What is Gaslighting? By Shannon Firth In Zero Dark Thirty,
Jessica Chastain plays "Maya," a CIA officer who, at one point,
treats a detainee to a sumptuous dinner to reward him for
sharing critical information that she says saved American lives.
The thing is, the detainee doesn't remember telling his captors
anything. But weak in mind and body, after several sleepless
days and nights of torture, he accepts what Maya says as the
truth. This is gaslighting. The term itself was popularized by
the 1944 film Gaslight, an adaptation of the 1939 play Angel
Street. In the film, starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman,
"Gregory," played by Boyer, maintains that a gaslight his wife
"Paula" (Bergman) sees growing dim then brightening is in fact
steady. This small deception is followed by countless others.
Paula initially protests her husband's accusations about her
"forgetfulness," but in time she questions her every action and
memory. In reality, her husband Gregory is plotting to have her
committed to an asylum so t