History Main / TheLudovicoTechnique

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' describes a technique called "hijacking", which involves simultaneous exposure to delirium-inducing venom and specific stimuli. In the victim's delirious mind, the stimuli come to be associated with pain and fear. From the results we see in [[spoiler:Peeta]], if the stimuli are related to a certain person, then "hijacking" can produce a homicidal hatred of that person in the victim.

* Used in the ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'' episode "A Tale of Two Snottys" as a CutawayGag with Freddy. According to the animals, there is no worse form of torture than to be strapped to a table and forced to watch [[Film/HighSchoolMusical something about kids in high school making a musical]], making this a blatant TakeThat to [[Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} Nickelodeon's]] [[Creator/DisneyChannel biggest competition at the time.]]

* In ''VideoGame/EndRoll'', this is what the Happy Dream Rehabilitation Program boils down to; the experimenters use a drug on a person who is on death row; the drug creates dreams intended to induce guilt in the dreamer.

* In ''Series/{{Lost}}'', an Other named Karl is being subjected to this kind of treatment as a punishment, in what seemed to be a direct homage, but we don't actually know what it was for. It was because Ben didn't want Karl getting his daughter pregnant. Yeah... there's BoyfriendBlockingDad, and then there's Ben Linus. Considering that pregnant women on the island all get sick and die, it's a bit more understandable, but still. They revealed later in "A new man in charge" that the purpose of this treatment was to erase the memories of the subject, after being subjected to interrogation.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': This is implied to be how the Red Room conditions the [[Characters/MarvelComicsBuckyBarnes Winter Soldier]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: In issue 3 ([[OlderThanTheyThink published in 1943]]), Paula von Gunther's methods for conditioning her usually initially unwilling agents are revealed. Paula drugs her restrained victims, then uses a rig to hold their eyes open to force them to continuously watch what she chooses in order to break their minds and modify their behavior to her liking.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' describes a technique called "hijacking," which involves simultaneous exposure to delirium-inducing venom and specific stimuli. In the victim's delirious mind, the stimuli come to be associated with pain and fear. And from the results we see in [[spoiler:Peeta]], if the stimuli are related to a certain person, then "hijacking" can produce a homicidal hatred of that person in the victim.

* In ''Series/TheTribe: A New World'', post-apocalyptic technology has apparently advanced enough that cultist leader Eloise can brainwash dissidents by trapping them in virtual reality scenarios. It doesn't let her mold them ''directly'', but it erodes their hope and sense of self enough that they will capitulate to any orders she gives them. The brainwashing isn't permanent, however- freed victims need a bit of time to adjust, but they are just the same as they ever were.

* Shown in ''Series/TreintaYUnMinutos'' in "El maguito explosivo". When Dante is sent to an institute to heal him from his addiction to explosions. Of course, one scene shows him enacting the scene while being forced to watch various videos of explosions and demolitions.

* An episode of ''Series/EerieIndiana'' had a teacher brainwashing students using an eye examination as cover.
* ''Series/TheGoodies''. Tim becomes a cruel and bloodthirsty fox hunter, so Bill and Graeme try to snap him out of it with aversion therapy. However they enjoy tormenting Tim so much [[HypocriticalHumor they keep it up even after he's cured.]]
* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', an Other named Karl is being subjected to this kind of treatment as a punishment, in what seemed to be a direct homage, but we don't actually know what it was for. It was because Ben didn't want Karl getting his daughter pregnant. Yeah... there's BoyfriendBlockingDad, and then there's Ben Linus. Considering that pregnant women on the island all get sick and die, it's a bit more understandable, but still. They revealed later in "A new man in charge" that the purpose of this treatment was to erase the memories of the subject, after being subjected to interrogation.
* A recurring sketch on one episode of ''Series/MadTV'' involved a quite novel aversion technique for breaking habits like smoking: dressing up a pair of hillbillies as the vice in question and having them take turns [[BlackComedyRape violating the horrified patient]].

