Big Picture

No more of this personal stuff. Instead, let's take one thing and examine it.

Going to classes and listening to lectures about things without having the ability to get into a discussion is not what I want to be doing with my time. This is one of the main reasons why I decided to take a few more classes with foreign lecturers and smaller numbers.

One thing about taking 14 classes this term is that it certainly gives you a lot to think about. Seeing how it all connects revitalizes my desire to learn. I want to know more. (Like, I would really like to know when my books will arrive. Tomorrow, maybe?)

Horror as a body genre.

Why do people watch horror, and why should it be pleasurable?

I am a horror fan. But if asked what I like about the genre, could I really pin it down? Could I really defend my infatuation to a nonbeliever?

If fear and terror are in anticipation of the moment, and horror is the repulsion that comes as a response, then what really happens during that moment? Is that where the ecstasy comes in?

I feel that it's the overall experience that brings me back to the horror section at the movie rental shop. You know it's coming. You just don't know when. When you see it, you are repulsed, yet intrigued. Perhaps you laugh at the characters on screen, running over and over in your mind how you would have known exactly what to do, had you been the person running from zombies, hiding from an axe murderer, or whatever else. You see the human error and can think up alternatives, much like how in hindsight everything is much clearer.

But just how much of that is true? When actually faced with the same kind of situations we see from the comfort of the other side of the glass, how many of us actually step up and act the way we so lightly say we would? How many of us do 'the right thing'?

Let's think of crime for a bit.

Living in this city in particular where public transportation is a given in daily life, witnessing inappropriate behavior is not uncommon. There is reason as to why there has been such a recent surge in the proper manner campaign for the subways. But more of a problem than that is the problem of chikan.

 I didn't realize this until it was pointed out by a friend relatively recently, but the sexual harassment, molestation, even, is only identified as such when an assailant's hand enters a garment. If the hand doesn't make it into panties, it's not chikan.

Now. That just seems strange to me.

Unwanted anything is sexual harassment in my mind. But, if we just ignore what my personal convictions are for now, there's more to this issue. Sitting on a train and seeing someone move suspiciously close to a high school girl in a school issued skirt as she looks uncomfortable, glares at the man and tries to move away, isn't there something you could be doing? Isn't there a slot somewhere between this and when the claim of chikan is considered relevant wherein you could step in with an, "excuse me, but what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Fantasy, and the world of perfection in films gives us an opportunity to play the holier than thou card. Maybe that's the true appeal to absurd situations presented in neat packages. Horror films give us opportunities that the majority of us will never find ourselves in. In this, there is safety. We can play out alternate sequences of events without the awful taste in our mouth left to make us feel bad about what we should have done. We can maintain our innocence while witnessing the grotesque.