television as a control mechanism theme
There is a society in which the ruling elite uses television to dumb people down and keep them from questioning authority.
Examples
A totalitarian government used television to dumb people down in order to prevent revolution and thinking in "Fahrenheit 451" (1966).
11 total · 5 major · 6 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| movie: Looker (1981) | major | John Reston gave a speech in which he voiced an opinion that "television can control public opinion more effectively than armies and secret police" and expressed his astonishment about how "a free people spend one fifth of their lives sitting in front of a box with pictures". From a wider perspective, Reston Industries was banking on using hypnotic television commercials featuring computer generated actors to manipulate the public into buying certain products and getting a certain senator elected U.S. President. |
| movie: The Running Man (1987) | major | The totalitarian government that had taken power in the United States was using wildly popular television shows in which convicts had to fight for their lives in order to distract the public from their real problems. |
| movie: The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1983) | major | Television was used as a propaganda tool by the police state. This was a central and ever-present feature of the film. |
| movie: Videodrome (1983) | major | Barry Convex hatched a nefarious plot to give fatal brain tumors to "lowlifes" fixated on extreme sex and violence. This he aimed to achieve by having them watch a television show depicting the violent torture and eventual murder of anonymous victims. The signal from the show caused fatal brain tumors. |
| rbt1985e3x05 | major | The story is set in a future where people are accustomed to remain indoors in their air-conditioned homes and watch television. Although the reason was never spelled out, one must consider whether this was a strategy used by the rules (who may have been machines) to keep the public dumbed-down. |
| movie: Endgame (1983) | minor | A ruling elite the few remaining people in the city pacified with the reality television program Endgame, where hunters and gladiators fight to the death for large financial winnings. |
| movie: Equilibrium (2002) | minor | Out-and-out propaganda was broadcast on giant video screens throughout the totalitarian city-state. |
| movie: Fahrenheit 451 (1966) | minor | Television was used to dumb people down and keep them from questioning authority. |
| movie: Harrison Bergeron (1995) | minor | John Klaxon described television as the thread that holds together the fabric of society. In general, the ruling elites were filling up the airwaves with television programming that was calculated to dumb down the population. |
| movie: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) | minor | Everyone had a government propaganda blearing television in their home and one gathers that they could not be switched off. |