if its me getting kicked its a tragedy.For the movie goer our perceptions are open to the filter of the film.In one movie bank robbers are bad guys because of the carnage they bring but in another film bank robbers are cool and sexy because the carnge they bring.We are always placed in a position of both participator because of our emotional involment and as a 3rd person observor.you can enjoy the satisfaction of revenge on screen with no actual danger or consequence.Does film run a danger of giving us this ego centerd view in our lives causing us to make bad choices with no regard for others ? too detached through reinforced perspectives from movies?

being that movies are watched with such frequency these are things we should consider. the link goes to a paper about the effects of film on the observer. not specific to the questions asked here but still cool
homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk...

I think they're definitely used as archetypes for implanting suggestion and notion. Especially kid's tv shows.

Its not the idea that someone is consciously placing subliminal messages for a desired effect or response but that film it self as a medium of communication inherently brings about neuralogical restructuring regarding our perceptions of time and space. And that ill effects could be a result not out of ill intent but because of a lack of full understanding of the medium and ourselves. Its like when they first created canning. they had this great invention that made food storage for long journeys possible and it looked like a miracle but they didnt understand that the metal from the cans would poison them. what are we missing about potential dangers to the mind from excessive movie watching because we are still proclaiming it as a miracle

Im disapointed that noone picked up this thread i was really interested to hear thoughts on the idea of time and space distortions caused by a movies cut rate and editing techniques

Have you ever seen this film?

www.youtube.com...

It created new pathways in my brain, it scared me to death...nearly.

Ya ive seen that movie. its strange how editing effects can elicit specific abstract understanding.. like the movment of the ghost is choppy and jerky like its interacting with normal space and time but isnt apart of normal space and time and for the most part the viewer can understand that feeling.

Look up noosphere, then consider the possibilities of a government tapping into this as a problem solving platform

How would you get the public to think or have similar thoughts towards solving the problems you want them to solve?

Here is a little unconfirmed urban myth:

In the mid to late 50's a priest working on a electronic device disappeared. His last claim was to have captured the images of souls on a on a modified TV. Noteworthy was his claim that with further refinement he could use this device to show images of less energetic souls. Unfortunately his device in its current stage of development was only able to pick up souls that had more energy attributed to them. This translated to historical figures of high prominence. i.e Ceasar, Napoleon, Jesus etc...

.... around this time historical and biblical movies were being presented to the public. Coincidence?

Again really the idea is not one of propaganda or intentional conditioning through film by the film makers but that film is so new as a medium and its effect on us has more to do with our ignorance of its complete impact on the minds of humanity.communicating of the reality experience through the medium of film may inherently alter and distort our long held perceptions of space and time because of its edits and cuts.nothing to do with an agenda or brainwashing but a new conditioning of perception through film inherent to film as a medium..

reply to post by 8bitbreakfast


Many of the movies I've watched recently have shown subtle hints to Conspiracy theories. They are pretty straightforward.

'Ant Bully' - lots of obvious hints to ufo's and aliens, through the grandmother, and of course, the ants themselves. The grandma's rocking chair also featured a Freemason carving in the headrest. Sex symbol in a kid's movie?

'Flight Plan' - modern society's indifference to anything out of the ordinary, anything beyond the bureaucracies which are being taken advantaged by and giving people of authority the power to manipulate events to their favor.

'Madagascar 2' - Particularly the Penguins mimicking US military personnel. At one time, their victims gave witness accounts similar to victims of alien abduction. They also mimicked a scene similar to a ww2 scene in Hitler's HQ discussing desperate war plans with his generals and allies. The penguins were also particularly violent(too violent for a kid's movie, I say)

I've always thought this was the case, but perhaps not in the way the OP means. The film industry in the West has been dominated by the Hollywood system for a while. Britain once had good film industry which has produced some fantastic films in the past and a lot of Europe produces good films but, elsewhere, these tend to be marginalised as 'world cinema'.

American films, by and large are propaganda for the 'American Way' or the 'American Dream' or perpetuate Ameri-centricism and that belief that America will solve whatever probably is at hand because 'America is #1'.

In that respect, yes, I do think "movies are reprogramming our brains in a harmful manner.

I believe it's very hard for some people to differentiate movies from reality, that old saying, "seeing is believing, the rest is up to you." Take the movie Jaws, there were people who were afraid to go in the water at the beach, or go into the ocean, just because somewhere in the back of their minds, the looming danger of a possible shark attack. Just because people seen a movie about it, that it could happen to them.

Even the exorcist, I believe I heard somewhere, that to even get into the church after this movie premiered people needed a ticket, they were that scared, and they sought the church for some kind of comfort, spiritually or otherwise.

I basically grew up on horror movies, from around the age of five I had probably seen every horror movie that was out, Freddie, Jason, anything with zombies, I seen it all and internalized it. But, as I grew older I realized that it was just fake, not real, it can't hurt me. The silly thing is, that even now, I will have some kind of weird feeling something is watching me when I sleep, or is under my bed. It does irk me at times, and I realized some time ago that it pretty much screwed with my perception and what I thought was reality.

You really think it affects us?

How many people in the US-UK actually read books? Well if my local library is anything to go by its popular these days, but it’s full of people surfing the net! Its not even people listening to books on tape/CD’s, its face book, aggressive games. Then they head home and consume hours of TV that has its world of staged drama, voyeurism and images that we actually think we should aspire to. There are people-children that will take the information they get presented with as unquestioning fact and use this as a model for life and will become their life experience. Because they have experienced it from TV it becomes their experience!

I'm surrounded by sheeple that can't see how they are being played. I'm not talking about them feeling that they can't stop this control, they're not even aware of it! Or the broadsheet intellectuals who will debate the merits of one political party over the other - like there is an modicum of NWO staged difference?

As an example - The sheeple can't see that the CIA introduced 'women’s lib' as a means to get you the female sheeple out of the mothering mentality and give you the freedom to become a tax paying slaves along side your 'partner'! And, how is this enforced? Well, look at the US shows like, Sex in the City, Lipstick Jungle (I'm sure there are many more) strong women who hold down a tough top executive job and still have time to juggle the less important children, and woe betide the critical male that attempts to deny their right to have both worlds!

What you think this emotional choice was yours? You need to see how the likes of Edward Bernays, was used to make you think you even had a choice!

"Bernays set to work for major corporations, with one of his most spectacular successes being to help break the taboo against women smoking. He paraded a group of attractive young ladies through New York smoking and bearing the slogan 'March for Freedom'. Anyone criticising the idea of women smoking would now appear to be against freedom, and the numbers of women taking up the habit shot through the roof."

Yeeeeh, for the right to suck in poisonous substances and become addicted to it to the point that you tell yourself that its your 'Right' do so?

You see men are the weaker sex, we have an excuse but for you female sheeple they had to wheel in the big propaganda mind control guns.






[edit on 25-11-2008 by mlmijyd]