Hypnosis in popular culture

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This article lists fictional stories in which hypnosis features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted from this list.

1 Written works
2 Film
3 Television
4 Online media
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References

[edit] Written works

Bolesław Prus, Pharaoh (1895), in which High Priest Mefres gives post-hypnotic suggestions to the Greek, Lykon, in chapters 63^[1] and 66^[2] and passim.
Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician (1930), relates the effect of a hypnotist on a mass audience. The story is said to be symbolic of the power of Fascism.
Richard Condon, The Manchurian Candidate (1959), in which an American soldier is put into a hypnotic trance in order for him to carry out an assassination plot. Two film versions have been produced, in 1962 and 2004.
William Harwood, The Last Hypnotist (199?)
Georgia Byng, Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism (2002).
Lucas Hyde, Hypnosis (2005).

[edit] Film

The Pirate (1948), an MGM musical starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, in which Kelly's character mesmerizes/hypnotizes Garland's character into a trance, freeing her spirit to reveal her fantasies and desires.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962), based on Richard Condon's novel The Manchurian Candidate (see "Written works").
Pharaoh (1966), a Polish feature-film adaptation of Bolesław Prus' novel Pharaoh (see "Written works").
Heart of Glass (film) (1976), written, directed and produced by Werner Herzog, in which almost all the actors perform while under hypnosis.
In Good Will Hunting (1997), Will Hunting undergoes attempted hypnotherapy, poking fun at the process by producing ridiculous answers to the therapist's questions.
In Zoolander (2001), Derek Zoolander is hypnotized to Mugatu's song "Relax" to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
In Donnie Darko (2001), the titular character undergoes hypnosis in an attempt to locate the root of his mental difficulties.
Office Space (2001), in which the protagonist is hypnotized in order to relieve stress and burnout; his hypnotist has a heart attack and dies before he is brought out of the trance.
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) by Woody Allen.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004), based on Richard Condon's novel The Manchurian Candidate (see "Written works").
Stargate: The Ark of Truth, the protagonists search a device called The Ark of Truth which when opened will make people believe a truth programmed in the device.

[edit] Television

The Showtime Network television show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, which features comedy duo Penn & Teller, took a skeptical look at hypnosis in one of their episodes. They took the view that the so-called hypnotic trance does not exist at all, and that all hypnosis sessions are merely voluntary shared fantasies. Penn and Teller also state that the unusual behaviors people exhibit during a hypnosis session have always been well within their reach.
Paramount syndicated television show The Montel Williams Show, featured a presentation by Hypnotist The Incredible Boris Cherniak where hypnotized subjects reacted to a variety of comical situations, while at the same time showcasing the therapeutic effects of hypnosis such as quitting smoking.
The British car show Top Gear featured one of the presenters, Richard Hammond, getting hypnotized. Once hypnotized, he manifested a number of personality and mental changes, including not remembering how to drive a car, and thinking that a miniature child's version of a Porsche 911 was his own car, and attempting to drive it around in the studio.
An episode of MythBusters dealt with hypnosis, attempting to ascertain if post-hypnotic suggestion could influence the actions of a subject against their will and/or be used to improve memory. The conclusion was that hypnosis did not alter their behaviour, but was based on unnamed author published 'self-hypnosis' CD's of indiscernible quality or expertise.
In an episode of Doug, Dr. Klotzenstein hypnotizes children into eating junk food, in which, Quailman must save the day.
In Futurama, a recurring character is the Hypnotoad. He is first seen having hypnotized the judges of a dog show, enabling him to win. In a later episode, he is shown to have his own popular television show, "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad".
In the long running BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, the recurring Time Lord villain the Master will sometimes use hypnosis to bring subjects under his control. This is usually achieved by him staring the victim in the eyes and saying, "I am the Master and you will obey me!". In the 1985 story The Mark of the Rani, the Master uses a pendulum to hypnotize a victim.
Derren Brown claims to use hypnotism as part of his performances in Mind Control with Derren Brown.
Magician/mentalist "The Amazing Kreskin" disputes the validity of hypnosis and once offered $100,000 to anyone who could prove to his satisfaction that such a thing as "hypnotic trance" exists.^[3]

[edit] Online media

The fictional crime-fighter, The Red Panda, featured on Decoder Ring Theatre, uses a highly fictionalized form of hypnotic power.

The internet website YouTube has become a popular forum for learning techniques associated with both clinical hypnosis and stage hypnosis. Tom Silver, Derren Brown, Richard Nongard, Richard Bandler, Peter Powers and others have popular entertainment or instructional videos that have been seen on YouTube.com and this has increased the ease or popularity of learning hypnosis or viewing hypnosis as entertainment. It has also brought about the phenomena of "street" hypnosis.