This new website examines the entangled histories of the sciences of the mind and cinema in 1960s. Check out the beautiful timeline of the main events in the ‘psy’ disciplines and films inspired by them.

“The 1960s was a period of intense struggles over knowledge about the human mind, with psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts in deep conflict. It was also a period in which cinema became preoccupied with psychological ideas, becoming an increasingly significant way in which new theories were disseminated and debated within the public sphere. Popular horror, crime films and science fiction became preoccupied with the ‘demons of the mind’, as asylums displaced Gothic castles, diagnosis supplanted deduction, and inner and outer space entwined.

This interdisciplinary project offers the first in depth study of the interactions of the psy sciences and cinema in this defining period, as the influence of psychology and allied sciences expanded into everyday political and public life. You can explore some of these historical connections through our interactive timeline, and find out about events near you, including free film screenings and science festival events.

The ‘Demons of the Mind’ project is a collaboration between media studies and science communication scholars from the University of East Anglia and University of Manchester, delivered in partnership with the British Science Association. The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.”

The interdisciplinary project is conducted by Dr. Tim Snelson (Senior Lecturer in Media History, University of East Anglia), Dr. David Kirby (Senior Lecturer in Science Communication, University of Manchester), and Dr. William R. Macauley (Senior Research Associate, University of East Anglia).