Videodrome

Videodrome is a surrealistic depiction of some of McLuhan's theories about media as extensions of the human body. Though as McLuhan describes the effects of media using metaphors, the film was a literal take on humans being controlled by technology, best exemplified by the protagonist Max. He begins hallucinating as soon as he watches Videodrome, and is detached from reality in a way that makes the viewer uncertain of what is actually happening. His gun becomes an actual extension of his hand by the end of the film, showing that he is incapable of removing himself from the grasp of Videodrome. Whenever his hallucinations are triggered, he interacts with his television and does what he is told. This weakens him even when he is not in a hallucinatory state, ending with him being manipulated by both the people from Spectacular Optical and Bianca O'blivion. Ebert's idea about paranoia in the electronic age is depicted here, as Max becomes a slave to the power of Videodrome and follows through with the killings of his Civic TV partners, Harlan, and Barry Convex before finally copying what he sees on TV and killing himself.
McLuhan's idea that "backward countries can learn from us how to beat us" was also reflected in Videodrome, through Spectacular Optical's use of Videodrome to kill Barry O'blivion. If technology is in fact an extension of the nervous system, then it becomes a vital part of the human existence once presented to it. The power attributed to technology by McLuhan is definitely exaggerated in Videodrome, but it shows how media can be the most potent weapon of them all.