Re do of a post.

Im going to re do the first post that we ever did. Looking back now it seems that it wasn't really the themes of horror that I thought about that I wrote down, but rather what I thought was the right answer. Themes in horror have changed a lot over the years, but of course, they have to. With each generation something new strikes terror into the hearts of its readers and watchers. My father was scared out of his mind when he was a teenager and saw the exorcist. I watched it when I was about 16, and didnt bat an eyelash if anything I chuckled a bit. But again this all lands in the plain of personal taste also, The movie mothman prophecies to this day scares the living daylights out of me, so much so that writing the title freaks me out. I know people that were horrified by saw and freddy vs jason that didnt even filnch at that movie. So every one is affected diffrently by diffrent things. Theres allways trends that come and go, like found footage films that were popular in the 90s with the blair witch project and the ring, are comming back in full force now with paranormal activity, the 4th kind and quarantine. These also affect diffrent people in diffrent ways, I can sit through all of the paranormal activity movies and not blink, but I will never ever watch the 4th kind again. ever.

So now a days, I belive that the main themes in horror now are:
Found footage
scaring the audience after they leave the theatre(give them something to think about at home)
Zombies(although thats a bit old now)
biological mutations(video games; also zombies)
"cheap looking" movies, add to the it could happen to you factor
3d
High gore/torture porn (a little bit old, more in the early 2000's)
'ghosts' (seems simple, but horror has shifted from the boogy man monster to more of a demon/ghost/spirit/thing you cant see wave latley)

Main themes in Horror.

Some main themes in Horror,

macabre
old castle/place
the unknown
protagonist
antagonist
a creature
problems which cannot be explained
romantic intrest
unnerving places
secrets
unsensible decisions, based on need or desperation
a new place

Cyber Punk

Cyber punk is something that is pretty new to me, I hadn't really been involved in it before class and to be honest, don't think that ill be sticking around. I watched two different movies, Ghost in the shell by mistake, and then blade runner. Im actually very happy that I did this because even though I enjoyed ghost in the shell, I could not stand blade runner. I can't hold it against the movie its self, its outdated and not my taste. Noir films generally bore me and there all pretty predictable. It was interesting at times, and there were a few good moments but at as a whole, the noir thing really just shut me off for the most of it. The story line wasn't bad, but the clicheness of it was what ruined it. Ghost in the shell on the other hand, was interesting. Cyborgs are always an interesting subject if don't right and they were in this instance. The whole ideal of a artificial intelligence becoming self aware was a welcomed twist, and then it binding with a live (semi)biological (mind at least) was also new to me. True, at its heart ghost in the shell is also just another detective and cop story, but it was interesting, intriguing and you really didn't know what exact ally was going to happen next. I also enjoyed the way that the cyber part was handled in ghost in the shell better. In blade runner it get forced. True its an old movie, but allot of it seemed phony. Ghost in the shell however, it seemed pretty natural. There wasn't any time where it was trying to shove some cool space agae technology in your face to gawk at the special effects, if there was something cool and new, like say , the tank, it wasn't all in your face, it just interacted with the other characters like any other piece of doldrums machinery would. So in the end, if I can find some more ghost in the shell, or similar cyberpunk themed movies/books ill give the genera another try, but if all I can find is noir blade runner re dos? Ill have to pass it off to another person. 

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is a classic among books. The typical dystopian novel its about a future where were ruled by an oppressing government strives to brainwash everyone through the tv and elimination any signs of free speech. I actually truly enjoyed the story line. We follow Guy Montag though out his life, seeing him from what appears to be a well off citizen, obeys the rules and heading towards a promotion at his job, to a run away criminal. His character really excited me, he was very mundane but in an interesting way if that can make sense. He does his duty at work, comes home, eats sleeps and wakes up to do it again. Hes not the type to create waves, but also in my opinion not the type for law enforcement. I question the reason he became a fire fighter in the first place. He dosent really seem to have a joy for it like his commanding officer, and he seems to go through every day with a ho hum feeling about him. I assumed that he just did it for the money, just like thousands if not millions of americans do every day in the real world. His wife was a perfect character to show what the government was doing to people. She really  and truly believed that the people in the tv cared about her, that the 'man' or the government gave thought to her as an individual and not part of the mass. She did what she was told and was very obedient and reliant on the tv. Even at the beginning she's seen to be distant from montag because she's watching the tv. As the movie progresses, we see the government brainwashing go even further when they treat her for an overdose and she comes out of it even more comatose to her surroundings than before. The one difference it seams is that she is very sexually aroused most of the time, another plot form the government to control the masses by giving the male, or the head of the house, something to placate him into a happy and un eventful life. His neighbor who he meets on the train in be begining is the opposite of his wife, which is odd, because he says that there very alike, though he maybe saying that for conversation sake. She turns out to be part of a secret underground organization of sorts of people that keep books and ends up running off in the end when she's caught. I feel that when Montag meets her in the beginning tho, he starts to question things about his life, starts to pay attention more. Its not till he witnesses a woman set her self on fire with her books that he fully realizes the importance of these things. The government takes them away form us so that we arnt exposed to anything negative, any thing disturbing or anything that they don't want us to be feeling. Books open a world of there own, they can make you angry, they can make you cry (as the guest of his wires did as he was reading a book) and they can make you think and feel in was that you never would have drept with out reading them. In the end, after being discovered/turned in by his wife (brainwashed so badly she would turn her own husband in for him having a few books) he runs to a commune of people who have memorized books, thinking this will in the end enable them to recite them at a later date for them to be written down again. This is proven faulty when the boy in the end, who was memorizing a book form a man on his death bed, recited it wrong after the man had died. This is a prime example of the government taking something away form us that they thing is going to promote free thinking, and turning it into something evil and hated. Weather it be religion,drugs, books, internet or anything else that the government trys to censor or eliminate there will always be people that cannot be fooled and will hold onto the traditions the they know is right, and won't become a mindless drone of the government. 

