Big Things come in Small Packages

Now I’ve always been a fan of Tolkien.  In fact, Lord of the Rings is what inspired me to play Dungeons and Dragons. (I do believe I referenced this in another post) I have discussed these books with a lot of my friends and my Dad had also shown plenty of interest in it as well.  My dad actually was the one who gave me the book “The Hobbit” to read in the first place.

            First let me say a quick thing about Lord of the Rings, I love it.  First I read the book after I watched the first movie that was released.  Of course, being a kid I always thought that the movies were original and weren’t based off a book.  I found out later, I think it was Harry Potter, that most of these movies were based off literature.  The Hobbit was advertised to me as the “Adventure before the Adventure” by my dad and of course I had to read it.   

            I love the themes that they have in the book.  The theme of big things come in small packages is something that I love.  Seeing someone who is pushed out of their comfort zone and watching them adapt to the situation.  You read on how Bilbo grows as a character as he realizes what he can do.  You read how you can help no matter how small you are or how little you can do.  It shows that no matter who you are, just by experiencing things differently or having a different perspective only helps you.

            That’s something I really try to put into my adventures for Dungeons and Dragons.  J.R.R. Tolkien created a fantastic story filled with wondrous monsters fantastic adventures.

Women in Literature

Woman in fiction is an entire topic on its own, but we will be talking how they are portrayed.  In the earlier times where gender roles were more or less set in stone with no leeway, women were portray in a lesser role.  If the woman in question has a LOT of power, then she needs to either be ugly or evil… or heck make it both.

 

            It’s incredibly humorous how women of power of significances in fiction are portrayed.  It has gotten to the point where people have created flowcharts to tell just which female character archetype.  Now in Aunt Maria, even the first sentence of the book sets the tone and the image of the female character.  “We have had Aunt Maria ever sense dad died.”  That says so many things, where do I begin?

            Well right off the bad we can tell that it isn’t a third person narrator.  It said by someone who is involved in the actual situation.  We can say that whoever is saying this is being taken care of.  The reference a parent dying means that there has to be something to replace them.  So right off the back, Aunt Maria is a caretaker.  Which in a normal standpoint is all right.  If there are children, anyone would say that they would need someone to look after them.  However when given the choice, they chose to just assign her as a caretaker.

            Now I’m not yelling at the author or anything, but I want to point out that books are usually written in the culture of the time and setting the author wants it to take place.  So the source of this kind of image that is seen in the books and movies, is not from the books themselves.  It comes from the culture they were written in.

Man that’s weird

The English language has many definitions for the word weird.  However most people would summarize it as “something different in an odd way”.  The actual definition is “suggesting something supernatural; uncanny”.  Anyone can see how Horror would jump to this as a way to show things.

            Now writers and producers in the mainstream have more or less standardized what weird is.  Now there really isn’t anything wrong with this, however it does have side effects.  Because of this standardization other writers and producers will try to mimic it so we have a over-saturation of the same stuff.  Currently what seems to be popular in horror films, games, stories, seems to be jump scares and .  Now the jump scare when used properly is incredibly effective.  However I think they are losing the balance here.

For comparison, The movie Cabin in the Woods, has a scene where armed men infiltrate are attacked by a group of monster from a group of elevators.  Now honestly, all I can give it is a sarcastic “Ooooo so scary…”.  Its been done to death!  If there is no contrast, its not scary, its not weird. I’ve see that type of “weird” so many times it has become normal.

However, in the movie Under the Skin, the refreshing take on how people were captured and attacked.  It was drawing you in so when the jump scare actually happened it spooked you like no other.  It was truly weird something that was supernatural and uncanny.  It was so unexpected to see the captured person so literally pop like a balloon.  It scared the crap out of me.

So when it comes to the topics of the Old Weird vs. the New Weird, I think the New Weird can only exist because the Old Weird has hit a standardization.

Asian Horror

Right off the back, I just want to say how appreciative I am of the fact that different cultures can take something and each on make its own unique interpretation of it.  Still speaking of horror of course. 

            One thing that you’ll see different between western and eastern cultures is their choice of forces.  Forces in this sense are the ones that determine who is opposing each other.  The best way I could explain it would be the coined, Good vs. Evil.  Like I said, different cultures have different interpretations of these.  People see these “Forces” in two ways.  Usually based on the individual or external powers. 

Western culture has a thing for needing to be able to explain everything.  They need closure, and that effects a lot of what we create.  It doesn’t limit us, but you can definitely see it as a driving force during the process of creation.  We see any unexplained areas as plot holes or incompetence from the author.  One of the  fan bases you can see this from a lot would definitely go to the comic fan base.  These people will argue forever over why that doesn’t make sense or who would win the fight and then support it with FACTUAL evidence.  The fact that they can do that with the stuff they read is amazing.

 

On the flip side we have a culture that likes leaving these open.  Eastern culture likes to use external forces, ones outside their control, as an asset to their writings.  There’s always something greater that is controlling or influencing them.  In my opinion you can get a lot more accomplished this way.  It makes the story more personal when you allow the human mind to complete it.  It makes your more invested, although you could say the same thing about having tons of details as well.

However, all concepts are apparent in both.  Good and Evil, Order verses Chaos.  Each culture has these.  But both are very different in their interpretations.  One seems to be more supernatural than the other, which is explained more logically.  Both good, neither better than the other.

Let the Right Vampire In

Now I haven’t seen many Vampire movies or read that many vampire books for one simple reason.  On my list of badass fantasy creatures, vampires only come in on number 17.  That being said, this doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy reading or watching them.  This week I really want to highlight one of the movies that we were suppose to watch.

Let the Right One In is a movie I saw a while ago when it first came out in 2008, and to be honest I forgot what it was about.  What I did remember is that I liked it.  That was enough for me to pick it up again.  Watching it I began to remember things and I thought it was really enjoyable even though it would be the second time watching it.

            One thing about watching this movie again, is that it made me realize something about vampires. Although Humans are their pray, they have a fondness over them.  Yes, I know this is incredibly apparent, but is a trait that I believe most people over look.  They don’t have a fondness over humans because they are similr.  I think they have this fondness because of their human roots.  They were human at one point (assuming vampirism is transferred through contact), and because of that they have a human nature.

            If you notice, vampires are experts on humans.  They always know how they will act and what they will do.  Their motives are either sympathetic or Power hungry both qualities that originated from humans. Their powers as well seem to be super human, but literally human.  As in they are a superior human, and not necessarily a different species.  Which raises the question.  Is this because humans were the creators of the vampire archtype, or in the creation of this creature did they want to give it a human base to work with.  Did this design happen by accident?

            As always its very interesting to see peoples take on monsters, because everyone interprets them different.  Thus we have an endless stream of content.