Brainwashed: Difference between revisions

[[File:brainwashed05a_3084brainwashed05a 3084.png|link=Trope-tan|frame|I... will... allow... All The Tropes... to... [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|destroy...my...life...]]]]

{{quote|''"My sole purpose in life is to bring pleasure to my companions!"''|'''Derek Flint''', ''[[Our Man Flint]]''}}

One, some or all of the main characters have been [['''Brainwashed]]''' into happily slaving away for someone else and have to [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|get their memories back]] to escape, usually assisted by someone who remembers who they were ([[The Power of Love]] often playing a part).

The most fun, ''delayed'' variety of brainwashing is the innocuous [[Manchurian Agent]]. If they are attacking people, it's a case of [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]. And look out for that one character in a million who's [[Not Brainwashed]]. Or in truly horrific settings, keep an eye on the ones [[Conditioned to Accept Horror]]. Compare with "[[Body Snatcher|Body Snatching]]". Occasionally done via [[TV Never Lies|television]]. May require [[Deprogram|deprogramingdeprogram]]ing to cure (see also [[Meat Puppet]]).

* Ryuutauros from ''[[Kamen Rider]] Den-O]]'' has the ability to brainwash entire crowds at the click of his host's fingers and influence them to dance with him (whether or not they can hear the music is never touched on).

* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS]]'', {{spoiler|[[Hollywood Cyborg|Ginga Nakajima]] is brainwashed by Jail Scaglietti. Subaru eventually snaps her out of it by hitting her with a [[Wave Motion Gun]] at point blank.}}

* Rika in ''[[Air Gear]]'' was "reborn" as Genesis' Thorn Queen after being connected to a machine with this purpose.

* In ''Pokemon3[[Pokémon 3]]'', Ash's mother is brainwashed by Entei into believing that she is the mother of Molly. {{spoiler|She breaks out of the spell, however, when she sees Ash on TV.}}

** One episode had Team Rocket's more competent rivals, Butch and Cassidy, use a Drowzee hooked up to a machine to brainwash all the Pokémon on Mandarin Island into disobeying their masters and obeying only them, with some examples being Ash's Pikachu and Misty's Togepi. Only Officer Jenny's Gastly, whose nature as a ghost-type negates the power of any psychic-type Pokémon, is immune. Ash later managed to trick Pikachu into '''destoryingdestroying the machine.'''

** AboutAnd 95%by extension, an equal amount of [http://rosvodoomedfool.deviantart.com/ thisdoomedfool's] writing, as he mostly writes fanfics to accompany the above guy's] outputpics.

* ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]''

* ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' has the protagonist strapped down and forced to watch violent scenes while a drug that induces nausea is pumped into him to make him feel repulsion for violence. And sex. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|And ]][[Ludwig Van Beethoven|Beethoven]][[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|'s music]] (because the film included it in the background).

* ''[[J-Men Forever!]]'' (1979). The evil Lightning Bug plans to brainwash the Earth people with rock & roll broadcasts, but is successfully countered by schmaltzy music from the Military Underground Sugared Airwaves Command ([[Fun with Acronyms|M.U.S.A.C.]]). So the Bug decides to use hashish instead, and only the combined forces of the J-Men (a team of [[Gag Dub|redubbed]] superheroes from Republic [[Film Serial]] clips) can stop him!

* ''[[Scooby -Doo and the Ghoul School]]'': Done by the villainess, Repulsa The Witch of The Web, who uses mind-control web headphones to control the female monsters into doing her bidding until she makes them evil permanently at midnight.

* ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]'' by Richard Condon.

* In the [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] 4th edition version of ''Draconomicon'', there's a sample mini-adventure in which a green dragon has pulled this on a handful of hapless Eladrin. Yes, even with their boosted Will defense.

* In ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', "brainscrubbing" is one of the routine ways of dealing with traitors, depending on severity (it's just above "adjust his meds" and just below "terminate him and activate his next backup clone").

* In ''[[V (TV series)|V]]'', the Visitors have a brainwashing method called conversion, but humans are so resistant to it that it is only considered worth the bother for a few vital individuals.

* Cally from ''[[Blake's Seven7|Blakes Seven]]'' gets taken over by various alien entities so often that it sometimes seems to be her only role on the show.

* In the [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] 4th edition version of ''Draconomicon'', there's a sample mini-adventure in which a green dragon has pulled this on a handful of hapless Eladrin. Yes, even with their boosted Will defense.

* One ''[[BioshockBioShock (series)]]'' [[Apocalyptic Log|audio diary]] reveal that Andrew Ryan had the plasmids modified so that Rapture's already brain-buggered population would be susceptible to mind controlling pheromones. Pheromones and mental programming are also used to ensure that the [[Creepy Child|Little Sisters]] stay close to the Big Daddies, and that the Big Daddies protect the Little Sisters. There's also {{spoiler|"Would you kindly?"}}

* In ''[[Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon]]'', [[Evil Sorcerer|Gharnef]] is doing this to [[Token Mini-MoeLoli|Dragon Princess Tiki]]. Though Tiki was [[Older Than They Look|older than she looked]], this leads to [[Unfortunate Implications]].

* [[Filmation]] loved this trope, as several of their eighties shows feature [[Mind Control]] powers or technology. The ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'' episode "The Mystery of Man-E-Faces" showed Beast Man using his power over beasts to make Manny-in monster-mug form--attackform—attack He-Man; however, he clearly didn't wish to and showed this with a [[Single Tear|tear in his eye]]. In the ''[[She-Ra: Princess of Power|She Ra Princess of Power]]'' episode "The Perils of Peekablue", Shadow Weaver forced the all-seeing heroine to be Hordak's spy with her mind-control magic. Peek wasn't content with one demure tear; she fairly flowed. In fact, it was her streaming eyes that told her fellow rebels she wasn't serving the Horde willingly.

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' does this to [[Chaste Hero|Colonel Bud Manstrong]] as a parody of ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]''. [[It Makes Sense in Context|Abraham Lincoln's ghost]] even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this.

* ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' LOVES this trope, especially for Sam as a running gag in the series. In fact, this was done not only to them, but their families and friends as well (Tim Scam brainwashing their mothers to kill them, a disgruntled child mind controlling all the children in the world including one of the girl's younger siblings, Jerry's being turned evil by his evil brother, the previous trio of female spies, the list goes on).

* The term in English is derived from the Chinese 洗脑 "clean/wash the brain", used to describe the combination of torture and propaganda-barrage used on U.N.-aligned troops, mostly Americans, during the Korean War in order to extract false confessions for use in broader propaganda. The actual efficacy of any form of brain washing, from torture to subtle persuasion to drugs to hypnotism, is highly disputed. It is generally held that such techniques can be very good at extracting compliance from the victim, but true ideological turn-about ''à la'' the books and film ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'' or ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]'' is not to be expected -- inexpected—in the few cases where this seems to have happened, it has generally been linked to the prisoner's captors treating her better than her own nominal side (see: Japanese POWs during [[World War II]]).