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Scary is as Scary Does
“Night on Bald Mountain” from Disney’s Fantasia
It’s not very often that I feel compelled to reach through the computer and give a fellow blogger a 12-Step-style hug, but I had a moment like that reading Daddy Geek Boy’s recent post about reconciling one’s love of pop culture with being a scary-movie wimp. Oh, can I relate to that! Especially since I’ve been so intrigued by the movie Coraline and would love to write about it, but I’m too terrified to actually sit down and watch the damn thing. And I’ve been feeling vaguely anxious all month as my kids get swept up in the spookier side of Halloween spirit in a way they never have before. I can’t help it: “scary” really scares me. Always has, still does.
Television viewing was well-regulated when I was growing up, but we still got a big dose of scary goodness at Halloween, mostly in the form of Disney specials. There was the beautifully animated but positively terrifying “Night on Bald Mountain” from Fantasia. There was the classic ghost story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which my mom softened by reassuring us the Headless Horseman was actually Brom Bones in disguise trying to fool Ichabod Crane – a perfectly cromulent reading of the story, but still. And then there was that truly tweaky short from the 1930’s when Pluto dreams about hell. (It’s worth noting that “Secretary” author Mary Gaitskill references this cartoon in her novel Two Girls Fat and Thin as a character reflects on the roots of her sadomasochism fetish.) Beloved animation classics or not, I was sufficiently spooked.
It was never a question of understanding that scary stories are just make believe. It was never about the gross-out factor or things jumping out saying “boo.” No, there was something more deeply, personally scary there for me. What I couldn’t articulate to my parents as a child, but what I absolutely felt, was simply this: What’s truly scary comes from a place of over-empathy. And not just empathy for the victim, but empathy for the cruel intentions of whatever creepy thing was tormenting him. It’s that awful sense that something out there wants to get you and will enjoy getting you; that something will delight in your fear and thrive on your suffering.
I wasn’t as upset by the scary stories with a clear-cut moral (e.g., child chews too much gum, child turns into a blueberry), because there’s a firm implicit guideline for how to avoid a similar fate yourself. The stories with random spookiness were much harder to take. But the most terrifying stories of all were the ones with a “sins of the parents” theme. Daddy Geek Boy mentioned Poltergeist in his post, and that’s a perfect example. The dad unwittingly helps build a nice new suburban community on top of a sacred burial ground and all hell literally breaks loose. Or how about Coraline, in which (I’m surmising, having not summoned the cojones to actually watch it) a girl’s neglectful, self-absorbed parents drive her to seek out the spooky netherworld in the first place.
The “sins of the parents” paradigm taps into a big, universal fear: “Uh-oh, the people who are supposed to protect me are terrifyingly fallible.” Plenty of viewers relish seeing parent figures exposed for what they are: clueless, hypocritical, selfish, troubled, not fit to lead, etc. There’s a kind of personal gratification there; maybe even political gratification. Meanwhile, for those of us parents who are already painfully aware of our own shortcomings and inability to protect our children in the face of, say, a random tree attack . . . well, it’s downright chilling is all. I’m sure plenty of children delight in the upending of order in scary stories, but I never did. I didn’t want order turned on its head. I didn’t want to question my parents’ ability to keep me safe. I just wanted to dress up as a princess and trust.
The ghosts may not have been real, but the twisted masterminds who invented them were. Someone drew those evil lines around the creature’s mouth; someone recorded the sadistic laugh; someone knew exactly how to storyboard a scene for maximum bone-chilling suspense and a climactic dive under the covers in fear. Why? And, okay, I realize that there’s a substantial non-wimp audience out there that truly enjoys this stuff at face value. I’ll get to that in a minute. But for now, sticking with the wimp perspective: What’s in it for the storytellers when they terrify their audience?
There is something very satisfying about scaring someone, isn’t there? Fear is one of the most visible, dramatic emotions you can elicit from a person. And when you vent your own fears to someone else and scare that person in turn, well, in a way you’ve gained some control over the fear yourself. You’ve named it, illustrated it, and passed it along. I don’t doubt that’s going on in at least some of the scary shows and movies out there.
But even a fear wimp like me has to admit that sometimes it’s fun to be scared. I enjoy Hitchcock and David Lynch and as much as the next pop culture geek. (I love Mulholland Drive so much, I want to sleep with the DVD under my pillow.) There’s something incredibly compelling about the dark side of humanity, even as it paralyzes you with fear. And it’s exhilarating to dip one’s toes in the “danger” and savor the intense jolt, peak, and release of a good scare. It’s like a good roller coaster. It’s a rush, but a safe one.
