History Main / SubliminalSeduction

* Vete A la Versh. A parody of ''Ocarina of Time'' has a sign that says "Obligatory Subliminal Message. Errm......Sex."

* In ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry 5'', the [[MeaningfulName Des Rever]] Records corporation places literally seductive backmasked messages in their recordings, which you can actually hear in-game if you play the golden record in their headquarters backwards.

* In ''MageTheAwakening'', one of the Free Council grimoires is a metal album that implants knowledge of a few rotes, along with a spell that causes the subject to defy authority.

* ''HalfLife 2'': [[NightmareFuel If you play the noises that the headcrab zombies make backwards, you can hear muffled voices screaming "Oh God" and "Help me".]]

** See here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS_ysu7NWHs&feature=PlayList&p=AD9C16AEE3FF7CFA&index=0=1

Subliminal Seduction combines the worst aspects of a DiscreditedTrope and a DeadHorseTrope. The concept is to all practical purposes dead, but lives on in the creative imagination. Audiences see subversions and parodies of it so often that they still assume it must be real.\\

* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Lost Colony'', Artemis persuades his opponent to choose [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101 Taipei 101]] as a meeting place by dropping words into the conversation. That it actually works seems like a far-fetched XanatosRoulette, except that the man is already intimately familiar with the location and calls it "his second home".

* Averted in ''[[Literature/MacdonaldHall The War With Mr Wizzle]]''. The students try to change the behaviour of an annoying teacher by [[SleepTeaching playing tapes telling her to be nice while she sleeps]]. Unfortunately they just make her even crankier because she's not sleeping properly.

* In Creator/JohnBrunner's political thriller ''TheSquaresOfTheCity'', the BananaRepublic routinely use this as a propaganda technique.

** ''Zaaaack. Zaaaack."

** True, but it's stated specifically that the [[spoiler: Archangel Network actually linked and utilized the latent telepathy of humanity...maybe a bit justified. Also, despite this, it was still a very simple message ("trust" and "despair," respectively).]]

* The horror movie ''Trick Or Treat'' takes the urban legend about Satanic messages hidden in music and runs with it. The movie is ''about'' a heavy metal star who was into black magic (and died in the middle of a magical ritual) who put a backmasked summoning spell on his next-to-be-released album. The hero, a put-upon headbanger (played by the guy who played Skippy in ''FamilyTies''), gets the only prerelease copy of the album. Playing the album backward in short bursts gives the nerd headbanger advice for defeating the jocks and preps at his school who torment him, but the album keeps wanting to be played backwards in it's entirety -- and when he does, the dead metal star is summoned in demon form ''from Skippy's stereo speakers'' and runs amok. The plot is a little tongue in cheek rather than pure NewMediaIsEvil--the radio DJ is played by [[Music/{{KISS}} Gene Simmons]] and Music/OzzyOsbourne cameos as an anti-metal evangelist.

* In ''TheRing'', the corpse's of Samara's victims are shown for a split second at two points in the movie.

** True, but its stated specifically that the [[spoiler: Archangel Network actually linked and utilized the latent telepathy of humanity...maybe a bit justified. Also, despite this, it was still a very simple message ("trust" and "despair," respectively).]]

Back in the early days of visual media, a scourge was alleged to be making its way through movie theaters. Researchers claimed to have proof that a visual image, spliced into the film for an undetectable fraction of a second, would nevertheless lodge itself into the viewer's mind. The victims, told for instance 'You're hungry', would then be compelled to go out and buy more popcorn. This quickly expanded in the popular imagination to "[[{{Brainwashed}} compelled to do whatever they tell you to]]"; no matter how bizarre or expensive the compulsion, viewers wouldn't be able to help themselves.\\

* The seemingly babbling sounds of the [=ChuChus=] in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOgZeldaTheWindWaker'' are [[http://www.zeldainformer.com/news/dykg-wind-wakers-chuchus-are-voiced-by-angry-japanese-men voices from two Japanese men arguing, but the speeches were sped up and in reverse.]]

* In-universe example in ''{{Batman}}: Hush''. [[spoiler: The reason Bruce thought of Tommy Elliot when he needed surgery, even though he hadn't seen him in years, was because of a hidden program in the Batcomputer which randomly flashed Tommy's image every time he used it.]]

* In the first ''MassEffect'', the battle theme for [[spoiler:the first battle against Saren]] whispers the words [[spoiler:"listen to Sovereign"]] while you are fighting.

