Reincarnation is often talked about in movies, books, and music. A similar idea called transmigration is also common, especially when characters switch bodies. This can happen in different ways, such as one person moving into another person's body, two people swapping bodies, or a character moving into an animal's body or an object's body. Examples include the movie Vice Versa, where two people switch places, the story The Once and Future King, where a character lives in an animal's body, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, where a portrait changes as the character changes. This idea appears many times in films, especially in Indian movies and television shows.

Literature

Metempsychosis is the title of a poem written by the poet John Donne in 1601. The poem, also called The Infinitati Sacrum, has two parts: the "Epistle" and "The Progress of the Soule." In the first line of the second part, Donne writes, "I sing of the progresse of a deathlesse soule."

During the classical period of German literature, metempsychosis was studied by many writers. Goethe explored the idea, and Lessing took it seriously after learning about it from Charles Bonnet. Herder also wrote about it.

Reincarnation is an important part of the story in Edgar Allan Poe's short stories Metzengerstein (1832), Morella (1835), and The Oval Portrait (1842). In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain mentions reincarnation. At Warwick Castle, a character meets a stranger who shows him ancient armor believed to belong to the knights of the Round Table. The stranger asks, "Do you know about transmigration of souls? Do you know about transposition of epochs—and bodies?" Later, the character claims to have killed one of the knights with a bullet.

Metempsychosis appears again in James Joyce's novel Ulysses (1920). In the story, the word is famously mispronounced by Molly Bloom as "met him pike hoses."

J. D. Salinger's short story Teddy (from Nine Stories, 1953) is about reincarnation. Philip K. Dick's novel The Transmigration of Timothy Archer explores the idea of reincarnation in the arts.

John Brunner's story The Vitanuls discusses the idea that there are only a limited number of souls that can be reborn, while the population continues to grow.

M. J. Rose's bestselling suspense series about reincarnation inspired the FOX-TV show Past Life. Chuck Palahniuk's book Diary tells the story of an artist whose soul is repeatedly reborn to keep the residents of an island rich. Suzanne Weyn's romance novel Reincarnation (2008) follows two lovers who search for each other across many lifetimes. Anthony Horowitz's The Power of Five series involves children from 8000 B.C. who are reborn as ordinary children in the 21st century.

In the novel Donations to Clarity by Noah Baird, the town sheriff is said to be Elvis Presley in a new life.

Believing in past lives and using knowledge from them to help with the present is a central idea in the New Age movement. People in this movement who have written about reincarnation include Jane Roberts, Walter Semkiw, Patricia-Rochelle Diegel, Vicki Mackenzie, and Carol Bowman.

Vicki Mackenzie focuses on making Buddhist ideas accessible to the public. Her books include Reincarnation: The Boy Lama, Reborn in the West, Cave in the Snow, and Why Buddhism? In 1988, Brian Weiss, a psychiatrist, began using hypnosis to explore past lives with his patients. His book Many Lives, Many Masters became a bestseller.

Carol Bowman writes about children who claim to remember past lives. She also runs a website called Children's Past Lives, which is the title of one of her books.

Other books and authors that explore reincarnation include:

• Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss
• Reliving Past Lives by Helen Wambach
• The Third Eye by T. Lobsang Rampa
• Falcon by Ada F. Kay (A.J. Stewart)
• Origin of the Soul and the Purpose of Reincarnation, Born Again, and Return of the Revolutionaries by Walter Semkiw, M.D.
• The Man Who Was Born Again by Paul Busson (1921)
• The Secrets of Witch Falls series by Vitaly Grigorowski
• The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Dante's Equation by Jane Jensen, a science fiction novel where physics determines which world in the multiverse a person is reborn into
• A Dog's Purpose and A Dog's Journey by W. Bruce Cameron
• Along with the Gods by Joo Ho-min
• Butsu Zone, a manga by Hiroyuki Takei

Films

Many movies have included the idea of reincarnation, which is the belief that people can be born again in a new life. Some examples include:

