chosehumanity (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2010-03-08 08:15 am
chosehumanity) wrote in fandomhigh2010-03-08 08:15 am
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Horror 101, Monday
"I'm not going to show you any films this week," Mitchell announced, a little wary, but still full of that pumped-up, somewhat faked enthusiasm he'd started on last Thursday. "Sorry for missing out on class last week. I had to help a friend move flats." He clapped his hands once. "There's food, if anyone wants it, and coffee - just take whatever you'd like. I got that," point at the cake, "From JGoB's. There's plenty more where it came from."
He leaned back. "We've had a weekend," he started, which was enough to darken his mood back down to Earth a little. "Now normally I'd be going into some genre or monster, but I think you've all suffered enough horror. That is one of the bases of it, not just the films or the books but the reality of it. Losing yourself, losing track of where you stand, losing your boundaries. The fringes are terrifying, and many of you were tipped over these past few days."
He rubbed at his fingers. "The search for what we are, for what humanity is, is one of the primal forces in fiction, in fear. We try to wrap our minds around all the things humanity can do, the horrors that are worse than any monster could dream up, the triumphs better than anyone could aspire to from the shadows. But first we have to define what it is we are, who we are. Which one of you already knows? Who here has a sense of identity strong enough to shake off the intrusion of another?"
He surveyed the class thoughtfully. "Because trust me, you can throw away lifetimes trying to figure out who you are, what the essence is of what you can do and what you want to be. Maybe right now you're frightened. Maybe you're in denial. Maybe you're having trouble adjusting to the realities around you." Not that his eyes went looking for Kate, or anything. "All of this is human. Even if you made it through the fire and shrugged it off like it was nothing. Does it belong to you? Do you own it? And who do you need to sustain it? People are always looking for a tribe, it's what keeps them from spinning off into the dark. Have you found it?"
Finally, he leaned back. "You can't really start to live until you know who you are," he said. "See this weekend as a test, if you have to see it at all. You lived through that brand of horror and came out on the other end. How do you define yourself now?"
There wasn't any further lecture incoming. That, it would seem, was that.
[[ and have at ]]
He leaned back. "We've had a weekend," he started, which was enough to darken his mood back down to Earth a little. "Now normally I'd be going into some genre or monster, but I think you've all suffered enough horror. That is one of the bases of it, not just the films or the books but the reality of it. Losing yourself, losing track of where you stand, losing your boundaries. The fringes are terrifying, and many of you were tipped over these past few days."
He rubbed at his fingers. "The search for what we are, for what humanity is, is one of the primal forces in fiction, in fear. We try to wrap our minds around all the things humanity can do, the horrors that are worse than any monster could dream up, the triumphs better than anyone could aspire to from the shadows. But first we have to define what it is we are, who we are. Which one of you already knows? Who here has a sense of identity strong enough to shake off the intrusion of another?"
He surveyed the class thoughtfully. "Because trust me, you can throw away lifetimes trying to figure out who you are, what the essence is of what you can do and what you want to be. Maybe right now you're frightened. Maybe you're in denial. Maybe you're having trouble adjusting to the realities around you." Not that his eyes went looking for Kate, or anything. "All of this is human. Even if you made it through the fire and shrugged it off like it was nothing. Does it belong to you? Do you own it? And who do you need to sustain it? People are always looking for a tribe, it's what keeps them from spinning off into the dark. Have you found it?"
Finally, he leaned back. "You can't really start to live until you know who you are," he said. "See this weekend as a test, if you have to see it at all. You lived through that brand of horror and came out on the other end. How do you define yourself now?"
There wasn't any further lecture incoming. That, it would seem, was that.
[[ and have at ]]
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