The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition

Cosco's video essay uses the films Jaws, The Game, Videodrome, Fight Club, Zodiac, and a variety of other clips to show how our perception of how media changes us and can provoke us through the glorification of horror and crime. This video is superbly edited and narrated to not only pose a question, but to create a narrative.

It was 8:27 on a Sunday afternoon when Peter's mind exploded...

The film ends discussing how media, particularly film, can prompt one to replicate what they see and uses the example of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks. If you have not seen the film Loose Change, it is essentially a documentary that argues that the attacks were organized by the American government. Cosco refers to the pilot episode of the X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen which is about a government conspiracy to hijack an airliner and fly it into the World Trade Center. This pilot episode premiered on March 4, 2001. Movies are not, always just movies.

While I certainly take documentaries about such conspiracies like Loose Change with a grain of salt, there are times in which people are inspired by films to commit horrible crimes.

Mozart's "Overture to The Magic Flute" is played over and over in this short video, increasing in pace until the short film's eventual ending. It is my understanding that Mozart was a Freemason and "The Magic Flute" has many Masonic symbols and imagery. The founding of the American government as well as many important American symbols borrow from masonry. Is this film trying to convey that the possible conspiracy of the American government's role in the 9/11 attacks had Freemason intentions? Cosco rounds out his narrative with Peter by explaining that Peter's mind is blown at 8:27 in the video when a serious of explosions occurs. The video then examines a specific scene in Zodiac which is about the Zodiac serial killer in the 1960s and 1970s in San Francisco. "The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition" uses clips that explain that the killer saw the film The Most Dangerous Game in theaters nine weeks prior to the first recognized Zodiac murder.

I've seen "The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition" several times now, even repeating the small sequences to truly figure out Cosco is trying to say. While the images and narration guide us to a epiphany, you can't ignore the quick, subliminal messages in white text over black. The messages appear in the following order: Me, Me, God, Love, Happiness, Family, Country, "Orgasm" appears on a television screen, Submission, Happiness, Help, Kill, Yourself, Father, Enemy, Liar, Country, Orgasm, Invite, Only, Hero, and the letter "M" is spoken by the narrator in the last sequence which corresponds to the image that the protagonist and Maria make when holding hands. Don't be fooled, these captions are junk. Trash. Throw them out. They are there to confuse you.

Earlier in this short film, the Narrator explains that directors are apart of an elite class of artists, often working together (i.e. Spielberg, Lucas, Scorsese) to further their careers and their art. Much like Freemasons. It is my belief that Cosco is trying to explain that directors are some of the most powerful people in the world, they have power to change minds. The narrative about Peter discusses that Peter learns that directors can change people with their films. As viewers of their work, we may in fact be subconsiously living their dreams. But we have dismissed any notions of being individual sleeper-cells with the notion that these films are only movies.

Okay, I'm exhausted trying to figure out what "The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition" is truly about. Regardless, it is a wonderfully produced short film that is imaginatively creepy. If this short video says anything, it justifies the fact the cinema is the most powerful medium ever.