Sunday, June 06, 2010

Monsters...Monsters and Monsters. Oh my!



It's no industry secret that decades of movie magic have initiated us all into the realms of the Paranormal. Some have speculated the popularity and rise in UFO sightings began with Hollywood. Whatever may or may not be the truth, the fact of the matter is MONSTER movies have inspired generations to believe in Monsters.

Hollywood Monsters range from viruses that mutate and turn humans into flesh-eating zombies, to Giant creature of unknown Origin who rise from the ocean to destroy Manhattan. What we know today about Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves and Aliens comes from Hollywood.

Hollywood has taken old tales from the old world and spun them into Blockbuster gold, and at the same time, successfully conditioned generations to look under the bed and in the closet. Just think about it...if you had a fear of the dark, was it because something actually happened to you in the dark, or was it more likely a movie you saw as a kid that stayed in your head, festering until it became a belief of its own?

Chances are many of our phobias came from nights spent watching Dario Argento's DEMONS, or George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Our monsters, the ones we spend time checking corners for were not invented in Hollywood, but they sure were adopted, refurbished and sent back out onto the road on shiny new tires...thanks to Hollywood.

My Grandmother comes from the old country. The monsters she talks about were very real back in her day. They were there before Hollywood. They were there back when stories were spoken word. Oral traditions. They lived in caves. They took over human bodies. They consumed flesh. They transformed in the darkness. They shunned the light of day. They flew in the air, close to the moon. You name the cliche, the old monsters from back before celluloid did those things.

In fact, the original, old school monsters of yore were far superior and scarier than the sexy Vampires and Werewolves and Witches we've come to know. They were scarier because they were the 'unknowables'. They were the hidden things that people of that time speculated about. Caught glimpses of. Heard stories about. But never saw.

It's no different with the majority of us. Yes, some people have their experiences to back up their phobias, but most of us have never seen a real Vampire. Never been chased by a Werewolf. Never had to outrun a shambling Zombie, and yet, deep down we believe.

We still come home from work, just as the sun is going down, to check the closets and under the beds. We still sleep with some of the lights on. We still have weapons sequestered in certain places in close proximity to where we spend a majority of our time. Some of us are far more afraid of the things we can't prove exist than we are the real threats...the human beings who can actually harm us.

But one thing I have learned is: Never Say Never. If we can think it, dream it, imagine it, ponder it or express it... then who's to say it isn't real? Monsters. They lurk in hidden corners of our minds, day and night, and for some unfortunate souls they are a truth some of us are lucky to never come face to face with.

Monsters, whether they be conjured in a studio or on a dark night in the woods, by dark souls looking to do evil deeds. Monsters exist. If you believe.

2 comments:

Rich said...

Well, we're still basically trying to figure out existence (scientifically).

"Monsters," whatever of them may exist, are very hard, if not impossible, to prove...of course, so it definitely seems. For example, take the thermal imaging of an alleged Bigfoot. Inconclusive.

One can believe, but to get to actual proof, that is a whole other story.

Where did the old stories come from? Who the hell knows exactly how they came into being. For example, there are, I think, at least a couple of scholars that say for some of the stories in the Bible, people were high on hallucinogens. Quite possible and/or the stories were fabricated in part or whole and/or some had mental problems and/or the human race had dealings somehow with advanced technology and/or illusionists/magicians.

So, basically, beliefs are like an extremely strong "tool" for cultures or people in general. We are wired to believe, it seems. We need to believe.

How else to explain this wacky existence WITHOUT ACTUAL EVIDENCE, TRUTH AND ANSWERS? I'll just believe...makes things easy. However lazy or even possibly dangerous this may be.

It is precisely the reason we don't have ACTUAL answers to the most basic things (especially since the beginning), that this should scare every last one of us.

Beliefs to the rescue.

Then again, don't be scared:

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

and

"God is subtle, but he is not malicious."

~Albert Einstein (both quotes)

This world is wacko. Play nice, if you can, and enjoy it, if you can...for what it is all worth.

We're out to pasture...ready to be turned into a Mickey D's hamburger or two or three or more. In a hundred years more or less, no one will miss you, I, or any of us, so it seems...because it ain't about us, so it seems.

All well. Eat, drink and be merry and while we're at it...have a merry for those gone past...even the birds...like Woody Woodpecker...is he still alive?

I don't Einstein might be, so maybe Woody Woodpecker is too.

Rich said...

Last line should read 'I don't know, Einstein might be, so maybe Woody Woodpecker is too."