I needed a beer. The rain pours down and everything I got on me is a suit (looks like they tried to lift the design off the latest Dior Homme collection) and a black trench, ca. Melville, ca. 1968 (the white rose from a friends wedding ceremony withered but still stylish). It's raining and my hair gets wet and there's still about an hour left until Cosmopolis finally starts. It's an hour away, and I am trapped in-between fat mommies and girls in their late teens (??), discussing which rows they will (try to) sit in, one side arguing the first row is the best, the other Robert Pattinson's lap is the best (I throw in that Cronenberg's might be more exciting, but they ignore me, philistines!!). By the time Cronenberg and Pattinson arrive, I am slightly dried off, observing them from the large windows that keep the Twihards from plunging to their certain death. No signed A History of Violence DVD for me, I guess. But at least I get to see the man up close, and a stuttering, shy, slightly dumbfounded Pattinson. Is COSMOPOLIS good? It's the American Psycho of My Dinner with Andre. It's the Soft-Porn of Limousines. It's the 1% of good fucking filmmaking!! And you know what?? People will fucking hate this movie. Cosmopolis opens with this one exclamation some may already know: Pattinson needs a haircut. He's young, hyper-intelligent, possible suffers from a slight form of autism. Rich. Good looking. Married. Moronic. He'll cross the town to get it, even with a hit out on his head, his young wife proclaiming to dislike the smell of sex on his body ("What you smell is my hunger... to have sex with you!!!") and the president blocking most of the town, not to mention weird anarchists doing their ratty stuff. At least two horribly Cronenbergian things will happen to him, to the audience's delight (!?).
So why will people hate this movie? 1.) there is no plot 2.) there is nothing but dialogue The film at times feels like a stage play - one fan of the novel I talked to afterwards compared it to Shakespeare (!?). The dialogue is stilted, fast and complex, it's like a mad coke-junkies fever dream of socio-capitalist masturbation, the limousine as natural extension (emancipation?) of the modern capitalists office - out of the building, back onto the street. This movie got STYLE!! If you liked the weird late 60s/futuristic visuals you saw in the trailer, you'll love the look and atmosphere of Cosmopolis. Metric supplied some of the soundtrack, the rest is really dark, interesting Drone. I am sure Cosmopolis will find its audience. But what sort of audience is that supposed to be? Quite intelligent (a woman outside told me she though the "fülm" was "intelligent"... like, as a genre) - cynical - perverse - not easily bored - interested in socio-politics (and the current problems of capitalism in the US) - people that love to hear other people talk - not Patrick Bateman - really not Patrick Bateman. Cronenberg tried to make American Psycho in the late 80s. I am glad he didn't, because that may be the reason why we now got Cosmopolis, which is both politically more interesting and valid considering our current state-of-affairs. People will hate this film. The Twihards did.
The film that was a large part of my childhood and has left its mark on me in more than one way has for a long time been my favorite comic book movie, and re-visiting it after (I am slightly certain) I haven't seen it for 10 years proved to me not only that Selina Kyle has formed my preference for difficult, leatherjacket wearing blondes with a hint of feminist idealism, Batman or colorful expressionism, but also that it is the film I had memorized and far more. Spoilers and all to follow...
Essentially the film centers on political and gender related themes. On one hand there is Oswald Cobblepot, nicknamed The Penguin due to his appearance, who is abandoned by his parents when still a baby due to his physical deformities. Raised by a russian circus, Cobblepot grows to be the leader of an urban terrorist movement that kidnaps the wealthy and powerful capitalist Max Schreck (who among other things leads a chain of supermarkets with a Mickey-Mouse-like mascot). Cobblepot then blackmails Schreck into helping him find the name of his real parents to determine his true identity. Schreck, however, realizes he can use The Penguin to his own opportunity: Shreck previously wanted to enlist himself as a candidate to become Gotham's mayor, but as can be seen in the scene in which he leaves his written speech at home, is less a leader than a puppeteer. Forced to come up with an improvised speech, he only comes up empty kitsch phrases. Cobblepot, however gruesome looking, is a gifted speaker and has the sympathy of the crowd due to his tragic past. Thus Schreck enlists his help and simultaneously tries to have Cobblepot elected mayor while he would become the force to pull the strings.