This is the first year I haven’t been super vigilant about protecting my kids from Halloween scariness. I’d like to, but I can’t seem to keep them away from the stuff! Since Archie McPhee opened its new store a few blocks from our house, both kids have become big fans of all things creepy and strange. Little Girl has been known to joyfully announce, apropos of nothing, “I was a mindless zombie!” And The Boy is planning his future Halloween monster costumes for years to come.
We were watching the “Yo Gabba Gabba” Halloween episode when this song came on, giving me a major case of the boo-boo jeebies. “It looks like that ghost is getting closer, closer, closer, CLOSer, CLOSER!!!” Damn.) But I fought the urge to swoop in with the remote control, figuring that would probably scare them more than the actual video. I stayed calm and watched their faces, ready to intervene if needed.
Their eyes were wide and engaged, maybe slightly worried. When the scary part gave way to the happy chorus, the tension on their faces broke into delighted smiles. And they asked to watch it again. I asked them if they thought it was scary. They looked at me like I’d just offered them broccoli for dessert. And ever since then, their screen time hours have been filled with On Demand Halloween episodes of “Wow, Wow Wubbzy,” “Pinky Dinky Doo,” and that same “Yo Gabba Gabba” (which continues to freak me out every time).
I think we’re a few years away from the classic Disney stuff, but I’m looking forward to sharing it with them when the time comes. As long as one of them holds my hand while we watch!
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Views: 64
Tags: "Archie, "archie, Disney, Halloween, Yo Gabba Gabba, archie mcphee, fantasia, legend of sleepy hollow, sadomasochism, scary
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Comment by hermit crab on October 19, 2009 at 7:08am -
I have totally been thinking about this a lot, lately too - but rather than think about it being a problem of over-empathy, I'm like - what would make someone want to watch this stuff? Especially the horror movies. It's all about taking joy in someone else's pain. I suppose it's better than actually pulling the legs off frogs and stuff but, jeesh. I know _I'm_ not the freak for wanting to avoid it, you know?
I actually first tried to make this clear for myself in the course of a school project I did in 6th grade in which I identified the differences between suspense movies and horror movies. Suspense - a mystery to explore, things being frightening because they were unexpected, but not that much focus on the blood and guts. Horror - something just trying to make you afraid. Making that distinction represented the beginning of my principal dodge for horror-movie fests maybe all the way through high school - oh, horror movies. Ho hum. Where's the intellectual challenge in that? You want to come over and watch Rear Window? (As always, I hid my terror and discomfort behind a veil of snooty pickiness. Real original strategy, wasn't it?)
I also don't get hunting. But I think the impulses behind hunting and horror movies are related.
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Comment by ks on October 19, 2009 at 8:01am -
Come join your fellow wimps.
Mr. S makes fun of me about this all the time. He'll bring home horror/scary movies and then try to get me to watch with him (if you want something truly terrifying, watch Ils--it's a French movie about a supposedly true story where some kids in Romania torment and then murder a nice young couple in the sewers/underground) and them make fun of me when I freak out. But seriously, I didn't sleep well for a week after watching the movie with Will Smith where he's the last guy alive (can't think of the name).
Paranormal stuff is also off limits. Poltergeist is a seriously messed up movie. Whoever thought of that has issues. The Omen is another one that gave me nightmares as a kid. Blair Witch didn't bother me so much because of the scary, but the jumpy camera work made me nauseated. I also can't watch things like The Ring or Dark Water (both of which were brought home by Mr. S and then he made fun of me for not making it all the way through). And absolutely no slasher movies or torture porn.
But campy things don't really bother me all that much. One of my favorite bits of entertainment is the Tim Burton version of Sleepy Hollow (although, I love pretty much everything that Tim Burton has a hand in, and then add in Johnny Depp and I'll forgive just about anything, even nightmares). The first Evil Dead movie and the vampire one by Tarantino (can't remember the name again) don't really bother me either, because they're just so over the top that it becomes more funny than scary. And I kind of do want to see Zombieland, but I'm a little wary of it at the same time. Probably that will be a renter.
And Coraline wasn't nearly as creepy as it was made out to be. I took N to see it for his birthday last year, but left A home because I had heard that it was a little scary. But really, it isn't at all. Or at least, not very much at all. There are some creepy moments.
It doesn't seem to bother the kids at all. They haven't been allowed to watch the things that I watched at N's age (Poltergeist, the Jason and Freddy movies, or things like that), but they do love the creepy. Especially N. We brought him home a remote control zombie from our trip out your way in August and he loves it. And now he wants to watch zombie movies and be either a zombie or vampire for Halloween.
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Comment by Floor Pie on October 19, 2009 at 9:35am -
Apparently there's a remake of Poltergeist in the works. I wonder why? Not scary enough the first time? Whole new generation of kids to terrify?