* Happened in one episode of ''SavedByTheBell'', when Zack put subliminal messages on audio tapes to cause Kelly to fall in love with him, and to end Mr. Belding's interfering with his scams. Of course, people heard the tapes who weren't supposed to, Zack's scheme is exposed, and HilarityEnsues.

** TheyMightBeGiants do this all the time, most noticeably in the song simply called "Subliminal". If you play "On Earth, My Nina" backwards, you'll actually hear "Thunderbird", another song of theirs. They Might Be Giants being They Might Be Giants, they released the "reversed" song half a decade before the forwards one. The demo version of "Which Describes How You're Feeling" has a bridge that, when played backwards, gives the message "They Might Be Giants wanted to include a verse about the suffering people in the world, but we couldn't figure out where to put it into the song". And "Hide Away Folk Family" ends with ''fake'' back-masking: It's actually just John Flansburgh singing a string of backwards-sounding nonsense. They do a double reverse in the song "Dinner Bell". They take a string of spoken parts of the body (ex. shoulder, bicep, elbow, arm), reverse the line, sing what they heard of the reversed line, and then reverse the reversed lines that they sung, and put those lines into the song. It's a cool effect.
** The ending of Soul Coughing's "The Bug" features a just barely audible loop of Mike Doughty repeating "George Clooney is Satan!" Not only is it a parody of the supposed message "I buried Paul" hidden in "Strawberry Fields" by the Beatles, it's also something of a TakeThat [[BitingTheHandHumor to the very film it was written for]]... ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', starring George Clooney.
** "[=P5hng Me A*wy=]", a song from LinkinPark's remix album ''Reanimation'', contains a backmasked section which is simply one of the song's verses.

* Having fallen out with the Channel 4's director and never knowing how far is too far, ChrisMorris inserted a single-frame image into his news-special satire ''Series/BrassEye'' that said "[[BitingTheHandHumour Grade]] is a [[spoiler: [[CountryMatters cunt]]]]".

* MortalKombatDeception has a few backwards-talking characters in Konquest Mode. Hilariously, one of the backwards lines subverts the whole sinister agenda thing you see with backwards message all the time with "Drink milk. Get plenty of sleep. Listen to your parents. Do your homework."

* Having fallen out with the Channel 4's director and never knowing how far is too far, ChrisMorris inserted a single-frame image into his news-special satire ''BrassEye'' that said "[[BitingTheHandHumour Grade]] is a [[spoiler: [[CountryMatters cunt]]]]".

* Tyler Durden from ''FightClub'' placed subliminal porn images into family films, strictly for his own amusement.

* Staying through the credits for ''{{Cloverfield}}'' gets you a few final seconds of audio, with the main characters who survived the movie still begging for help, followed by a quick burst of backmask. Dedicated viewers managed to record the sound and play it backwards within a day of the film's release. The final message of the movie? [[spoiler: "It's still alive!"]]
** Similarly there is a still image from the original ''Film/KingKong'' flashed briefly during the helicopter scene in ''{{Cloverfield}}''

* The horror movie ''Trick Or Treat'' takes the urban legend about Satanic messages hidden in music and runs with it. The movie is ''about'' a heavy metal star who was into black magic (and died in the middle of a magical ritual) who put a backmasked summoning spell on his next-to-be-released album. The hero, a put-upon headbanger (played by the guy who played Skippy in ''FamilyTies''), gets the only prerelease copy of the album. Playing the album backward in short bursts gives the nerd headbanger advice for defeating the jocks and preps at his school who torment him, but the album keeps wanting to be played backwards in it's entirety -- and when he does, the dead metal star is summoned in demon form ''from Skippy's stereo speakers'' and runs amok. The plot is a little tongue in cheek rather than pure NewMediaIsEvil--the radio DJ is played by [[{{KISS}} Gene Simmons]] and Music/OzzyOsbourne cameos as an anti-metal evangelist.

