MovieChat Forums > Brainstorm (1983) Discussion > original story

original story

posted 15 years ago by bradnfrank
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I just read a short story which is incredibly similar to this film: "Musspelsheim" by Richard A. Lupoff appears in the science fiction anthology Strange Gods, edited by Roger Elwood, published in 1974 - nine years before Brainstorm was released. (As far as I can tell, this story has never been reprinted anywhere else.) In "Musspelsheim", a trio of researchers experiment with electronic circuits which can send emotional feedback directly into the brain, and one of them becomes addicted to the machine. And while it isn't identical to Brainstorm, there were so many similarities that I had to wonder if the filmmakers had "borrowed" the story. Has anyone else read this?

[–] SiFiphreek 14 years ago

Was interesting to read the above comment, as I had just read another story with even closer plot themes.
The story is 'Patent Pending' written by Arthur C Clarke back in 1954 and appears in the collection 'Tails from the White Hart'.
In the forward to the book, it is even mentioned that the story may have been inspired by an earlier concept called the 'Feelies' as described in the novel 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley.