This morning, while — quite fittingly — being stuck with an abnormal amount of rather uncomfortable needles (that being more than the “not many,” say), I had the opportunity to catch the last third of The Current. Where Jan Wong spoke to a panel concerning “Women & Horror Flicks.” Sure, being a fan of the genre helped, not only to take my mind off of the discomfort I underwent while having my jaw “acupunctured” (it would seem that “acupunctured” isn’t a word), but to keep me quite engaged, otherwise. It was a very interesting, and still a brutally conducted, “interview.”
I can’t explain my fascination with horror movies, other than actually experiencing feeling some rather primal emotions while watching a movie, of course. But I honestly can’t say there is much more there. Especially given, not only the inherent violence such a movie must possess in order to classify as a “horror,” but where that violence is often directed. Being women and non-human animals, especially.
Sit down and watch yourselves some Cannibal Holocaust — which has an eerily similar premise to that of The Blair Witch Project, now that I read about it on Wikipedia — and tell me you don’t have issues with the film makers “inclusion of six genuine animal deaths.” It’s utterly repugnant…
And besides offering some valid counter arguments to “horror flicks,” in general, not being “women friendly,” shall we say (which wasn’t so much the point, nor was anyone arguing it was untrue), the panel brought up quite a fascinating perspective. One, which I’m not ashamed to admit, I hadn’t previously considered. That being, blood is part of a woman’s life, much more so than that of a man’s. And men are more often “squeamish” around the sight of real blood, then women.
But the most interesting part of the conversation, for me, was the discussion towards the film “Jennifer’s Body” and, more specifically, how it has been marketed. I must admit, I saw the trailer earlier this week on TV, and thought “meh.” But, as it turns out, “it was written and directed by two self-described feminists who say they hope to ‘subvert the classic horror model of women being terrorized’.” Who’d have thought that with such a horrible, misdirected trailer? Not that knowing that fact changes my impressions any. Megan Fox was probably cast for a reason, point being, uninteresting ideas usually make for worse movies. Then again, I haven’t seen it. So who knows, right? Not I.
Anyway, it’s part III of today’s show, for those interested in checking it out…