I’ve never liked horror movies or most scary stories, but I actually really enjoy Poe. His works have been my favorite so far this semester. I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe it’s because the narrators are more precise and scientifically minded.
When I was younger, I had a strange irrational fear that I was going to be buried alive even though I had never heard of anyone being buried alive, and I had never seen it in a movie. I refused to stay in the dark, and I refused to go to sleep in a room alone. This lasted for a few years. I am no phycologist. I don’t really understand the human mind, so I can’t explain the source of my fear, but I think it says something about the dark side of the mind. Even as a seven year old, I understood that there were people who found pleasure in the pain of others, and I was afraid that I would be the victim. This may be the reason so many people dislike Poe. His writings make us look at part of the human mind that has the ability to not only do wrong, but to take pleasure in evil. But... taking pleasure in evil... isn’t that what we all do when we sin? Maybe we’re all crazy. But instead of putting a man in a dungeon like in “The Pit and the Pendulum,” or a woman in a coffin like in “Fall of the House of Usher,” our flesh is constantly trying to torture and bury ourselves alive.
Posted on Lane's "That Guy"
I never liked horror movies either! I still dont! I get too freaked out. However, reading the pit and the pendulum, i loved it, in a wierd way. I liked reading about the unknown suspense and feeling as if i were experiencing it with him. It drew me in and made me begin to question and think of my own mind. I think its interesting how our minds can almost in a strange way take over us. It can have such a power to run us insanely crazy, if we let it.
ReplyDeleteI am in the exact same boat as the two of you! I've always hated watching horror movies because I have a vivid imagination. The only horror movie I've ever watched, Paranormal Activity, had me jittery for almost a month. This movie is also kind of a special case because I believe that demons do actually exist. There is a spiritual world we can't see (the unknown), and since I believe that my mind took the idea to a whole new level.
ReplyDeleteI am just like you and Ryan, my imagination would run away with me were I to watch horror movies. In fact, I once freaked out after just hearing the synopsis of a horror movie.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger my irrational fear was that I was going to be kidnapped, I think I imagined so many scenarios where someone got into my house and the only way I was able to escape getting kidnapped was by hiding under my bed. I never told my parents though, and there were many nights I had trouble sleeping because of the paralyzing fear that someone was going to come into my room and snatch me out of my bed.
As I have gotten older, that fear hasn't dissipated, I am still afraid I will be kidnapped. But I do not dwell on my fear now because I know that dwelling on my fear will only increase it.