* ''{{The X-Files}}'' episode "Wetwired" dealt with subliminal messaging on cable television driving people to murder. Mulder finds that he is immune to this subliminal messaging because he is red/green colorblind, and the messaging is heavily reliant on that. Scully, on the other hand, is temporarily brainwashed, convinced that Mulder is one of the men who abducted her and has been lying to her from the beginning. This almost ends tragically as she pulls a gun on him in her mother's home.
** This leads to a CrowningMomentofHeartwarming when Scully insists that Mulder never trusted her, and Mulder replies with "You are the ''only'' one I trust." On the other hand, the rest of the episode is disturbing, since it is about the furthest extreme that Mulder and Scully stray from ThePowerOfTrust in the entire series. ''That's'' how powerful SubliminalSeduction is.
* [[{{QI}} STEPHEN FRY FOR POPE]]
* In an episode of ''{{Hustle}}'', the gang have a lorry of empty crates, which they're selling as crates of smuggled cigarettes. One of the crates really contains cigarettes, and has a distinctive logo on it. Apparently, arranging things so that TheMark continually sees this logo out of the corner of his eye while driving to the meeting subliminally conditions him to choose that crate to check.

** The intro to ElectricLightOrchestra's "Fire On High" contains the ominous-sounding backwards message [[NightmareFuel "The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!"]]
*** They later released an entire album, ''Secret Messages'', parodying the practice and the associated hype.
*** It's said that when the band first heard allegations that their music contained "satanic" backmasking, "skcolloB" was one of the politer responses.

*** This bit can also double as FridgeBrilliance since in the context of the album, it's a bit of {{Foreshadowing}} about Pink's mental breakdown. Also, one ''[[EverybodyIsJesusInPurgatory incredibly detailed]]'' analysis of the album points out that Waters abandoning the message to pick up the phone reinforces the entire album's theme about the importance of communication.
*** On his solo album ''Amused To Death'', Waters includes a backwards message as a TakeThat to StanleyKubrick who wouldn't let him use a sample from ''2001''.

** Music/WeirdAlYankovic's song "Nature Trail to Hell" contains the backwards message "Satan eats Cheez-Whiz!" His song "I Remember Larry" has the backwards message "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."
*** PLUS [[LastNoteNightmare "Bite Me"]], Which is probably the weirdest example ever. If you slow it down 800% (300% in Sound Recorder), it has a segment of a different song in it.

** Similarly subverted in the Music/OingoBoingo song "Cry of the Vatos" which features drums, screaming, and full-volume backmasked lyrics... which when played in reverse, say things like "Accept Jesus into your heart and you will be saved. You will receive everlasting life."

** TheyMightBeGiants do this all the time, most noticeably in the song simply called "Subliminal". If you play "On Earth, My Nina" backwards, you'll actually hear "Thunderbird", another song of theirs. They Might Be Giants being They Might Be Giants, they released the "reversed" song half a decade before the forwards one. The demo version of "Which Describes How You're Feeling" has a bridge that, when played backwards, gives the message "They Might Be Giants wanted to include a verse about the suffering people in the world, but we couldn't figure out where to put it into the song". And "Hide Away Folk Family" ends with ''fake'' back-masking: It's actually just John Flansburgh singing a string of backwards-sounding nonsense.
*** They do a double reverse in the song "Dinner Bell". They take a string of spoken parts of the body (ex. shoulder, bicep, elbow, arm), reverse the line, sing what they heard of the reversed line, and then reverse the reversed lines that they sung, and put those lines into the song. It's a cool effect.

*** Inverted with Linkin Park's "Announcement Service Public." YOU SHOULD BRUSH YOUR TEETH! AND! YOU SHOULD WASH YOUR FACE!

* Similary, the ghosts of ''{{Thief}}'' speak like this. The backmasked words are bits of Victoria's speech in [[spoiler:[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome a cinematic where one of the hero's eyes is forcibly removed.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/WarioWare Touched!'' is famous for containing a (supposed) subliminal message. Selecting gothic character Ashley's theme in the jukebox and running the record faster than normal distorts the words, which supposedly forms phrases like "I have granted kids to hell" and "I work in a kitchen". Both are probably coincidence.
** A [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ0mYWpnPFw backwards message video]] for Ashley's theme he saw that interpreted one part as "Ear! Shut up!"

* ''TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' features [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnL7t_nY2IA Zelda's Lullaby in reverse in its theme song]]. [[spoiler:[[{{Foreshadowing}} There's a very good reason for this.]]]]
** And of course, ''TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' had you playing certain songs backwards to do different things (the Song of Time Reversed slows down the progression of time by half).

* Music/JudasPriest were sued over two teenage suicides claimed to be provoked by backwards messages in their music. The claim was shredded in court. After the trial, frontman Rob Halford pointed out the logical fallacy in many of the prevalent backmasking claims -- if you put subliminal messages in music telling your fans to kill themselves, then nobody will buy your music, because your fans are all dead. It would be more productive to put in messages saying things like "buy more records."

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