Quote:
Originally Posted by bart5050
Kids can see these films as young children, 2, 3, or 4 years old, and they won’t understand them, but they’ll remember some of the images from the films all their lives. But later they will forget where they learned of those image. Some people will think they might have dreamed them. Others will think they are some kind of mystical supernatural images placed in their minds. Others will fear the mental images, especially if they never see the films again and never recall where the images and concepts originated.
I grew up watching Twighlight Zone, Outer Limits, and Bugs Bunny with Marvin the Martian. I have to my knowlege ever seen an alien, never really gave it much thought till sometime last year, or really ever saw them in my dreams. Didn't ever expect to see big funny rabbits. Loved horror shows too as a kid, never seen a vampire or considered them real.
I find just the opposite. Film makers don't make films without a box office appeal. Big investment to make on a subject to which the film audience has no interest or means to relate. They make films based on what is already a subject of interest within the audience. Box office dollars rule. Historical precedence was long established before the first radio show or even the first alien novel.
I am sure there are some whose imaginations were inspired. And there will always be some who have a loose connection to reality. However there are very few mental patients who have the I see aliens syndrome.
You make a statement in support of your paradeim that has no research or supporting studies other than an unfounded speculation by a few psycologist who have conducted no studies. Yet because others find it supportive of their beliefs they do not call your lack of scientific proof into question.
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Hi bart,
This is a well known phenomenon in the media world, and among people who work in the media. They certainly know about it. I learned years ago that many auto magazines have strict rules never to show any photos of wrecked cars in their magazines, since it will implant the subconscious mental image of ‘WRECKED CARS!!!” whenever some people, in the future, read that magazine or think of buying a car that is advertised in the magazine. I could give you many other kinds of media examples.
This is a very common concept in psychology. One can subconsciously remember a real-life trauma but not remember it consciously, and one can subconsciously remember an ugly movie monster (or a drawing of a monster in a 19th Century adventure book) but not remember it consciously. Freud figured this out about the subconscious mind and its hidden memories more than a hundred years ago.
It was quite common when I was growing up for parents to tell their kids about certain movies or TV shows, “You’d better not watch that ‘cause it’ll give you nightmares.” And in some cases it did give kids nightmares. We kids discussed this, and we discussed what kinds of films we “couldn’t see” without having nightmares about some of the images.
I knew a guy who had a fear of putting his hand in dark places without first inspecting the places with a flashlight. He was afraid something would be hiding in the dark places that would bite his hand. It was an unreasonable phobia, and the guy knew it, but he had it anyway. Whenever he had to put his hand somewhere dark, such as under his sink to repair his plumbing, or in the trunk of his car at night to search for something he couldn’t see, he often saw a mental image of a man’s hand about to be put in a small hole in the ground under a rock. The hand in the mental image always stopped and hesitated. The guy saw this image as clear as remembering an image on any photograph, and he developed a phobia about putting his hand in dark places.
About 40 years later the man went to a revival showing of “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, and in that movie, there was the image.... it was Humphrey Bogart about to put his hand under a rock where a Gila Monster was hiding. The man first saw this film when he was 6 years old. His mind remembered that one scene of Bogart’s hand hesitating before going under the rock, the scene lasted less than 2 seconds, but the mental image stayed with him for life, although he didn’t remember where he originally saw the scene or if had been a real-life scene, a movie scene, or a dream scene, not until he saw the movie again 40 or so years later.