So my name is Daniel Dye. Sorry for the title, but I am very uncreative when I need to be!
To jump write (I must warn you, I take puns to a new level) in, I am a Civil Engineering major and am generally more of a Sci-Fi guy than a dark fantasy person. My particular interest is Star Wars (this is my nerdom, I have even been three rows from George Lucas!). I have never really delved into anything to horrific, I guess the closest to horror/fantasy that I have come would be Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Not that they are horror, but they are definitely fantasy. I am interested in trying to broaden my for pleasure horizons because at the moment, the only things I really read (that are still coming out with books at least) would be Star Wars and the Dresden Files (on a somewhat related note, I have just started reading a Star Wars book called Death Troopers which claims to be the first Star Wars horror book since the death of the Galaxy of Fear tween series).
ETA: As everyone else is doing it, I might as well add my reaction to Clute's argument here. The only thing I could think of (since I have been too involved in horror in the past) was The Strangers. It seems to have all the elements of Clute's theory. The sighting is when the woman comes knocking for someone that is not in the house. It seems creepy but no big deal at first. The thickening is most of the movie when the couple is terrorized by the strangers. The revel would be when they accidentally shoot their friend instead of an assailant, and the aftermath would be as the movie closes, when one of the strangers talks to the proselytizing children and they find the bodies. Although it cannot be applied to all horror works, the theory does seem to fit with a good many of them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Daniel, how and where did you wind up three rows from George Lucas?
ReplyDeleteAlso, do the Star Wars "horror" titles include supernatural elements, in addition to the obvious science-fiction elements?
And do they leave the reader with anything close to a realization that the Star Wars universe is an "inescapable prison," a realization that Clute identifies as a defining move in horror?
As for the first question, I was taken to Star Wars Celebration III for my 16th birthday (and hence why I still do not own a car...). Anyway, I met up with an awesome group of online friends that I met through SW. We all took shifts camping out in the front of the line for the George Lucas presentation. After subfreezing temps, rain, hail, and an emergency 4AM move into a skywalk (the irony) we got to be on the first row after the VIP section.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Galaxy of Fear series, I have a hard time remembering as they were read when I was in seventh grade. I haven't gotten into the new book past the first few chapters but the tagline on the back says "No fate could be more terrifying than being trapped in deep space. Unless there's something unknown out there with you." Also, the story is set on a prison barge that has broken down in deep space, so I imagine that qualifies on the inescapable prison front.
The broken-down prison barge could be inescapable enough, but whether that would call the whole Star Wars universe into question -- in the far-reaching and limitless way Clute identifies as a necessary symptom of horror -- is quite another matter. As Lucasfilm wants the Star Wars universe to continue indefinitely as a venue for rousing adventure stories, it has a vested interest in limiting threats, and so the Death Star has to be blown up, Han has to be rescued, Jabba has to be defeated, Annakin has to see the error of his ways, etc. -- however dire things get and however many lives are lost en route.
ReplyDeleteAs I have read further, I have encountered that Han and Chewbacca are involved in the story, pre A New Hope, so obviously the end will involve at least some escape, if not of all six remaining characters.
ReplyDeleteI've recently become very found of YouTube again. Here's a 3 yr old girl's summary of Star Wars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0
ReplyDeleteHere's the link to the video Charlie's talking about.
ReplyDelete