Oh dear, that description of Us makes me very much want to see it and not at all sure I'll be glad I did.
Is horror about solidifying what we define ourselves against so that we can question that defining?
From what little I've read of/about horror I'd say, not usually in the first instance, but it has often productively be used like that? I mean, I think horror has just as much potential to solidify what we define ourselves against so we can define ourselves against it. It's a question of whether a given bit of horror is interested in the fact that "Seems different from us + seems to threaten us somehow = EVIL" is a problematic equation.
(Over on Tor.com, the Lovecraft Reread is interesting commentary on a particular strand of this, Lovecraft being one of the great xenophobes in literature. His wrapping up of 'Entities inimical to humans, beyond human understanding, and fundamental to reality' inside 'and worshipped by all those dangerous races other than mine' has been turned against itself in many interesting ways).
Most of what I mean, I guess, is that I don't think 'What is horror about?' has a single answer, but I'm keen to see horror where that is what it's about.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 03:46 am (UTC)Cats!
Oh dear, that description of Us makes me very much want to see it and not at all sure I'll be glad I did.
Is horror about solidifying what we define ourselves against so that we can question that defining?
From what little I've read of/about horror I'd say, not usually in the first instance, but it has often productively be used like that? I mean, I think horror has just as much potential to solidify what we define ourselves against so we can define ourselves against it. It's a question of whether a given bit of horror is interested in the fact that "Seems different from us + seems to threaten us somehow = EVIL" is a problematic equation.
(Over on Tor.com, the Lovecraft Reread is interesting commentary on a particular strand of this, Lovecraft being one of the great xenophobes in literature. His wrapping up of 'Entities inimical to humans, beyond human understanding, and fundamental to reality' inside 'and worshipped by all those dangerous races other than mine' has been turned against itself in many interesting ways).
Most of what I mean, I guess, is that I don't think 'What is horror about?' has a single answer, but I'm keen to see horror where that is what it's about.