-->''Remember that scene in "A Clockwork Orange" where Creator/MalcolmMcDowell was being forced to watch a seemingly neverending series of violent and pointless movies? This is infinitely worse. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And the popcorn sucks.]]''

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'': The RDA try to get Spider to give up Jake's location by [[MindProbe scanning his brain]] while flashing all sorts of images before his eyes in a rotating apparatus. It fails, both because Quaritch interrupts it and because, well, Spider ''doesn't know''' where Jake is.

* ''Film/StreetFighter'' has Guile's friend Charlie transformed into the monstrous Blanka by Bison in a scene evocative of this. However, the scientist in charge, Dhalsim, sneaks in ''good'' images and sounds as well, like children playing and UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr's "I Have a Dream" speech, to subvert the brainwashing.

* ''Videogame/Afterlife1996'': The "Octoplex 666" Envy punishment alludes to this technique, and claims to be infinitely worse; rather than any sort of brainwashing, presumably the souls are just being tortured.

%%* This happens to the Brain in his backstory in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain}}''. It's part of the explanation for why the dark side [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget made him forget]]. - '''What happened to the Brain?'''

* A one-time character in ''Literature/KinosJourney'' was entered into an experiment of this type after arrest for a violent crime. The researchers endeavored to remove all his greed and violent tendencies. It actually ''worked'', surprisingly enough -- but he also lost the will to work, eat, or otherwise preserve himself on a basic physical level.

* {{Parodied|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/{{Igor}}'', where Eva is strapped down in this manner and forced to watch gory scenes in order to turn her evil, but the channel on the TV gets changed to an episode of ''Series/InsideTheActorsStudio'', and she becomes an aspiring actress instead.

* Similar in premise to ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'', the EnhancedInterrogationTechniques used on the protagonist in ''Film/TheIpcressFile'' is pretty close to this. He is subjected to sleep deprivation and bombarded by bright lights and loud noises as part of a procedure also used to give kidnapped scientists complete amnesia of any scientific knowledge.

* The ''Film/StreetFighter'' film had Guile's friend Charlie transformed into the monstrous Blanka by Bison in a scene evocative of this. However, the scientist in charge, Dhalsim, snuck in ''good'' images and sounds as well, like children playing and MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech, to subvert the brainwashing.

* The TropeNamer is ''Literature/AClockworkOrange''. Despite what the countless parodies of the scene would have you believe, this trope was ''[[UnbuiltTrope a deconstruction]]'' of this very form of 'conditioning', showing that HeelFaceBrainwashing is ultimately impossible and any attempts at such would be ''incredibly'' damaging to the victim's psyche... not to mention, it eventually wore off.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* Shown in ''Series/TreintaYUnMinutos'' in "El maguito explosivo". When Dante is sent to an institute to heal him from his addiction to explosions. Of course, one scene shows him enacting the scene while being forced to watch various videos of explosions and demolitions.
[[/folder]]

* ''Videogame/Afterlife1996:'' The "Octoplex 666" Envy punishment alludes to this technique, and claims to be infinitely worse; rather than any sort of brainwashing, presumably the souls are just being tortured.

%% * In ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame'', this happens to [[spoiler:the alternate, Big Brother-esque Doc Brown at the hands of his wife, who's the real villain.]] - '''What happens?'''

* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans 2'', [[spoiler:Ponsonby]] threatens Crypto with the treatment if he doesn't tell them the location of an unidentified "it". One of the response options prompts Crypto to remind him that ''he has no eyelids to begin with''. The other is for Crypto to beg them not to subject him to Beethoven.

* In the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon "A Jorb Well Done", Pom Pom uses this technique to condition Coach Z against mispronouncing the word "job", by strapping him to a chair and forcing him to stare at phrases containing the word.

* In the "My Purity Ball and Chain" episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Steve undergoes sex aversion therapy like this with pictures of couples inter-spliced with images of close-ups of herpes sores and Music/GunsNRoses frontman Axl Rose.

