Possessed

More about the book

Silent cinema and contemporaneous literature delved into themes of mesmerism, possession, and the unsettling influence of corporate entities that overshadowed individual identities. Critics argued that film itself had a hypnotic effect on audiences. Stefan Andriopoulos reveals that concerns about being controlled by external forces were widespread in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He examines this anxiety through films, legal, medical, and literary texts of the period, focusing on the chilling idea of murder committed against one’s will. This era saw medical researchers describing hypnotized individuals as mediums capable of executing violent acts, while films like *The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari* and *Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler* depicted the hypnotist's formidable power. By comparing these medicolegal and cinematic narratives with modernist fiction, Andriopoulos offers a fresh interpretation of Kafka’s works, which explore the fusion of human and corporate identities. Combining theoretical depth with meticulous archival research and film analysis, this study enriches our understanding of contemporary anxieties regarding the pervasive influence of visual media and the encroaching power of corporations that seem to absorb our identities.