- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1360
Now, topics of the Supernatural that are of interest, and I wrote the headline before I gave it any thought, and because there are a lot of related things of interest I'll be brief...
Starting with Zombies, no explaining their popularity, or there is, it's Everyman's call to the Hero's journey, the realization of the mindless disorder of society that puts him at odds with it and allows him the liberty of war. That death here is more horrific than a natural death is because there's the realization that one could become one of them, the contagion of bad or diseased thought, another mindless shopper, consumer, citizen, and the death, the reanimation of the corpse, implies a loss of spirituality - that one has fallen into a deep and dire well of materialism. There is, surprisingly, a lot in common with this contemporary myth and virtually every major religion on earth, but those are thoughts I'll let you examine for yourself...
Vampires, the Undead come back to suck the blood of the living, are a curious thing as well, popular again across all cultures and times, and to explain the myth (I'll let go the reality for the moment) - I'd start with they are the memories of the deceased, come to haunt the living. Ghosts, a similar idea, are more fleeting, harmless; Vampires are by their nature malevolent and bent on corporeal harm. Vampires might be memories of the deceased that interfere with the survivors continuing on in the world, memories of violence or abuse, or a particularly gruesome disease or death, and the ceremonies designed to prevent the reanimation of the Vampires corpse, generally involving violence, might be a way to visit upon the corpse some portion of the abuse or violence they, in life, inflicted on the living. Consider Vlad the Impaler. The reality of Vampires - prematurely buried victims of disease or illness, that might through their rising infect others, might more pragmatically explain the pains taken to lay the Vampire more permanently to rest.
And finally there are Werewolves, or any of a number of their night-crawling and shape-shifting kin, on the surface, clearly rabies, underneath however a warning to beware the savagery of otherwise normal people in the evening. People who appear, by day, to be one thing, then by the evening turn into something completely different. The personification of Mans more bestial nature.
Now these are just a few fleeting thoughts to get you started, but the prevalence of the myths across cultures suggests that they carry a value or meaning, you might interpret them differently...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1305
Now this is an idea that intrigues me.
Geology, we think of it as "static", the earth is the earth and that's it, rocks, minerals, gems, they're all there, we (almost) know everything, it's just a matter of finding it.
But, imagine, after the Anthropocene, the post-holocene, how in hundreds of millions of years the geology will changed. We've combined minerals and elements in thousands of new and unexpected ways, and as the continents subduct and boil beneath the oceans those combinations will give rise to hundreds, if not thousands of new and unimagined minerals. Skyscrapers of concrete and steel and filled with glass will form pegmatites lined with giant shards of quartz, included with golden and silver phantoms and rutile needles, percolating toxic hydrocarbons and fluids melted from landfills will fill them with new minerals and gems, to be recognized, excavated and mined by creatures as far from our thinking as ours is from the dinosaurs.
Which kind of excites me, as an exercise of the imagination, but for the moment I'll have to content myself with finding those gems already here, which is proving troublesome enough. Only 4 or 5 months until Summer...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1319
There is this recurring image, or motif, of the God and the Devil sitting down on friendly terms to bargain for souls.
Think "Spanish Train" by Chris de Burgh. Another, more popular version, is that of God and the Devil playing Chess, the stakes are the same.
Now this is a curious idea, as it somehow diminishes both the influence and omnipotence of God. Nowhere in the Christian tradition is this allowed. Other, more pagan traditions or religions offer a more balanced view of Good and Evil.
"That power I serve that wills forever evil and does forever good", by Mikhail Bulgakov, seems more in line with Christianity, the Devil is a necessary foil for God, indulged by him even, tolerated, one can imagine God sitting down to play Chess with him and gently tolerating his cheating in the understanding that he was maintaining the illusion of equals, whereas in fact by very definition he's superior.
...just some curious ideas wrapped up in that motif...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1444
Mine own view is that nothing happens until there's a revolution, seriously, and there must be blood. This is unpopular, and I doubt that it would change things.
