You look like a Marcy May…

It is interesting to consider how a collective American-fear of brainwashing when seen on screen, induced by hypnosis, might have aroused a culturally critical response in the 1960’s with The Manchurian Candidate (1962), while equally well-received but certainly less controversial, Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), in depicting the paranoid Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), as she struggles with the blurring of her reality and delusion after escaping a cult in upstate New York, did not stir a response in regards to the brainwashing aspect of the film specifically.  Is our cultural perception of brainwashing changed because of the increase of psychotherapy?  Is brainwashing via hypnosis perceived radically more violating to our idea of freedom of will than the manipulation of a cult leader?

Jaap’s 0930-1015 Recitation Notes

Introduction of TA and Students

Review of Syllabus

Assigned note-taking and presentations

Discuss Manchurian Candidate – review Prof. Zinman’s queries on the film

Watch clips:

–       Kennedy Nixon Debate ¼ (1960)

–       Primary (1960)

Compare JFK v. Nixon/Humphrey to Manchurian candidate.

Brainwashing via visual mass media.

“Seconds” (John Frankenheimer, 1966)