HOME Part 4 – The Post Hypnotic Suggestion
As described in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series, Christopher Nolan’s script INCOME is deeply rooted in the principles of hypnosis.
Learning more about these principles can not only change the way you approach your own writing, but it will also help you understand new ways you can break writer’s block and build the writing life you’ve been looking for.
post hypnotic suggestion
Like the idea, in Origin, that Robert Fischer’s father really loved him, a post-hypnotic suggestion is an idea, delivered in a deep trance, that the subconscious mind accepts as true.
Post hypnotic suggestions are incredibly powerful, as when done correctly they become anchored in your awareness and begin to bring about real changes in your everyday life.
As suggested in Inception, these post hypnotic suggestions only work if certain conditions are met:
They are aligned with the person’s beliefs. (In other words, you can’t “incept” a gentile person being violent, although you can “incept” a person who desperately wants to write to take action.)
The person chooses to accept the suggestion. This is why post-hypnotic suggestions are more likely to work if given by someone you trust, such as a respected teacher, a great hypnotist, or a person you can trust (in the case of Inception, Eames becomes impersonate Peter Browning, the only person Robert truly believes, to surreptitiously deliver the post-hypnotic suggestion).
The suggestions and images of the “dreams” that are used for the person to arrive at are expressed in the correct way for that particular person, using their own language and their own symbolic systems.
The secret book used in last week’s hypnotic script, or the secret safe used in Origin are just two of many ways to offer a post-hypnotic suggestion. Just as the classic three-step model is just one of many ways to use hypnosis to bring about profound change.
How are you accepting yourself?
The truth is that you are delivering post-hypnotic suggestions to yourself every day, in the words you say to yourself and in the soundtrack playing in your head. And these suggestions can be even MORE powerful than those given by a hypnotist, because they are already perfectly aligned with your belief systems, they come from a person you trust (yourself), and they are perfectly worded in a way that only you can say them.
So if post-hypnotic suggestions are really that powerful, they are so transformative, as Inception suggests, that a person like Mal will continue to accept them as the truth, even if they aren’t.
They are so powerful that a person like Robert Fischer can heal his entire relationship with his abusive father with a simple thought.
So it’s worth asking yourself, what are the post hypnotic hints you’re giving yourself about your writing? And what effect are they having on your life as a writer?
Stay tuned for next week’s article, in which I’ll discuss the structure of Inception in relation to the three-step hypnotic technique.
For more helpful articles on screenwriting, script analysis, and tips, please visit my blog.
Happy writing!
jacob
Twitter: @jacobkrueger