Heck, HOUSE is about the best example of coercive control on sooo many levels. Racially House suggests things many people wish they could get away with saying in lots of situations, but...in several episodes, the HOUSE character uses race as an issue, and gender, and ...OMG! Could that show be any MORE of an example of coercive control?! Sadly, I happen to like it.

Oh, yes...OZ is a great example, and they ran it on FX or USA at one time. But, it is hardly about relationships in the geberal sense.

I didn't think about The Sopranos, but it is chock full of it...mafia and all.

I wonder about some of the "reality" TV shows. Like, the "Real Wives of..."? How would they stack up?

Wow. I am noticing how all of these shows: HOUSE, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Oz, Weeds, (how about Dexter? first few seasons, with that horrible wife, Rita)... these are, like, all the shows I watch. And I LOVE them! hmmmm Something to ponder.

Um Hello! TRUE BLOOD. I'm so hooked, and it is SO what you are talking about....

On the theory that Buffy is never old.....

Among this years movies:

Adjustment Bureau - the adjustment bureau uses coercion in an attempt to force the lead character to ignore a woman he is falling in love with because they decided that his soul mate is not part of their plan.

The Rite - in the show down with the demon/devil towards the end, the devil attempts to use unresolved issues with the protagonist's father and threats against a romantic attachment to manipulate the protagonist.

Unknown - man trying to recover his identity after a car crash is manipulated in various ways. However, one probably wouldn't want to use this movie because explaining the degree of manipulation requires "spoiling" the ending.

Jane Eyre - recently remade and released in 2011. There is manipulation all around as well as some creative responses. This remake does a particularly good job of portraying Jane as a determined woman who manages to keep her sense of self through everything: abusive foster home, abusive school masters, a deceptive and self-centered employer and later fiance (Mr. Rochester), a suitor who uses religion for massaging his own ego rather than an instrument of love, etc, etc.

As a model of manipulation, Jane Eyre (both book and movie) is subtle - in nearly every case the person doing the manipulation uses society's rules to claim right and justice on his or her side and attempts to paint Jane as cruel, corrupt or even evil.

Another thing that I think Bronte got right with Jane Eyre, is the relative role of physical and emotional abuse. Even when there is physical abuse, it seems to take a weak second to the emotional abuse. This is in marked contrast to many movies and TV shows where emotional abuse is used primarily as the lead up to physical abuse as if its only real significance is the physical end point. In Bronte, the net effect is that the physical abuse is symbolic of the emotional abuse and not the other way around.

Although Jane, consistent with Victorian expectations, is the very model of the person who rises above suffering and expresses compassion even to those who hurt her (a reaction that does not suit all people nor situations), I think she eventually finds ways to do so with dignity, refusing to internalize other people's wrong headedness as her own self concept.

Even when she returns to Mr. Rochester, Bronte arranges the plot so that it happens only after Mr. Rochester has recognized and repented of his self-preoccupation and emotional blindness to others. Without that repentance, Jane would rather die an impoverished spinster than return to Mr. Rochester.

A lot of reality shows, particularly american ones, have manufactured scenes that they are presenting as a truth (they put a disclaimer on saying "some scenes may have been manufactured" but this may as well not be there if they do not inform us of which ones are falsified). In many ways the emotional abuse portrayed on those shows is worse because they are pretending to be a truth. They are glamorising bad behaviours. Women in these programmes are portrayed as virginal/"frigid" or slutty and without any etiquette or bitter shrew controlling everyone and everything.

It is probably an older film than I am remebering however the film Crash, is an amazing film addressing many forms of abuse and discrimination including sexual assault from the police officer who later has to pull her from a burning car. My interpretation of the film is that it is supposed to invite the viewer to involve themselves in thinking about a range of social stereotyping so although it is controversial a brilliant film.

It is probably an older film than I am remebering however the film Crash, is an amazing film addressing many forms of abuse and discrimination including sexual assault from the police officer who later has to pull her from a burning car. My interpretation of the film is that it is supposed to invite the viewer to involve themselves in thinking about a range of social stereotyping so although it is controversial a brilliant film.

Saw a movie "Cool Blue" tonight that has a scene of coercive control. Along with physical threat.

Actually I am shaken after seeing the movie but not from that scene but from the scene when she around the guy who likes her. That part has me hyperventilating. My pulse is racing.