By Lauren Barnhart

By 2022, the term ‘gaslighting’ had made its way into pop culture, searched more than any other word on the internet, prompting the Merriam Webster dictionary company to grant it ‘Word of the Year’ status. Gaslighting is when someone psychologically manipulates another person over an extended period, so that the victim questions the validity of their own thoughts and perceptions of reality.

According to UC Santa Cruz film professor Shelley Stamp, the phrase comes from director George Cukor’s 1944 film noir classic “Gaslight.” The film portrays abuse and manipulation within a marriage, highlighting, as Stamp put it, “the refusal to acknowledge women’s realities in abusive relationships.”

UC Santa Cruz film professor Shelley Stamp, right, talked about how the film noir classic “Gaslight” explored psychological abuse in relationships as early as 1944, at a post screening discussion hosted by UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center.

Stamp delivered a post screening discussion of the film at UC Santa Barbara’s Carsey-Wolf Center as part of its ongoing “Classics” series. The event was moderated by Kelsey Moore, a UCSB film Ph.D. candidate.

Stamp said the film’s plot noir themes of trauma, darkness, and violence contributed to the popularization of the phrase, which has stood the test of time. “This film is reminding us of the violence that lurks behind the gaslighting that many women experience,” she said. “It is so great that this is the film the term comes from.”

The film tells the story of Paula, a newlywed opera singer portrayed by Ingrid Bergman, as she becomes increasingly fearful for her sanity. Her husband Gregory (Charles Boyer) resorts to manipulative tactics, attempting to convince her that strange occurrences in their home such as the dimming of the gaslights, exist solely in her imagination. Paula finds herself growing progressively uncertain about her own perception of reality.

Meanwhile, Detective Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotton) investigates the unsolved murder of Paula’s late aunt and becomes increasingly suspicious of Gregory as he observes Paula’s anxious behavior. The film was a remake of a 1940 British film, which was adapted from a play. And it marked actor Angela Lansbury’s screen debut.

With the skillful use of shadows and exploration of psychological trauma, Gaslight stands as a thriller that, according to Stamp, set the scene for future noir films in post WWII Hollywood. Stamp said the buzzword ‘gaslighting’ still reflects the film’s themes of abuse and manipulation.

Event flyer for UC Santa Cruz guest speaker Shelley Stamp, who spoke on the 1944 cinema thriller “Gaslight.” She told a UCSB audience that it is the source of the slang term “gaslighting,” which describes psychological manipulation that causes a victim to question the validity of their thoughts and actions.

“It’s kind of amazing to think that the term gaslighting, that we use all the time now, actually comes from this film,” she said. “The opening especially, is so evocative. The use of the flickering gas lamps, the fog, and the darkness really starts to get us in the mindset of Paula’s character and her flickering uncertainty throughout the movie.”

Stamp spoke about film noir history, and noted that Gaslight was released to audiences in 1944, during World War II. She said that audiences at the time were largely female, so aspects of the film had to resonate with what these women would have been going through. “Wartime situations would have to do with family disruption that the story reveals, and male family members that are unexpectedly violent,” she said. “There are real connections to noir in the way the film emphasizes past trauma and extreme psychological states.”

Stamp also said marketing materials were presented to wartime audiences in a way to intrigue and engage female viewers. “The visual design of the posters really presented both a kind of potentially loving couple, but also a menacing figure in the background.” This, she said, tapped into “an anxiety of heterosexual couples and scrutiny of heterosexual love, of having undercurrents of danger and violence.”

Stamp believes that this early film points to larger social themes of sexual abuse and gender inequity throughout Hollywood, that started long before Cukor’s film and eventually led to modern feminist movements such as #MeToo. “Not only are we very aware that gaslighting has become a buzzword, but these conversations did not start with this film,” she said. “It’s interesting because so many of the contemporary conversations surrounding #MeToo, have been driven by women in the entertainment industry who have come forward and made bold moves to go public with their experiences.”

In researching early Hollywood, Stamp found evidence of sexual and psychological abuse occurring in the industry decades before Gaslight’s premiere. “The earliest instance I found of a ‘casting couch’ story is 1913,” Stamp said. “So, this story, and fears of sexual assault in the entertainment industry, along with the ‘gaslighting’ that follows, has been around since the industry coalesced in 1915.”

Stamp left her audience with a final thought on why the film is still relevant to modern audiences and women fighting against abuse. “There are themes of violence that work at the heart of heterosexual relationships that continue to resonate,” she said. “This is a very dark film on the way that women’s experiences are not believed. This is not just a wartime phenomenon.”

Lauren Barnhart is a third-year student at UC Santa Barbara, majoring in Political Science. She wrote this article for her Writing Program course Digital Journalism.