So, oddly enough, I was just thinking about this blog. As of today, it has been one month and three days since the last update, and that was because...well, because I didn't exactly have anything to write about. That's not to say I haven't been busy; my life has been one constant stream of interesting (not that I'm going to tell any of you about it, mind your own damn business). What I mean is, every time I sat down to write something for this blog--at least three times that I can think of--I realized that the topic was just too personal, too unfocused, too much inspired by the lonely, squabbling complaints of my heart (no, don't complain, I'm still not going to tell you about my life). But then, a few days ago, I actually had a legitimate topic to write about.
And then I didn't write it.
Why? I dunno. Jesus, seriously, stop complaining, I'm here now, aren't I?
Anyway, a few days ago I sat down to a seemingly routine movie night with a few of my friends. I had assumed that the movie night would be a safe place to spend my somewhat-waking-hours, seeing as the past few movies featured had been the TV movie A Wrinkle in Time (don't know about that one, I slept through it), the Japanese cartoon flick Castle in the Sky (...I may have also slept through parts of this one, but most of it was dominated by a discussion about the most horrifying pokemon EVER and also Super Mario Brothers), and well, um...I honestly do not remember any of the other movies we've watched (I'm starting to sense a sleeping pattern here).
But this one, my friends, oh they failed me. I was picked up at some time or other, right around when the sun was setting or starting to set or maybe not. (I wear a watch, but who actually looks at their watch? That's what phones are for.) And we drove, and my friend and I talked about random this and random that. Nothing big, but we bantered for a bit and listened to his hipster music. The only thing important about my transportation story: I did not drive myself; THERE WAS NO ESCAPE.
By the time we arrived, we were a little late (we had paused to walk my dog before leaving), and they had already started watching...THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (cue ominous wind howling in the background with sketchy, far off bumping and scratching noises).
It may be useful to point out that I have zero tolerance for horror movies. I really do mean zero. When I went to see Cloverfield (totally serious here), that was the edge of my tolerance. It wasn't scary per say, but those few scenes with moderately scary things made my jump. When another friend of mine (who is more scared than me, by the way) convinced me to watch Paranormal Activity, the only thing that didn't actually scare me was the ending (SPOILER ALERT...nah, just kidding, I wouldn't do that to you). So it went without saying that the Blair Witch was terrifying me in all of its never-before-seen glory. The ending had been spoiled for me a long time ago, and the last five minutes still almost made me cry.
Stick with me here, I'm almost to the good part.
So we finished the Blair Witch off. Not literally, because that thing is as close to the devil as ghosts come (on a side note, if you want to movie spoiled for you, take a look at this action figure and realize that never seeing the creature is the only thing that makes it scary). And we sat there, scrolling through Netflix Instant, attempting to find something to watch. My friends seemed to be on a horror binge, so, despite my highly vocal and maybe tearful protests, we stumbled onto another one:
THE EXORCIST.
Supposedly the scariest movie of all time, released to rave/disgusted reviews, hailed by some as the beginning of a new generation of horror, The Exorcist began to play and I squeezed the life out of that poor couch cushion. And then some time passed, and 30 minutes in I was waiting to be scared. Another 30. Then another 30. Then another 30. Then another--oh wait, the movie's only 2 hours long? It's over? What?
It turned out, I was not even remotely scared by what was happening on screen. Don't get me wrong, I was enthralled; the movie was, perhaps, one of the best horror movies I have ever seen (yea, I know I have no frame of reference for that) and maybe even one of the best movies I have ever seen (I do have a frame of reference for that one: I am a dork). But it just wasn't scary. That is to say, from our 2011 perspective, the movie didn't even seem to be trying to be scary. Even my friend, who jumps at the slightest movement and thought that the font used for the title of the old Goosebumps books looks frightening just sat there watching the movie, lamenting with all of us that she was not really being scared.
So...what happened? I was more scared by Paranormal Activity than The Exorcist?
Yep, and I am forced to conclude that I am desensitized. My toe-dipping-into experience of horror only served to point out how much we are willing to put up with in our day to day lives. This trailer scares me more than the Exorcist does, and its less than two minutes long.
And think about what we actually have to be scared of. If you live in a city, you can always be mugged or raped (yay, alleyways!), which the news loves to tell us/warn us about. Big Brother is starting to watch us as that thing called the internet becomes more PATRIOT-y. Global warming, war, terrorism, car crashes, oil spills, grandfathers stung to death by dozens of wasps. It seems like the world is just out to get us sometimes, and maybe it is. And the news and the media just keep spoon feeding us those stories of everyday horror to boost up their ratings.
So when you watch a girl (ACTUAL SPOILER ALERT) spinning her head around and listen to the sinews cracking in her neck, it seems kind of justified to think, Eh, all in a day.
Is it just me, or is that thought kind of horrifying?
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