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Comment by kommishoner on October 19, 2009 at 9:47am -
I have this whole feminist analysis of horror movies and how they shore up bullshit gender roles and reinforce the whole "weaker sex" bullshit. Take The Shining: for women, it is absolutely plausible that their partner could come unhinged, decide that their wife and child are the source of all their problems and need to be eliminated, supernatural cause or not, and they could end up running for their lives. It happens all the fucking time. Same thing with women randomly being murdered while they go camping, or get in a cab, or go for a walk by the river, or whatever. It happens to men too, but to women enough that it's part of our social lexicon. Horror movies are just a way of retelling that story, but taking the accountability away from real-life perpetrators and putting it on something else - supernatural control, the devil, the killer's dead mother, a possessed doll, whatever. So then when we watch those movies, men think it's fiction while women know, on some level, that it could be them. Or at least I do. Which makes me real fun at parties, let me tell you. ;)
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Comment by Floor Pie on October 19, 2009 at 9:59am
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"So then when we watch those movies, men think it's fiction while women know, on some level, that it could be them."
Yes! Absolutely.
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Comment by Mamawho on October 19, 2009 at 10:02am
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I break horror movies down into sub-genres. The exploitative "slasher" flicks don't give me the supernatural willies, but I don't watch them, for a number of reasons, most of which have been given above. I call these movies "Scream really loud, and then run up the stairs" movies. Because no one ever seems to run out of the house, unless they're in a cabin in the woods.
I really dig the supernatural movies, but some of them do scare me, but not until well after the movie. But I've always been this way. I was scared of the mirror at the end of the hallway as a kid, and I had to pass this mirror to get to my room. I had quite a story about what was going on inside that mirror. I also held my breath as I walked past the linen closet.
The demonic or possession-themed movies are the ones that scare me. The vampire, witch, or whathaveyou don't freak me out.
I am utterly, entirely, and paralyzingly afraid of clowns. No It for me. My brothers are scared of clowns, too. It's a bizarre bond we have over it, because it seems like a funny fear. Until you want to run, screaming, from the circus, but your child is laughing at the clown. Not cool.
Not big on life-like dolls, either. Those movies freak me the hell out. I have a box of porcelain dolls in the attic, some very valuable, and I can't wait to sell them. No Chucky movies. Nightmares for MONTHS after a slumber party.
GirlWho hasn't been scared by anything creepy she's watched. I was prepared to shield her from the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. No need. She loves Corpse Bride, Nightmare before Christmas, and Beetlejuice. I let her watch those, but not the news. I have limits. :)
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I guess I shouldn't try to sell any of y'all my dolls now, huh?
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Oh, and give Coraline a shot. It's really not that scary. And her real parents aren't neglectful, but seem to ignore her early in the movie. Part of that is perspective. Have you read the book? I found the book to be scarier than the movie, but I usually do. The movie is also quite sweet. Nearly made DaddyWho cry.
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Comment by hermit crab on October 19, 2009 at 10:21am
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Right on, kommish. The willful disregard of really nasty gender stuff totally is the issue for the most part. And makes me think that there are probably some great work out there analyzing the correlation between the increase in women's political and legal power and the rise in the really gory horror movies where pretty young women get physically brutalized on camera.
Exploring male victimhood in these movies is pretty interesting too, though. These films are often parables about the price of incompetent manhood -- too weak, get killed; too emotional, get killed; too relaxed (not vigilant), get killed; too incapable of long-term planning, get killed. Often the hunting theme is dominant, like I mentioned above. Lots of important social information coded in these things.
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Comment by Mommy Monster on October 19, 2009 at 10:53am -
Such a great topic! I replied to DGB's blog about my experience catching a clip (just a clip) of the Exorcist on a scary movie countdown last year and having nightmares from it.
Oddly, I enjoy some of the supernatural stuff, even though it scares me. The Others was a terrifically scary movie and still freaks me out occasionally, years later. I saw the Blair Witch Project only after Loki had seen it and described in detail every single thing that happens in the movie so I could be prepared. Clowns freak me out too. My mom put a framed print of three clowns in my brother's room and he used to take it off the wall every night so he could get to sleep. She finally took it out of there.
I have *never* liked slasher flicks and, like hermit crab, simply cannot understand the appeal. I just don't want to spend my time that way.
Still, I'm amazed at some of the things that have freaked my kids' heads off. When Raidne will leetle, like 3 or 4, she saw a skit with talking vegetables on Elmo and went completely nuts. For MONTHS she would cry and cry about the talking vegetables. Wild Thing has seen parts of Lord of the Rings with no adverse effects at all, but recently flipped out over seeing the Coraline preview in a movie theater. That makes TG's theory of world order and parental protection seem very plausible to me.
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