So there I was on a Friday night, glued to my TV set. Nothing strange there you may think, only this time someone was actually trying to stick me to my chair whether I wanted to move or not!
Derren Brown was attempting to control me and the rest of the nation with a movie based on subliminal advertising. After he “predicted” the lottery, this should be a walk in the park, right?
I’ve never believed in the super natural or any of that stuff. I liked ET but I don’t expect to see anything with glowing fingers anytime soon. My sister sometimes reads my horoscope and I rarely take notice. Whether that’s because she’s reading them or the fact I don’t really embrace the idea is neither here nor there. As for the Abominable Snowman and the Loch Ness Monster, well I can’t say I’ve been looking but I remain sceptical.
But you’ve got to hand it to Derren Brown. For a few weeks now, he’s had the entire nation talking about him.
He’s no psychic; he leaves the crystal balls to Mystic Meg and perhaps that’s part of his appeal. The things he uses such as subliminal advertising and reading peoples facial expressions are a bit more believable.
There must be something that makes us want to believe in what he does and what he tries. We all want to believe in “magic”, it’s the same part of us that was enchanted by Santa Claus and even the Tooth Fairy! The best selling book at the minute, Dan Brown’s latest novel, is based on myths and hidden meanings. As a nation, we’re obsessed by things like these and it explains the hype around Derren Brown.
Still when you think logically, there are some things that just aren’t possible and I’m not talking about predicting the lottery. On the lottery show, he had some poor innocent chap stamping on cups with the idea that there was an upturned knife under one of them.
I watched, petrified, as the paramedics stood by in case of disaster. He was never going to step on a knife of course, this was 9pm on Channel 4. But it didn’t stop me questioning how exactly Brown knew he wasn’t going to step on a knife!
Back to the ‘chair control’ and in the end, I didn’t get stuck. It was probably just as well, I’m not sure how I was supposed to ring his help hotline if I couldn’t move my arms! I really wanted to believe and remain seated. Perhaps that was the problem.
Never mind maybe I’ll get it to work on channel four + 1!