A more reasonable proposition can be found here:
Link: https://www.thenation.com/article/how-to-get-rid-of-the-super-rich/
It's nice to think that other people have recognized and are thinking about the problem.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1515
I'm not particularly into horror, it's not my thing, but I am into film and appreciate a movie that's well made and offers a bit more than your typical Oscar fare.
With that in mind I've been watching a variety of horror films, expanding my genre, as well as revisiting some that I've seen a few times before. And I've come up with a few notes as to what I think works (and what doesn't).
#1 - There should be some invocation of the Supernatural - demons, vampires, ghouls, beyond the grave sort of shenanigans. There should be more than the fear of death. That said - I'm going to confess, some of the scariest movies I've seen haven't involved that at all - I'm thinking here of "The Talented Mr. Ripley", which I found very disturbing and had no requirement or need of any supernatural elements. On that note - the reason I found Ripley such a terrifying antagonist is, I think, in the fact that he - the archetype, the amoral, charming sociopath - is so well portrayed and recognizable and - like it or not - we've all met a few, although circumstances might have allowed us to survive.
#2 - They come from the ordinary life. The best horror movies are set in the present - providing an easy reference point for the audience - films that are set in the past or future - eg: "The Village" or "Alien" require an unnecessary leap of the imagination. Set them in the present. "The Haunting of Hill House", "The Exorcist", "The Shining"; they're all great movies, and they were all set in the present. If horror can be presented or framed in the Ordinary, the Mundane, the repetition of dull routine and events it's infinitely more relevant and relateable. This applies as well to the possession of commonplace objects - dolls, etc. - in "Poltergeist" the possessed clown doll common in the 80's, the face of Chewbacca on the back of a jacket or lunch pack, a neighboring tree.
#3 - As little CGI or Special effects as possible. Real Horror depends on the suggestion of terror, the implied, the unknown. Making visible or obvious the threat (s) diminish them. Terror is unique, personal, and best left to each viewers individual imagination. Perhaps this is why "Poltergeist"- while a fun and suspenseful movie with lots of jump scares - doesn't really leave you with any great feeling of terror or fear. The same rule applies to Gore - as little as possible, hinting is the best form of exposition.
#4 - The realization and acknowledgement of a secret order of forces that are hostile to ones intent. Think "Wicker Man", or any horror film, in which the protagonist realizes he or she is up against forces she didn't expect or even realize existed. The gradual reveal of a hitherto unexpected or unanticipated plane of thought or being. A dark sort of enlightenment or realization that the universe is not entirely a friendly place...
#5 - The Use of NPC (Non-presented characters). Think Regan's "Captain Howdy" in "The Exorcist", Danny's friend Tony in "The Shining", the unseen hand held in "The Haunting of Hill House" - all foreshadow that things are about to go a bit sideways....
#6 - Like #3, the gradual building of suspense through (inexplicable) events that transpire off-screen or camera. The slow suggestion that the protagonist and we, the audience along with them, are going into uncharted territory.
#7 - Foreshadowing, this, as with any film; we see the knife innocently chopping food that will later be wielded to do us harm, we see the children playing with toys that will become later possessed by forces we don't understand, conversations that suggest what will be to come, hints, clues, for the alert audience members.
#8 - Not merely the fear of death, but that of Spiritual Annihilation. This is no mortal terror. In "The Shining" Wendy's fear is less for her and Danny's life than that she will be bound to the Hotel if she dies there. "Get Out" and "Don't Breathe" - while not invoking the supernatural, do invoke the "Binding to Place" - the threat that this situation could continue beyond the duration of the film, that the protagonist becomes powerless. Think of Vampires - what is there to fear about immortality? It's the fear that one endures, but not as oneself, not on one's own terms. The same with Werewolves. And in "The Exorcist" they are not just saving Regan's life, they are battling for her soul.
These are just loose notes, ideas, but Horror, as a genre, seems best described as a sort of Hero's journey in which the Hero gains admission to a higher order of knowledge or spirituality at a price that may not allow for his or her return, and if they do return their outlook on the world is forever changed...