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On `Mindbender’ Movies…!

Primer (2002) Written, Directed, Starring, Sound & Music by Shane Carruth

Primer (2002) – Written, Directed, Starring, Sound & Music – by Shane Carruth

My own (personal) favourite movie-genre is: The Mindbender. 

(And, very specifically, the Satirical Sci-Fi Mindbender)

So, here’s a pretty good definition – or, description – of a `mindbender’ narrative:

Mindbender, (also known as: `Twitch Psychological Thriller’) – are: ‘Psychological thrillers involving protagonists whose conception of reality or self-identity is revealed to be mistaken.

Typical plot devices in Mindbenders include: hallucinations, drugs, mental illness, mind control, emotional distress, guilt, suppression, amnesia, memory, surrealism, time-travel, brainwashing, dreams, and death.’

(Source: Mindbender, online)

My (02016) Ev Cult PhD study was on The Top 20 RoI Movies (their: stories, screenplays, movies), compared and contrasted to The Bottom 20 RoI Movies.

An example of a Top 20 RoI movie that is also a `mindbender’ is the excellent time-travel film: Primer (2002).

& now… here’s a random gif of Lee Marvin pointing a gun right at you, as – this is kinda how `mindbenders’ make me feel.

And – for your viewing pleasure – here’s a list, of some of my Favourite Mindbender Movies:

(And, also – er… Spoiler Alerts…? Sometimes, knowing that it’s a Mindbender in advance, i.e., before you actually experience it as a story, can actually, `spoil the fun’ of the surprise, a little bit… or even – a lot… 🙂

(So, read on, at your own peril, Dear Reader… ! 🙂

Great examples of Mindbender Movies include:

…Pretty much anything (short stories, novels, adapted movies) by Phillip K Dick, in fact…(!)

…Gotta love those mindbender twists…!

Also:

  • Lost Highway
  • Identity
  • The Number 23
  • The Sixth Sense
  • Inception
  • Interstellar
  • Tenet

& all the others… including:

…At any rate, the Mindbender is actually, also one of the hardest/riskiest narratives to do (i.e. to: write) really well…

Mainly because, the audience (or even, the professional screen reader) can’t realize (or, guess) the mindbender-twist ahead of time, or else, the story is (too): predictable…

…& thus not: new, useful & surprising

(i.e., creative).

This is also why, (having written some of these myself) I (and – most writers?) consider it, `a level above’ most “straight” storytelling – namely as, it has the added extra `shock-twist’, at the end…

i.e., A whole other layer of narrative on top – so that, the audience can also enjoy repeated viewings of it (such as: for all of the above Mindbender movies!)

(…I’m not sure how often I’ve re-watched 2001, Seven Psychopaths, & Fight Club , but – it’s a LOT 🙂

A Random Side Note: It seems, the `Mindbender’ was Aristotle’s favourite genre of story, too…

(well; his favourite kind of Ancient Greek play…

In The Poetics, he talks about how Oedipus has a huge `mind-bending moment’ (which actually is: anagnorisis and peripeteia – if you want to get all technical 🙂

– i.e. – Namely when Oedipus finds out – (to his shock and awe, and also – abject horror) – that he’s accidentally nailed his mom, and offed his dad in a road-rage incident… exactly as was predicted (or prophesized) he’d do, by The Oracle…

(another side note: it’s not the same The Oracle as from The Matrix).

I’ve also written a few Mindbender movie screenplays. (…they are so much fun to plot-! Well – if you like that sort of thing..? 🙂

Anyway – I hope you enjoy these Mindbenders above, as much as I have.

I also like TV shows that are Mindbenders, too…

Like say, LOST, and, Maniac (with Emma Stone and Jonah Hill)… and Outer Range, etc…

& my favorite novels include: The Third Policeman (by Flann O’Brian)…

The Third Policeman

The Third Policeman (O’Brien)

…but – before you read it, I highly recommend the audiobook, read by Jim Norton.

 

And, speaking of mind-benders – one big mind-bender from the Ev Cult PhD is that Ev Cult (the meta-meta-science of Evolutionary Culturology) is that, it solves the hard scientific problem of consilience, the unity of all knowledge, all culture, all information.

A problem expertly described (but certainly not solved) in: Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (E O Wilson, 1998).

Check out Ev Cult… It’s the meta-meta-science that explains everything.

 

And – for more, see: The StoryAlity research weblog Index

Some of the relevant posts on there would include:

StoryAlity #131 – Why Things (like, some Movies) Are Popular – and – The Anna Karenina Principle

StoryAlity #53 – The StoryAlity High-RoI Film Story & Screenplay: Checklist

StoryAlity #54 – StoryAlity Screenwriting Guidelines – for any aspiring Writer of High-RoI Movies

And now, to finish up –

– here’s a fun diagram I saw, recently-ish:

50 most complex mindbenders chart

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THE END.

ROLL CREDITS.

…You have been reading a weblog-post by:

Velikovsky of Newcastle

jtv-meta-meta-scientist-v2

Evolutionary Culturologist

&

High-RoI Story/Screenplay/Movie/Media & Transmedia: Consultant

The above is (mostly) an adapted excerpt, from my Ev Cult doctoral thesis: “Communication, Creativity and Consilience in Cinema (02016)”. It is presented here for the benefit of fellow screenwriting, filmmaking and creativity researchers.

For more, see: Velikovsky’s ORCiD

Velikovsky of Newcastle is also a produced feature film screenwriter and million-selling transmedia writer-director-producer. He has been a professional story analyst for major film studios, film funding organizations, and for the national writer’s guild, and a Judge for the Writers Guild and Directors Guild.

For even more, see: http://on-writering.blogspot.com/

& see also, Velikovsky’s: Recent Publications

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P.S. – A friend posted this (below) on The FaceBook…

Good list…? (If, you like that kind of thing…)

(Spoiler Alert! Knowing in advance that a movie is a mindbender can: spoil it!)

99 Mindfuck movies

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The StoryAlity Theory of High RoI – a subdomain of the meta-meta-science of Evolutionary Culturology

The discrete units and scale-levels of fractal HOLON/partons (units of culture), in the cultural domain of Cinema. Each unit, on each individual scale-level, obeys The Three Laws of fractal HOLON/partons from the meta-meta-science of Evolutionary Culturology; it:

(Law #1) Integrates Upwards into the larger unit of culture on the scale-level above;

(Law #2) Competes and Co-operates laterally, with peer-units of culture on the same scale-levels; and

(Law #3) Command and Controls Downwards, the smaller units of culture inside it, on the scale level below.

Image Source: Elements of Evolutionary Culturology, Rev. 2nd. Ed. (Velikovsky 2023, p. 300)

Visit: The Evolutionary Culturology weblog.

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…and boy-howdy, movies sure do have a lot of units of culture (fractal HOLON/partons) in them…?

Image source: The Ev Cult weblog.