Our World Isn’t Twisted Enough
By Sally Bishai (03/18/06)
I was halfway finished with an article decrying the discrimination against and persecution of certain races, but then an unbelievable series of events led me to a Yahoo! Movie Page dedicated to the horror genre.
Having read the synopses, and having taken in more ads advertising “The Year’s Scariest Flick!” and proclaiming that “You’ll Never Be Able to Turn The Lights Out Again!” than I could comfortably stomach so early in the morning, I decided to switch gears, in hopes of addressing the sick cinematographic appetites that are fuelling this 178 BILLION dollar industry. (And, the other article was taking too long to finish.)
I know that I’m (in)famous for going on about how I hate “the industry,” how TV is from the devil, and all sorts of semi-radical views of that nature.
You can’t really blame me, however, since the television and movie industry 1- use sex to sell everything from wall paint to rice, 2- is one of the most powerful tools of wide-range culture-transmission that we have available to us, 3- invariably depicts immorality, drug use, violence, disrespect to elders, and other actions that today’s youth don’t need to be imbibing—24/7, it seems—during their formative years.
After all, the more often one sees something, the more desensitized said person is to said behavior, leading to a much higher probability of said person’s adopting said behavior.
Scary, hmm?
I know what you’re thinking.
“Sally, wasn’t it YOU who was preaching tolerance a few weeks ago? Wasn’t it YOU who said we should hate the sin and love the sinner?”
You’re right, dear reader, I did.
BUT.
No one said anything about a methodical system of creating people who have an ever-increasing appetite for violence and mayhem!
(And before I go on, let me tell you why I’m focusing on scary films rather than on immoral films. It’s because sex is something that, within the proper situation, isn’t wrong, and can’t harm you. The addiction to it might, but sex itself won’t; besides, we’re wired for it. On the other hand, there is no context in which violence and torture could be considered “right,” and I defy anyone to tell me a situation where it is.)
“What dost thou mean, O Sally, dear Gadfly of this day and age? WHAT could be wrong with watching the occasional scary movie?”
Merely this: it’s not GOING to be the occasional one. The nature of the macabre, like a Lays potato chip, prevents you from HAVING just one. Humans are born with an innate fascination for all things morbid, and if you don’t believe me, try driving past an accident on the highway... without wondering just what happened.
I know, I know, people are innately curious, which doesn’t always translate to “morbid fascination.” But it’s a rare person who really doesn’t want to know about a tragedy or horrific thing.
If I told you that I saw the scariest movie of all time, you KNOW you’d ask what it was, and what made it so scary.
Your poor little mind wouldn’t let go of the thought, and you’d stay up all night, wondering.
You’d think “Nothing could be THAT shocking, though. I am past the point of being shocked!”
You might then watch the film, to see if it lived up to the hype.
You’d be so intent on proving yourself right that you may not be as horrified as the situation calls for.
And then...your tolerance for the truly horrible would get that much higher.
There, in a nutshell, is the development of the reprobate mind. So the whole “building a tolerance” thing is my first issue with horror films.
My next issue includes the fact that the pandering to this morbidity in us reminds me of the time when Romans would turn out, en masse, to watch the people (some of them Christians, others just garden-variety innocents or criminals) get eaten by lions, or turned on a wheel that would break their bones.
After a building of tolerance comes an actual appetite for something, you see. Serial killers over the years have confirmed this, admitting that when their perverse tastes couldn’t be quenched by films, they had to go create their own horror just to feel normal.
My most powerful argument, however, and the one that should appeal to a rational being (or a liberal, even) where the past two arguments may smack of the religious—meaning that some people might see nothing wrong with going around killing people, or torturing them—is the state of the world.
When suicide bombers kill themselves in an attempt to kill others, when prisoners of war (formal or informal) are tortured for information, or for the mere crime of belonging to the “wrong” side...does this sound like a world that needs even one more violent act—whether real or staged?
If you want to watch something gruesome, you may as well watch real videos of real people being tortured.
Actually, don’t. It would just serve the same purpose as watching the staged version of the same thing in some horror movie.
This makes me wonder: Are horror movies worse, or “snuff films,” their real-life counterparts?
On one hand, the horror movie is just a movie, and no one should have gotten hurt making the film, although the attempt to slake the thirst for violence is still there.
On the other hand, most people watching “Faces of Death” know that they’re watching the real thing, which makes them even worse. Or does it?
In a related matter, I happen to think it’s equally horrid to find humor in people’s misfortune, like in Home Alone, when the bumbling thieves—who, by all accounts, deserve to have some sort of come-uppance for their misdeeds—keep having all sorts of “accidents” precipitated by a naughty 11-year-old.
Hokey, perhaps. On par with snuff films, though? You’d better believe it.
From reality shows to real life, any time we derive any sort of entertainment from the misfortune—macabre or not—of others, we’re violating some moral code or other.
The sad thing—in any case—is that people give in to these macabre desires because it gives them a little jolt.
It makes the hair stand up on their necks.
What they don’t realize, however, is that they’re doing a wild dance with death, trying to get as close as they can to the edge, flirting with it a little, maybe, in an attempt to make themselves feel more alive.
The answer isn’t in pricking ourselves with the needle of Norman Bates or Freddy Krueger, though.
The ANSWER lies in waking up from our spiritual deadness and really CARING about something, and not just anything!
The spirit can only awaken—and fully develop—in the heavenly glow given off by our Heavenly Father.
May the light of the sun—and the Son—envelop you this day, my friend, and grant you the peace that passes all understanding!
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