Netflix Can Brainwash You (And What to Enjoy Instead)

When you think about the term brainwashing, you may perceive it as a secret and exotic process requiring hypnosis and shock therapy.

One of the most famous movies about brainwashing is The Manchurian Candidate, originally released in 1962. It’s about people who were taken away into a laboratory setting and methodically hypnotized, turning them into robotic zombies who would do what the villain wanted them to do, with a mere suggestion.

But I offer a definition that describes a sneakier and no-less dangerous type of brainwashing: the activity of instilling assumptions, filters, and a set of beliefs in other people’s minds—or in your own.

Too many people allow this sort of brainwashing every day via cell phone screens. We all know it, yet as Muslims, we would benefit from a fresh reminder about how our personal viewing choices via Netflix and other streaming services, plus social media, are allowing ourselves to be spoon-fed sugar-coated poison.

We’re filling up our heads with somebody else’s beliefs, “facts,” and filters. This is not a good life strategy, and it’s definitely not to our benefit. Instead, I suggest we habitually wash our brains with good and healthy information. 

But how might we go about doing that? 

Gain Media Literacy

We can start by increasing our skills in media literacy and discernment. The Center for Media Literacy defines media literacy as “a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and participate with messages in a variety of forms—from print to video to the internet.”

It doesn’t have to be a formal evaluation process but can be a greater awareness of every media input we consume and its source. Media literacy is to your mind what situational awareness is to your body. It doesn’t just help you understand other points of view or help you create a better world. Rather, it’s necessary for your survival.

Many Muslims are an over-trusting bunch. They seem to think that merely having a high level of confidence, being respectful, and not being judgmental are sufficient to ensure that Islam in the West not just survives but thrives.

But when they expose their minds to useless and even haram information online, they are making themselves vulnerable to millions of pieces of content that instill subtle persuasion in their hearts and minds. 

Every bit of content on the screen is meant to brainwash you in some way. So the fact that you are watching something means you are giving attention to someone else’s biases. If we’re aware that all content is biased in one way or another, let’s now …

… Learn to Read the Theme of a Creative Work

When you are watching a creative work, you can become ultra-aware of the dramatic argument: the overall point the writer is making through their storytelling. It may be about human nature, the universe, relationships, or anything else.

Remember that every story has a dramatic argument or a theme. And every story includes the biases, prejudices, and predispositions of the storyteller, producer, or financier.

As one example, let’s look at a critically acclaimed horror film from Korea, Train to Busan. This movie is about mindless zombies. Yet it has a clear, dramatic argument about how the core of love is sacrifice. This theme is emphasized repeatedly in the movie.

The main villain of the film is the train company executive who the audience learns to hate because he sacrifices other people instead of himself. He repeatedly makes selfish choices that lead to terrible consequences for others—but he keeps getting away with it. Eventually, he has a climactic showdown with the protagonist, a workaholic named Seok-woo, who’s been a rather bad father for most of the story.

Seok-woo has a young daughter, and he’s trying to build a better relationship with her. But for most of the film, he’s proven that he doesn’t know what the core of love is because he’s never been there for his daughter—at least not in a way requiring him to sacrifice anything of himself. 

By the end of the movie, all the train cars have been detached except one. On this last train car is the final zombie, the wicked train executive. He bursts out and bites Seok-woo on the hand. Seok-woo throws the train executive zombie off the train. But there’s just one problem: Seok-woo now realizes he’s going to turn into a zombie after he’s spent all this time learning how to be a better father.

The final moments of this story are heart-wrenching. As Seok-woo turns into a zombie, he begins to hallucinate. He glances back and sees his daughter as if he were holding her as a baby again for the first time. Seok-woo tilts off the back of the train, and we see his shadow falling off as his daughter continues on the train, moving away down the track. Seok-woo sacrifices himself so he doesn’t become a zombie and kill his own daughter. 

Surprisingly powerful stuff for a Korean movie about zombies, isn’t it?

You can look at allegorical works like Animal Farm, based on the book by George Orwell, or the film Mother! by Darren Aronofsky. Such stories started with a metaphor then extended to symbolism and the trope, and then proceeded to build a drama that supported and amplified those messages.

But in most cases, it’s not that obvious. Most stories these days are not didactic—intending to teach a lesson or push a particular political agenda. This used to be the expectation in stories because fiction was created to communicate lessons. These lessons have been used throughout the history of our culture to spread the knowledge about how we do things and to teach people why we do those things. 

Let’s take the theme of the classic fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, Little Red Riding Hood. What’s the core message of this story? Don’t trust strangers and stick to the path!

Historically, the purpose of fictional stories was to caution people away from harm and toward something that benefits them. Of course, the harm and benefits are subjective and from the perspective of the storytellers’ beliefs and cultures.

Classics like Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle were created to push a socio-political (or moral) ideology. Such blatant persuasion can alienate modern audiences in our polarized society, but every creative work holds a dramatic argument, whether it’s obvious or subtle.

