Category: Hypnosis

• The "Moving Picture" Hypnosis

  This theory claimed that the flicker, rhythm, and sensory concentration of early cinema could induce a hypnotic or suggestible state in audiences. In its more conspiratorial form, critics argued that film was not simply immersive entertainment but a mass instrument that authorities, reformers, or propagandists could use to influence the public below the threshold of conscious judgment. The theory drew strength from the close historical relationship between early psychology, hypnosis discourse, and film theory, as well as from recurring worries about children, crowds, and modern spectatorship.