Brainwashing the cybernetic spectator: The Ipcress File , 1960s cinematic spectacle and the sciences of mind
History of the Human Sciences July 1, 2017 Marcia Holmes 9 citations
In the mid-1960s, popular ideas about brainwashing shifted dramatically, reflecting Anglo-American developments in mind science and mass media. The 1965 film The Ipcress File exemplifies this shift: its brainwashing sequence uses flashing lights and electronic music synchronized to the rhythm of brainwaves. The article traces how the film's quest for cinematic spectacle drew on cybernetic science, multimedia design, and modernist architecture—developments that also influenced the psychedelic counterculture. Interposed between mind control, psychological science, and media was a vision of the human mind as a 'cybernetic spectator': a subject who scrutinizes how media and sensory demands affect consciousness and seeks to consciously participate in and guide this mental conditioning.