Even if the artist is not aware of the messages they are sending, the audience will pick something. They will have a takeaway from it—and it may not be what the artist intended. 

This is where the distinction between telling and showing becomes clear. Creators of entertainment (e.g., Hollywood) are usually too savvy to tell people, “This is how you should live.” Instead, they craft their stories in a way where you will draw your own conclusions.

The goal is that if you are reading, watching, or playing (e.g., video games) the story, you should be able to put two and two together and say, “Oh, this is the point of the story”—even if the storyteller is not putting the pieces together for you. They’re showing, not telling.

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Options for Consumer Activism

The internet is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, everybody who has access to the internet has a voice and is able to speak their opinion—which means a lot of uninformed and malevolent people have access to platforms. That’s why the basement-dwelling trolls reign supreme on platforms like Reddit and Discord.

On the other hand … everybody who has access to the internet has a voice and is able to speak their opinion! That means you as a consumer have unprecedented access to enjoy different types of entertainment—but also to more directly engage with the creators of the work you enjoy (or hate).

Imagine if Walt Disney were alive today and had an Instagram account, for example. It’s an eye-opening consideration.

Now, an NPC Muslim consumer might still assume that having high confidence, being respectful of others, and not being judgmental are the best strategies for a fan of entertainment. This attitude—although understandable from a secular humanist point of view—is not in line with the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Abu Sa’id al-Khudri narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“Whoever amongst you sees a wrong, let them change it with their hand; if he is unable, then with their tongue; if he is unable, then with his heart—and that is the weakest of faith.” [Sahih Muslim]

We learn from this and many other Hadiths (prophetic narrations) that if we have an ability to change a wrong (as defined by the Sharia), then we must do so. 

If we (rightly) condemn Muslim rulers for being complicit and passive while allowing Dajjalic forces to undermine Al-Aqsa, despite having the economic and military abilities to stop it, then the same principle applies to us.

Consumers generally put their needs first and their wants second. Sometimes it seems like a necessity to shop with a large company, even if we don’t know whether it’s owned by some larger corporation that takes part in activities that we would not be happy with. Yes, an aspect of life does require convenience, and sometimes we have to go with what works.

But entertainment is different. You don’t need to watch a certain movie or read a particular manga to survive. Thus, we have a greater responsibility to be more discerning and discriminatory regarding what we watch and read.

If we are paying for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, and if we see Dajjalic material in the entertainment and media we are consuming, then what are we doing about it? Why would we pay storytellers who produce negative content about Islam to entertain and brainwash us?

That does not mean we need to write angry letters to a studio or streaming service if they are pushing an Intellectual Property (IP) that contains pornographic or anti-Islam messaging. There’s no need for us to be particularly outspoken and fight the culture war, especially if we don’t consider ourselves as activists. We can do our part in silence and still be a great force for good.

Here’s how: These companies read consumer data every day based on customers’ use of the platform. We can provide cumulative feedback through our financial choices by choosing to buy alternative media sources that align with Islamic values and by consciously choosing not to buy haram materials.

Perhaps you are pragmatic and like to make informed decisions, especially when it comes to where and how you spend your money. Whether it’s a retailer, streaming service, or graphic novel—our purchasing choices are the first step to “stopping a wrong,” as the above Hadith states. 

Choose Alternative Platforms

Let’s step back and look at this situation from a metaphysical point of view.

Allah holds us accountable to following his Sharia. It is our duty on this Earth to obey and love Him. The modern entertainment industry is only here to market products. It’s all part of the material world.

If we look at it from an Islamic psychology point of view, we might hope that commercial content on Netflix, movies, video games, and graphic novels will make us feel happy. But we must realize that things do not create happiness in the heart. Allah creates everything—including the happiness in your heart. 

I will go so far as to say that someone who has happiness bestowed on him by Allah will not need entertainment. Aside from the necessities of buying, selling, and education, much of the internet is a wasteland.

With that being said, we need to meet people where they are. I don’t make any lofty claims about my choices, but I do my best. I’m immersed in the pop-culture world as a Muslim who seeks and creates stories and art for Muslims, by Muslims. I like to be entertained, and I certainly don’t want to pay people who hate Islam to entertain me.

The best we can do in this state of mind is to create and support alternative platforms. How? First, by realizing that relying on any platform owned and managed by non-Muslims to entertain us is to immerse ourselves in the sewer. Those who think they can remain clean while allowing themselves to be brainwashed with anti-Islam content are deluding themselves.

I get that Hollywood is powerful, streaming services are prolific and readily available, and worldly creators are producing a lot of fun stuff.

But their Deen is not your Deen.

You may be thinking, Boy, you really have an attitude here.

Yes. Yes, I do. … Depending on a Dajjalic system to entertain us is like signing up to be brainwashed by zombies and villains. If you are into pop culture, your goal, every day in every way, should be to find an alternative that will not brainwash you or blacken your soul.

As Muslims, we can choose to fill our hearts and minds with good, healthy entertainment, free of Western society’s subversive brainwashing.