The stars my destination

Space opera, the first thing that comes to mind when presented with this theme for me was the 5th element. Upon the spaceship cruse there is, in the literal sense a space opera, aliens singing operetta in the vast expanse of space. Detaching my self of this idea I'm brought into the book The stars my destination, a classic space opera piece of fiction. 

You have in the beginning the man, Gulliver Foyle, stranded alone on his ship marooned to die in the vastness of space. He is shire to die if he didn't find a way to get off the ship and make it onto another planet with out being caught up in the war. He finally sees a ship the Vorga, and sends off flares for them to rescue him, the ship carried on ignoring him and he decides to set the rest of his life to vengeance on the ship that left him. To me, this whole idea of vengeance is very silly and childish. Yes, they didn't pick you up, but could you imagine all the reasons why not? You were in a war, they could think you were a decoy to lure them into fire, or a spy or any other countless reasons. Another thing that at this point perplexed me, was that only when he was shunned by the Vorga, did he get to repairing the engine on the ship. Obviously he could have dine it before, but decided to sit and wait for someone to help him, and only in blind rage did he find the motivation to propel him self to actually doing something to help his own situation. This also falls into the space opera theme nicely, and takes out some what incompetent and lazy hero and places him on the path of big adventure and big space explorative flights. The rest of the book follows the theme of the space opera rather closely focusing around big explosions, girls romance intrigue and our hero wiggling his way out of a number of situations and to be honest, it was quite like a Micheal bay movie written down at points. Not much my taste of novels, but not Impossible to read. 

Warbreaker

Warbreaker is a book thick with both information and tale. Breath, the vital element to our lives, also played a major role in the book, abet in a slightly different manner. Breath is given to every human when they are born, this single breath can then be substituted if you have enough money with more which can give the person heightened senses along with other superhuman qualities.  There are many other fantastical qualities, mages, lifeless corpses, as well as a thick plot of political intrigue. This whole theme of tying fantastical qualities and human life is a theme widely used in the science and fiction genre.  The movies that were tied into this post also follow these themes, where in war breaker, there is a convicting tribes, in Coraline there is a conflicting sense of place. Coraline is torn between two worlds, not so much politically but more inside herself. She does not know which world is right or which is meant for her. The same can be said for Chihiro, or Sen as she comes to be known. She finds her self thrown into this new world, which she does not belong, and just like Coraline or Siri. This immersion into a strange new world, not familiar to the character can be linked with  biases and predigest of our kind. Many people not unlike Siri and Vivenna have been in one place for all of there lives, such as modern day america. When up rooted to some where else, such as Hallendren, or exposed to there belief or customs of another land like the middle east. We are scared, we cast predigest and type casting. We don't understand them, and its unlike what we believe so it must be evil, it must be rebellious or demonic or untrustworthy. This is an age old battle of ideals and ways of life is going to sadly be prevalent in almost all cultures till the end of time, thus entangling novels into these themes of alienation in a strange world having customs that we may not understand, but need to embrace for us to be able to assimilate, or escape.

American Gods

In Neil Gaimans American gods Shadow is faced with many interesting characters and situations. Being torn from his instutionilized world of prision life, to a world of gods and magic by the mysterious Mr Wednesday. He has to learn to adjust to not only the shock of his wife dying, but also to the shock of her cheating on him with his best friend. Mr. Wendsday in a way is a path to get away from that. He is a stranger that shows up in a strange time. the idea of fate is very prevalent in this. He is a pathway away from the things that shadow docent want to admit to him self, nor wants to experience. He goes to her funeral and then thinks its over. Only when he sees her again, the mud and dirt from climbing  out of her grave does he understand that he cannot run away from what had happened. He begins on his long journey, and this is what is fascinating about the book. Neil Gainman is a fantastic author and the way that he interwinds different story lines and different religions and cultures is magnificent. We follow shadow through a number of lines, including norse, egyptian, african, middle eastern, indian and cultures which time has forgotten. The life that he gives to each of these gods really brings them together and makes the story, although it is quite fragmented, flow very nicely. The new gods are also dealt with in a very good way, the crude and blunt way that they speak and are described I believe really fits there character and what they are to represent. The old gods are bathed in this light, they are beautiful, and although flawed, are a higher stature than anything else. They are regal and at the same time, are forgotten by there foliowers. The new gods are crude, they talk with curses and threats, not like the old gods, who challenge to duels, formal events with honor and dignity. Through this he build a parallel, using shadow as a guide to show us where we were, and where were going.