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fandomhigh2010-04-05 08:51 am
chosehumanity) wrote in fandomhigh2010-04-05 08:51 am
Entry tags:
Horror 101, Monday
If Mitchell looked a bit groggy, well, that could squarely be blamed on a bad portal connection that morning. He really needed to have another good word with Portalocity, as long as it didn't invalidate their Agreement about anything.
"Hey," he started, thusly subdued, "Today, we'll be talking about the origins of horror. Because long before we had films, long before we had the printing press, we still had scary stories. Throughout time, people have reminded each other of their fears, shared them, made them lessen with jokes. Sometimes, the stories have been warnings, or cases of triumph over evil."
He rubbed at his forehead. "Fear has been with humanity for as long as it's existed. Fear lives in animals, in their instincts, but they don't tend to share it. We talk about our fears with each other because it makes us a community, because it's terrifying once you stray past the fringes. Sharing scary stories is a way of forming a bubble, of pushing that fringe away, of forming a tribe."
"This goes beyond telling ghost stories around the campfire. Most of the horror fiction we know today hails from folklore. The Romans feared the Gods, as did the Greeks, as did many before them. They feared the fantastic: their own kinds of werewolves, vampires, ghosts and other terrors. In a way, our fears bind all of humanity together: the fear of death, the fear of change, the fear of everything that lurks alone in the dark."
"The Albanians talked about Constantin, who was raised from the dead to bring back his sister Doruntine. The Japanese have the ghost story of Yotsuya Kaidan, where a wronged woman comes back after death to set things to her own justice. In Brazil, they talk about Negrinho do Pastoreio, a slave boy whipped to death, now returned to help people find their lost things."
He smiled briefly. "Now it's your turn," he said, "Gather 'round the center of the room, get some tea in, and tell each other scary stories from your own culture."
"Hey," he started, thusly subdued, "Today, we'll be talking about the origins of horror. Because long before we had films, long before we had the printing press, we still had scary stories. Throughout time, people have reminded each other of their fears, shared them, made them lessen with jokes. Sometimes, the stories have been warnings, or cases of triumph over evil."
He rubbed at his forehead. "Fear has been with humanity for as long as it's existed. Fear lives in animals, in their instincts, but they don't tend to share it. We talk about our fears with each other because it makes us a community, because it's terrifying once you stray past the fringes. Sharing scary stories is a way of forming a bubble, of pushing that fringe away, of forming a tribe."
"This goes beyond telling ghost stories around the campfire. Most of the horror fiction we know today hails from folklore. The Romans feared the Gods, as did the Greeks, as did many before them. They feared the fantastic: their own kinds of werewolves, vampires, ghosts and other terrors. In a way, our fears bind all of humanity together: the fear of death, the fear of change, the fear of everything that lurks alone in the dark."
"The Albanians talked about Constantin, who was raised from the dead to bring back his sister Doruntine. The Japanese have the ghost story of Yotsuya Kaidan, where a wronged woman comes back after death to set things to her own justice. In Brazil, they talk about Negrinho do Pastoreio, a slave boy whipped to death, now returned to help people find their lost things."
He smiled briefly. "Now it's your turn," he said, "Gather 'round the center of the room, get some tea in, and tell each other scary stories from your own culture."