10 Shocking Examples Of Gaslighting In Movies

Even 70 years after its release, George Orwell’s seminal work 1984 continue to pervade the culture and influence TV and film. In the year 1984, the novel was adapted for the big screen featuring the late John Hurt as the protagonist Winston Smith. He lives under the reign of a totalitarian government, constantly under the watchful eye of Big Brother.

Many of the tropes of the book and film have themselves taken hold as popular signifiers of lying, gaslighting governments. The proclamation of two plus two equaling five is profound in its simplicity, an easily disproven lie. The emperor plainly wears no clothes.

The history of the nation Oceania, too, is a falsehood. The pervasive war is not real. Big Brother may not even be real. These are all concoctions of the government to control and oppress its citizens into obeying, blindly and without thought.

*The true #1 film could not be included on this list, as its mere presence on this list, even with a spoiler-free discussion, would be inherently a spoiler. For those who think they know it, it anagrams to A Squid Eel Boil.