* In the "Super Trivia" episode of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', Frylock puts all the world's knowledge on one giant DVD, which he has Shake and Meatwad watch in straightjackets with their eyes propped open, so he can win a trivia competition. After they're done, Shake starts answering Frylock's questions impulsively while Meatwad is unaffected. Unfortunately, Frylock forgot to include any sports knowledge.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', where the team use a "[[ShoutOut modified Ludovico]]" (along with a mind-control chip) to convince Len Trexler not to marry Mallory and buy ISIS.

%% * This was used in ''[[WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. - '''What was used?'''

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian gets sent to an obedience school in the "Once Bitten" episode and is subject to the technique with things that dogs fear, including a lady using a vacuum cleaner, a dog catcher, and a picture of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vick Michael Vick.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': This is used by Project Cadmus to brainwash Doomsday into hating Superman. Even when it is explained to Doomsday how he's been manipulated, he doesn't care and continues to fixate on destroying Superman.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!", the boys are caught by Candace for the first time ever and sent to Smile Away Reformatory School where they are strapped to seats and have their eyes forced open to watch films that attempt to destroy their imagination. [[spoiler:Luckily, it was AllJustADream]].
%% * This happens to the Brain in his backstory in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinky and the Brain}}''. It's part of the explanation for why the dark side [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget made him forget]]. - '''What happened to the Brain?'''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}'': "[[Recap/Robotomy07MeanGreen Mean Green]]": After they find Thrasher helping out a plant, his friends and the Gore-Ax force him to watch propaganda movies to brainwash him into hating plants. However, since they cannot find the right video, they use one about "[[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends talking trains]]" instead.

** In "Homer Goes To College", Homer realizes he has his final exam the next day and he hasn't studied all semester. So, his nerd classmates try to help him cram, which includes holding his eyes open while speeding through a textbook.

* In the short "Slaughterhouse Jive" from the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode "Going Places", Montana Max is strapped to such a machine so that he'll stop eating meat byproducts after his meat factory turns Buster, Babs, Plucky, and Hamton into giant sausages. By the end of the episode, he is so disgusted by the NauseaFuel-inducing informative video about how burgers get made that he destroys his meat factory and replaces it with a veggie emporium. Unfortunately, just as Buster is about to eat his lunch of a veggie sandwich, the vegetables beg for him not to eat them and run away.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}'': In the episode "Mean Green", after they find Thrasher helping out a plant, his friends and Gore-Ax use this technique to brainwash him into hating plants but since they cannot find the right video, they use one about "[[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends talking trains]]" instead.

* In the "Super Trivia" episode of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', Frylock puts all the world's knowledge on one giant DVD, which he has Shake and Meatwad watch in straightjackets with their eyes propped open, so he can win a trivia competition. Partway through Shake starts answering Frylock's questions impulsively while Meatwad is unaffected, whereupon Frylock frees Meatwad and continues with Shake. Unfortunately, Frylock forgot to include any sports knowledge.

* In the "Super Trivia" episode of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', Frylock puts all the world's knowledge on one giant DVD then props open Shake and Meatwad's eyes and leaves them to watch it so he can win a trivia competition. Unfortunately, he forgot to include any sports knowledge. It also didn't work on Meatwad in the slightest.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Psychologist John Broadus Watson did something similar in his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Albert_experiment Little Albert experiment.]] He selected a nine-month-old baby ("Little Albert") at a hospital, let him play with a white lab rat, and then made a loud sound so Albert developed a phobia of rats (and by extension, other fluffy white objects). We still don't know who "Albert" was for sure, or whether he maintained his phobias after leaving the hospital (and if so, for how long). [[note]]Eventually, researchers decided on two candidates: Douglas Merritte and William Barger.[[/note]] Today, the experiment is known as an example of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning classical conditioning]] in action -- ''and'' as an example of bad scientific ethics.
%%* Many of the "therapies" used on autistic children are literally this trope, leading to their widespread condemnation by the neurodiversity movement. - '''Are literally what?'''
[[/folder]]

* A one-time character in ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' was entered into an experiment of this type after arrest for a violent crime. The researchers endeavored to remove all his greed and violent tendencies. It actually ''worked'', surprisingly enough -- but he also lost the will to work, eat, or otherwise preserve himself on a basic physical level.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E19DogOfDeath Dog of Death]]", Smithers props Santa's Little Helper's eyes open and forces him to watch a sequence of destructive scenes set to Beethoven's 9th Symphony, a la the Ludovico Technique. Santa's Little Helper transforms from playful and friendly to vicious and violent, the opposite reaction of Alex.

* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', an Other named Karl is being subjected to this kind of treatment as a punishment, in what seemed to be a direct homage, but we don't actually know what it was for. It was because Ben didn't want Karl getting his daughter pregnant. Yeah... there's OverprotectiveDad, and then there's Ben Linus. Considering that pregnant women on the island all get sick and die, it's a bit more understandable, but still. They revealed later in "A new man in charge" that the purpose of this treatment was to erase the memories of the subject, after being subjected to interrogation.

See also RestrainingBolt. May overlap with SleepDeprivationPunishment, as the subject is often forced to stay awake for the conditioning. Compare TwoPlusTortureMakesFive (and in fact, some depictions of this method might be an overlap with {{Room 101}}). Not to be confused with ForcedToWatch, but more often than not conflated with it.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': In "Animals", Dayna is brainwashed to hate a former crush of hers so that she will let [[BigBad Servalan]] into the secure underground bunker where he works. The scene is somewhat underwhelming due to ''B7'''s [[NoBudget limited budget]], involving just Dayan being strapped to a chair-like device and told "You hate him" while being shown his photograph.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "Dagger of the Mind", this happens to Captain Kirk (and various other prison guinea pigs) thanks to a flashing light hypno-thingy.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "The Mind's Eye", Geordi gets captured by Romulans and brainwashed into a ManchurianAgent by being shown a series of horrifying images sent directly to his visual cortex via his [[ElectronicEyes VISOR neural implants]].

* In ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'', this is how the Rumor gets revenge on an amnesiac villain who nearly caused the apocalypse. (Yes, the heroes of the series are morally ambiguous.) She leaves her restrained in a room filled with [=TV=]s broadcasting all the destruction and chaos erupting in the world as a result of her actions. It works, although whether that's because AmnesiacsAreInnocent or [[spoiler:the White Violin]] [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil wasn't all that bad to begin with]] is unclear.

* In ''Film/TheIsland1980'', John David Nau performs a low-tech version of this when he brainwashes Justin into believing he is one of the pirates. He straps Justin to a chair, propping his eyelids open with a stick and reading him the history of the pirate colony and the lineage of the Nau family for several days until Justin believes that he is a pirate called Tu-Barb and Nau's son.

* In ''Film/TalesFromTheHood'', gangbanger Crazy K is put through a "therapy" session of this kind by Dr. Cushing, where he is strapped to a machine and shown scenes of black victims of gang violence interspersed with black victims of lynchings. Then he undergoes sensory deprivation, where he's confronted by the bloody ghosts of the people he's killed. [[spoiler:After he fails to reform, however, his whole experience is revealed to have been AllJustADream as he lays dying, having been shot by our main characters. As he says "I don't give a fuck" for the last time, they shoot him dead.]] (WordOfGod says that this segment of the film was an homage to ''A Clockwork Orange''.)

* This happens in ''Literature/IndecentExposure'' when Luitenant Verkramp enlists the help of a female psychiatrist to provide the police garrison with aversion therapy, with the aim of stopping them from fraternizing with black girls. This is done by strapping them to chairs, propping the eyelids open and showing them slides of naked black women while electro-shocking their genitals. While this has the desired effect of making them averse to fraternizing with black women, [[GoneHorriblyRight it also made them averse to fraternising with all women]] and turned them into {{Camp Gay}}s. It was even worse for one officer when the [[TooDumbToLive terminally stupid Konstabel Els]] decided that the subject must be bored looking at all of these pictures of naked women, and started showing him slides of his last holiday to nature reserve instead -- ''while continuing to administer the electric shocks to his genitals!'' A horrified Verkamp comments that the poor bugger is never going to be able to take his kids to the zoo again.