• The Man from Beyond (1922)
• The Road to Yesterday (1925)
• The Mummy (1932)
• She (1935)
• Professor Beware (1938)
• The Flying Deuces (1939)
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
• I Married a Witch (1942)
• The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
• The Mummy's Curse (1944)
• Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
• The Return of October (1948)
• You Never Can Tell (1951)
• The Undead (1957)
• Vertigo (1958)
• The Haunted Palace (1963)
• Goodbye Charlie (1964)
• She (1965)
• Bedazzled (1967)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• The Vengeance of She (1968)
• On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
• Sonar Kella (1971)
• Blacula (1972)
• Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1973)
• The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)
• Audrey Rose (1977)
• Heaven Can Wait (1978)
• All of Me (1984)
• Made in Heaven (1987)
• Mannequin (1987)
• Garfield: His 9 Lives (1988)
• Chances Are (1989)
• The Phantom of the Opera (1989)
• Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)
• Dead Again (1991)
• Switch (1991)
• Defending Your Life (1991)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
• Please Save My Earth (1993)
• Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
• Little Buddha (1993)
• Fluke (1995)
• Tale of the Mummy (1998)
• What Dreams May Come (1998)
• Jack Frost (1998)
• Bedazzled (2000)
• Down to Earth (2001)
• The Mummy Returns (2001)
• Birth (2004)
• The Eye 2 (2004)
• Mr Ya Miss (2005)
• Reincarnation (2005)
• The Fountain (2006)
• Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006)
• Love Story 2050 (2008)
• The Last Airbender (2010)
• Cloud Atlas (2012)
• I Origins (2014)
• Dracula Untold (2014)
• Jupiter Ascending (2015)
• Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017)
• A Dog's Purpose (2017)
• Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018)
• A Dog's Journey (2019)
• Infinite (2021)

Reincarnation is a common theme in modern Indian culture, especially in Hindi movies. The idea has been a main theme in many Indian films, such as:

• Mahal (1949)
• Madhumati (1958)
• Mooga Manasulu (1963)
• Nenjam Marappathillai (1963)
• Milan (1967)
• Neel Kamal (1968)
• Mehbooba (1976)
• Karz (1980)
• Kudrat (1981)
• Enakkul Oruvan (1984)
• Bees Saal Baad (1988)
• Yuga Purusha (1989)
• Suryavanshi (1992)
• Prem Shakti (1994)
• Karan Arjun (1995)
• Kundun (1997)
• Hamesha (1997)
• Ab Ke Baras (2002)
• Valley of Flowers (2006)
• Om Shanti Om (2007)
• Dasavathaaram (2008)
• Karzzzz (2008)
• Love Story 2050 (2008)
• Arundhati (2009)
• Dangerous Ishhq (2012)
• Raabta (2017)
• Eega (2012)
• Shyam Singha Roy (2021)

Video games

• Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (1987)
• Shin Megami Tensei (1992)
• Cosmology of Kyoto (1993)
• Terranigma (1995)
• The Granstream Saga (1997)
• Xenogears (1998)
• Omikron: The Nomad Soul (1999)
• Silent Hill (1999)
• Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest (2002)
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)
• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)
• Silent Hill 3 (2003)
• Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
• Silent Hill: Origins (2007)
• Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel (2007)
• Tales of Innocence (2007)
• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009)
• BioShock 2 (2010)
• Shin Megami Tensei V (2021)
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022)
• The Sims 4: Life and Death (2024)

Music

Well-known songs and albums that mention reincarnation include:

• A song titled "Reincarnation" by the band Broken Poets
• A song called "Reincarnation of a Love Bird" by Paul Motian
• A song titled "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" by Iron Maiden
• A song named "The Reincarnation Song" by Roy Zimmerman
• A song called "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" by Santana
• A song titled "The Reincarnation of Luna" by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
• A song named "Mother and Child Reunion" by Paul Simon
• A song called "Highwayman" by The Highwaymen
• Songs titled "Tommy" and "Glow Girl" by The Who
• A song named "Galileo" by The Indigo Girls
• An album called "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory" by Dream Theater
• A song titled "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis
• A song named "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" by Within Temptation, which is a version of the main story from the Deverry cycle
• A song titled "Reincarnation" by Deine Lakaien
• A song called "Snowed in at Wheeler Street" by Kate Bush featuring Elton John
• A song named "El Paso City" by Marty Robbins
• A song titled "Next Lifetime" by Erykah Badu
• A song called "Re-Mix-In-A-Carnation" by Wendy and Lisa
• A song named "Where or When" by Rodgers and Hart
• A song titled "Cosmic Dancer" by T. Rex
• A song called "Reincarnation" by Roger Miller, from the album The Return of Roger Miller
• A song named "A National Acrobat" by Black Sabbath
• A song titled "Wings of an Eagle" by Russell Morris