The New Weird; Where is Horror Going?
The question "where do you think horror is going" was asked a lot in class today, and I definitely had to think about it a little to find my own interpretation of it since, again, I find myself less acquainted with the genre than most. But first, my favorite piece from this week!
Having read Clive Barker's In the Hills, I definitely felt it worked well as a reflection into the human psyche, as well as a simply brilliant piece of short story focused on the uncanny; there is something extraordinary in having a town come together and form towering giants of flesh with their own harnessed bodies, absolutely.
I almost had trouble comprehending it at first; was he just describing a military battle metaphorically? No, seem's like the town are building Power-Ranger-esque megazord robots out of their buildings to fight for each other's own honor, right? Not quite, it seems like the giants are beings made of the villager's own flesh, like an intricate human body crochet doll built in the vision of each other. But even then it's revealed to be far, far more unfathomable. The giant's are not built with a precise vision of man in mind; one of the giants is described with elephantine legs to keep it sturdy, a deep set head to avoid injuries to the neck, a squat torso to lower the center of gravity.
As the two main protagonists look on, dumb-struck, they see something made from but entirely the opposite of human, people's dead bodies dragged along with the living hive mind's harnessed form like nothing more than cast-away cells. It was a really astounding image, and seeing the horror of the battle (one of the giants died almost immediately, and with it everyone who made it up,) contrasted with the lover's scene in the wheat-field.
Also, props for the main couple! It makes me happy to see such pointed writing including, very very clearly and very up front, a gay relationship; seeing so many shows and movies and narratives beat around the bush and attempt to avoid directly describing anything other than loving glances makes it that much more vivid when it's actually obviously presented and normalized.
But, back to the beginning; where do I think horror is going?
I find myself often afraid simply of death; not many physical fears like clowns or snakes really get me to react nearly as bad as the concept of the ending of life. I feel like some of the most successful pieces of horror now-a-days, like Get Out, focus more on the hyper-dramatized horrors of human reality rather than expressing them with monsters or the paranormal.
Nothing is scarier than the human potential for atrocity, malice, and outright evil, and I think addressing things like racism and homophobia, things that are a very real and present threat to humans across the world is going to become a clear stepping stone in the horror genre. A lot of shows like Black Mirror and American Horror Story are already addressing what we can do with technology to cause harm, and how the political climate seems (and is) truly horrific at moments in our lifetime.
So I feel that it's just going to become more and more widespread over the years; it's proven itself to be effective and evocative, so why stop now? Why not continue to explore our own darkness? I suppose we'll all find out, sooner or later.
Having read Clive Barker's In the Hills, I definitely felt it worked well as a reflection into the human psyche, as well as a simply brilliant piece of short story focused on the uncanny; there is something extraordinary in having a town come together and form towering giants of flesh with their own harnessed bodies, absolutely.
I almost had trouble comprehending it at first; was he just describing a military battle metaphorically? No, seem's like the town are building Power-Ranger-esque megazord robots out of their buildings to fight for each other's own honor, right? Not quite, it seems like the giants are beings made of the villager's own flesh, like an intricate human body crochet doll built in the vision of each other. But even then it's revealed to be far, far more unfathomable. The giant's are not built with a precise vision of man in mind; one of the giants is described with elephantine legs to keep it sturdy, a deep set head to avoid injuries to the neck, a squat torso to lower the center of gravity.
As the two main protagonists look on, dumb-struck, they see something made from but entirely the opposite of human, people's dead bodies dragged along with the living hive mind's harnessed form like nothing more than cast-away cells. It was a really astounding image, and seeing the horror of the battle (one of the giants died almost immediately, and with it everyone who made it up,) contrasted with the lover's scene in the wheat-field.
Also, props for the main couple! It makes me happy to see such pointed writing including, very very clearly and very up front, a gay relationship; seeing so many shows and movies and narratives beat around the bush and attempt to avoid directly describing anything other than loving glances makes it that much more vivid when it's actually obviously presented and normalized.
But, back to the beginning; where do I think horror is going?
I find myself often afraid simply of death; not many physical fears like clowns or snakes really get me to react nearly as bad as the concept of the ending of life. I feel like some of the most successful pieces of horror now-a-days, like Get Out, focus more on the hyper-dramatized horrors of human reality rather than expressing them with monsters or the paranormal.
Nothing is scarier than the human potential for atrocity, malice, and outright evil, and I think addressing things like racism and homophobia, things that are a very real and present threat to humans across the world is going to become a clear stepping stone in the horror genre. A lot of shows like Black Mirror and American Horror Story are already addressing what we can do with technology to cause harm, and how the political climate seems (and is) truly horrific at moments in our lifetime.
So I feel that it's just going to become more and more widespread over the years; it's proven itself to be effective and evocative, so why stop now? Why not continue to explore our own darkness? I suppose we'll all find out, sooner or later.
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