* ''Series/{{Treadstone}}'': In 1973, John Bentley is captured by the KGB and undergoes brainwashing to turn him into a [[ManchurianAgent Cicada]]. This involves him being drugged, tortured and [[ElectroconvulsiveTherapyIsTorture electro-shocked]], which is shown to be ineffective at breaking his will until Petra Andropov decides to add [[GoodCopBadCop sympathy]] and [[MoreThanMindControl seduction]]. At the start of the final episode, we see a Treadstone asset undergoing the more refined modern technique. As a volunteer he's not restrained at all, sitting calmly in a chair while a montage of images invoking ''family'', ''home'', ''invader'', ''God'', and sexual ''dominance'' are projected on multiple screens.

* Shown in ''Series/TreintaYUnMinutos'' in "El maguito explosivo". When Dante is sent to a institute to heal him from his addiction to explosions. Of course, one scene shows him enacting the scene, while being forced to watch various videos of explosions and demolitions.

* In the "My Purity Ball and Chain" episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Steve undergoes sex aversion therapy like this with pictures of couples interspliced with images of close-ups of herpes sores and Music/GunsNRoses frontman, Axl Rose.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian gets sent to an obedience school in the "Once Bitten" episode and is subject to the technique with things that dogs fear, including a lady using a vacuum cleaner, a dog catcher and a picture of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vick Michael Vick.]]

* This is what the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' intro with the MadScientist placing the chicken in front of the [=TVs=] with its eyes forced open is referencing. The show's sketches are what's playing on the screens, as the part of the FramingDevice for the show. In a later season, the chicken is doing it to the scientist instead. A bit of SelfDeprecation on the show's part due to the implication that someone has to be ''forced'' to watch it.

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'': The RDA try to get Spider to give up Jake's location by [[MindProbe scanning his brain]] while flashing all sorts of imagesbefore his eyes in a rotating apparatus. It fails, both because Quaritch interrupts it and because, well, Spider ''doesn't know''' where Jake is.

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'': The RDA try to get Spider to give up Jake's location by scanning his brain while flashing all sorts of imagesbefore his eyes in a rotating apparatus. It fails, both because Quaritch interrupts it and because, well, Spider ''doesn't know''' where Jake is.

Unfortunately, as this is basically Classical Conditioning (or Operant Conditioning), this is very much TruthInTelevision.

See also RestrainingBolt. May overlap with SleepDeprivationPunishment, as the subject is often forced to stay awake for the conditioning. Compare TwoPlusTortureMakesFive (and in fact, some depictions of this method might be an overlap with {{Room 101}}). Not to be confused with ForcedToWatch. More often than not conflated with

See also RestrainingBolt. May overlap with SleepDeprivationPunishment, as the subject is often forced to stay awake for the conditioning. Compare TwoPlusTortureMakesFive. Not to be confused with ForcedToWatch.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'' has Duckman subject Cornfed to a Ludovico-like setup, but rather than trying to condition him, he's forcing him to watch Duckman's old home movies, which is far more evil.

* ''Series/{{Treadstone}}'': In 1973, John Bentley is captured by the KGB and undergoes brainwashing to turn him into a [[ManchurianAgent Cicada]]. This involves him being drugged, tortured and electro-shocked, which is shown to be ineffective at breaking his will, until Petra Andropov decides to add [[GoodCopBadCop sympathy]] and [[MoreThanMindControl seduction]] to the equation. At the start of the final episode, we see a Treadstone asset undergoing the more refined modern technique. As a volunteer he's not restrained at all, sitting calmly in a chair while a montage of images invoking ''family'', ''home'', ''invader'', ''God'', and sexual ''dominance'' are projected on multiple screens.