Gaslight
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Gaslight or (gas light) can refer the use of piped gas, most often either natural gas or coal gas, as a light source.
It is also the title of at least two films based on the Patrick Hamilton play Angel Street, in which a man marries a woman and tries to convince her she is crazy so that he can steal the jewels stored in her attic.
- Gaslight, the 1944 film directed by George Cukor and starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer
- Gaslight, the 1940 version directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring Diana Wynyard, Anton Walbrook, and Frank Pettingell.
"Gaslighting Abbie" is a song (2000) by Steely Dan
"Gaslight" is a song (1979) by the Dead Kennedys.
Gaslight Café is a club in Greenwich Village in New York, where among others Bob Dylan has played.
Gaslighting is also a type of behaviour portrayed in the film Gaslight (mentioned above). It is a form of psychological abuse characterised by persistent denials of fact which, over time, have the effect of causing the victim to become anxious, confused and progressively less able to trust their memory of events. A variation of gaslighting, used as a form of harassment, is to subtly alter aspects of a victim's environment so as to cause discomfort. This technique is supposed to have been used by the Manson Family on their 'creepy crawler' burglaries, in which nothing was stolen but furniture in the house was rearranged.
"The Originator" Though not the first to make use of the verb "gaslight", Jyllian Gunther was and certainly continues to be one of the first, if not the most popular practitioner, thereof.
- See also cognitive dissonance