History Main / TinfoilHat

->'''D'Ork of the Thorkoth:''' I seem to recall it was ''your'' bright idea to spend billions of credits on those orbiting mind-control lasers!
->'''Dr. Zarkendorf:''' How was I to know that tinfoil hats would become the latest fashion?

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': In the episode, “Bill-iever,” when Cricket lies about there being aliens invading Earth, the rest of his family start to believe him, and start to wear hats like this.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie "Into The Wild Green Yonder," Fry gains mind reading powers, and immediately gets [[PowerIncontinence bombarded with brain-chatter from everyone around him]]. A member of a secret society of mind-readers teaches him to wear a tin foil hat to block out other people's thoughts, and to keep other telepaths from reading his mind.
* A variation on this trope is used in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. In the episode "The Last Mabel Corn" it is revealed that Uncle Ford has lined his skull with metal to prevent the series antagonist Bill Cipher from possessing him or entering his mind without realizing it.

* {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Brother's Little Helper", Bart becomes paranoid after taking an ADD drug called Focusin, leading him to believe that Major League Baseball is spying on him and begins donning a tin foil bodysuit. At the end of the episode, Bart turns out to be right when he shoots an MLB satellite out of the sky.

* ''VideoGame/GhostwireTokyo:'' You can find an item called "Suspicious Flyer," which invites people to call Venusian [=UFOs=], and advertises "Free course on making telepathy hats (bring your own tinfoil)."

* A variation on this trope is used in the film ''Film/ConspiracyTheories''. In it the main character lines walls of his house with tin foil to block out government surveillance tools. [[spoiler: However this, (like many conspiracies in the film) are subverted and proven right. It's revealed that government tools struggle to penetrate his aluminum defenses.]]

* A guy wearing a tinfoil hat is the symbol of the WildMassGuessing section of Website/ThisVeryWiki.

** The protagonists need to do something about their minds being scrambled by an angry ghost, and tinfoil hats [[http://bloodismine.com/comics/582 come up]] as [[InteractiveComic the most popular suggestion]]. Unsuprisingly, [[http://bloodismine.com/comics/584 it works]]. [[spoiler:Even though it shouldn't have, the ghost decides to roll with it because [[ItAmusedMe she finds it amusing]].]]

* A tinfoil Hat appears as helmet in ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm''. It provides decent defense and resists all elements with the downside of reducing your INT to zero.

* In the second Special Operation for ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'', which introduced Emma Frost (one of the game's first truly psychic heroes), one of the random daily rewards was a Bauxite Interference Helmet, which could be used as in item to prevent psychic attacks on the character it was used on. Bauxite is the ore from which aluminum is extracted, making it a (very high-tech-looking) tinfoil hat.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has a headwear item called the Conspirator's Foil, who's description is a clear-cut reference to this trope. The hat gives the wearer a boost to mental defenses, but lowers their social skills because "it causes observers to suspect you of paranoia."

* ''Videogame/JustCause4'' has a variation: Rico recruits the ConspiracyTheorist Cesar to help him build a tornado-proof vehicle, and Cesar suggests lining the inside with tin foil since the ReptilianConspiracy he believes in uses weaponized gamma radiation. Rico shoots the idea down by pointing out that the only guaranteed protection against gamma radiation would be several inches of lead, which would make the vehicle too heavy.
* ''VideoGame/TheSims4'': In the "Get To Work" expansion pack Sims in the Scientist career track can unlock a tinfoil hat as a reward for getting promoted. In the "Strangerville" game pack a version made out of a colander and Christmas lights can be purchased from a ConspiracyTheorist who claims it will protect you from the mysterious plant infecting the town.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Foil" (which is a parody of "Royals" by Music/{{Lorde}}) has Al claim to have cracked the code on conspiracy staples such as TheIlluminati, {{Black Helicopter}}s, the MoonLandingHoax, and more, which is why he crafted a handy hat from foil, to protect himself from alien AnalProbing and mind reading. It doesn't do him much good, because TheMenInBlack just tranquilize him and drag him away. The music video ends with the director (played by Creator/PattonOswalt) unmasking himself as a [[ReptilianConspiracy lizard person]].

* Deconstructed in ''Machinima/FreemansMind'', where [[BadassBookworm Freeman]] reasons that, assuming mind reading is possible despite not showing up on any known spectrum, a tinfoil hat would conduct any signal that the wearer is concerned about. He concludes that you'd have better chances with a lead helmet coated in rubber.

As Wiki/TheOtherWiki can tell you, however, aluminium actually has very little shielding effect and covering just the top of the head with it leaves the rest of the body (including the bottom of the head) "unprotected", anyway. (In fact, if improperly made, the tinfoil could amplify any radiation reaching the head.) So whoever is wearing it must be... [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} funny in the head]] to begin with. Or the more sinister interpretation: the whole idea that tinfoil will protect you is Just What They Want You To Think.

* ''VideoGame/ThimbleweedPark'' has a pirate hat wrapped in tinfoil. It doesn't protect against mind control, but it does reflect some real lasers used by [[spoiler:the [=PillowTron=] AI.]] Chet, on of the characters in game, goes far further than a tinfoil hat: He tinfoils the entire inside of the giant novelty pizza costume he's wearing.

* A guy wearing a tinfoil hat is the symbol of the WildMassGuessing section of Wiki/ThisVeryWiki.

Don't mind that, I'm protected cause [[NiceHat I made this hat.]]]]-]