The Modern Manchurian Candidate

Just this past weekend, there were four separate shootings—two involving veterans. The frequency and seeming randomness of these acts brings to mind those old Manchurian Candidate films, where political operatives activate sleeper agents to create chaos for their own gain. And it’s no coincidence that in those movies, the candidates are almost always veterans—people with military training whose normal lives don’t align with the violent … Continue reading The Modern Manchurian Candidate

Programmed to Kill? Exploring The Line Between History and Hollywood

Sometimes, when I’m rewatching an old thriller or reading through declassified documents, I can’t help but notice the eerie overlap between fiction and reality. The Manchurian Candidate may feel like a Cold War fantasy, but it emerged alongside real-life CIA experiments aimed at controlling human behavior. The story of trained assassins, brainwashed and activated without their knowledge, sits in that gray space where our imagination … Continue reading Programmed to Kill? Exploring The Line Between History and Hollywood