speculative subliminal stimuli theme
There is a fanciful notion of what may be achieved using communication where at least part of the intended message passes beneath the recipient's threshold for conscious perception. Typically, a character is manipulated by the clever insertion of imperceptible cues in the audio or video they see.
Examples
In "Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future" (1985), the Network 23 television network used a new form of subliminal advertising, called blibverts, to prevent their viewers from channel surfing.
8 total · 2 major · 6 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| columbo1971e3x04 | major | The idea of shaping peoples desires by inserting subconsciously perceived messages into films was a main novelty of the story. Dr. Keppel surgically inserted a "subliminal cut" of an iced tea in his client's promotional video to manipulate the client into going to the water fountain for a drink, where Dr. Keppel summarily shot him dead. Later, Columbo marveled as a film technician showed him a "subliminal cut" of a hamburger in a car racing film. The story culminated with Columbo using "subliminal cuts" in a video to manipulate Dr. Keppel into leading him to the murder weapon. |
| movie: Subliminal Seduction (1996) | major | A nefarious corporation plotted to distribute subliminal message containing video games around the world. The corporation was able to mind control anyone who played their games. |
| ahp5x35 | minor | In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock feigned to perform a "sleep teaching" experiment on his viewers that involved implanting messages into the subconscious via repeating a message over and over again to a sleeping subject. |
| movie: Cypher (2002) | minor | The convention goers were drugged up and subsequently bombarded with subliminal messages. |
| movie: Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future (1985) | minor | The Network 23 television network was using a new form of subliminal advertising, called blibverts, that stopped channel surfing to increasing their ratings, but the ads caused some people to spontaneously explode. |
| movie: Serenity (2005) | minor | A subliminal message in an innocuous seeming television commercial made River go berserk. |
| movie: They Live (1988) | minor | Aliens, who were living as the ruling class, were secretly manipulating society using subliminal messages to accept the status quo and conform to have everyone serve them. |
| pkded1x10 | minor | The message "kill all others" first appeared to be a subliminal message inserted into TV media, though later on it was more overtly disseminated. |