As the plan fails, Cobblepot decides to steal the "first borns" of each Gothamite and escort them to death in a clever WW2-metaphor. As Batman manages to spoil the plan, Cobblepot finally decides to destroy "his" city through his own private army of penguins, killing hundreds of thousands in the process, while he sits in his bunker. Batman spoils the plan, the Penguin falls to death and is escorted as an officer would be to his watery grave. This idea of a physically deformed fascist leader whose ground is readied by communists and helped rise to power by capitalism, who in the end targets the very rich and beautiful families that voted him out of jealousy, while they celebrate their egomaniac hedonism to "Can't Touch This", is so clever an allegory it would have been enough to make this film brilliant, but Burton even ups the ante by including Catwoman.
Selina Kyle, here an awkward and naive secretary, is thrown out a window by her employee, again, the capitalist Schreck, after she finds out about his plans to steal power from Gotham instead of providing it through a new plant (which is also a clever metaphor for capitalism, that is meant to provide luxury yet actually takes it in the form of money). Kyle survives (or, rather, is revived by cats in a truly haunting scene), and returns to her pink home with a pink phone and pink clothes. In a fit of rage as she listens to her answering machine (on which a commercial message is left that she should buy "Gotham Lady" in order to smell so good her boss might ask her to "stay after work for a very special candlelight dinner", as if a woman didn't have anything else to aspire to in her life), she destroys various symbols of her patriarchy-imposed, conservative gender identity (pink girlish clothes with cats on them and a pink room of a doll house, among other things) and destroys the letters of a pink lamp saying HELLO THERE to spell out her true opinion of her room of humiliating, condescending, pre-liberized feminine gender ideals: HELL HERE. Thanks to her feminine skills, she manages to make herself a new skin to fit her emotional state - Catwoman is born!!
As she returns to Schreck's office the next day, she not only recalls a number of memories that deal with females suppressing her sexuality (a nun being pregnant among other things), but also flirts with Bruce Wayne as a sign of her newfound sexuality. In their relationship, she is obviously the man.
She then goes on a rampage, scars what would have likely been a rapist in a non-PG film and informs a woman of her weakness to "wait for a Batman to come and safe you". After that, she goes on to behead mannequins wearing typically female clothes and blows up the entire consume temple. Meeting with Batman and The Penguin outside, it quickly becomes clear that we have here three opposing political forces: The right, the middle, and the left (it was also interesting seeing Kyle destroy a mall without killing anybody inside, a mirror of the german RAF's first generations acts of "liberation from consumerism).
After being beaten up by Batman, although it was her who used her sexuality to hurt him, she chooses to side with the extremist, Penguin, to destroy her "male enemy", but quickly realizes that Batman is not her enemy - he is only a more liberal, less radical fighter whose goals are the same as hers - and is almost killed by the Penguin. Realizing that Schreck, the figurehead of a capitalist society aimed at consumerism, is her real enemy (who oppressed her throughout, supports the image of a passive and conservative lifestyle and is at the heart of Gotham's consumerism - and in a way formed her).
At the same time she looks to celebrate her newfound sexual power by dating Bruce Wayne, but as, in one scene, he reveals her vaginal-shaped scar (which he himself caused), she refuses him. This scar is in a way her weak spot, exposing to Batman not just the identity of the crated feminist, but also of a woman who, after all, may be, in her own perception, weak through sexuality. She is not the man after all, and it induces a great fear in her.
Her thematic climax comes with a masked ball, in which her and Bruce are the two only attendees without masks (or, rather, wearing the masks they wear in everyday life). Repeating a line said by Batman earlier on in the film, Seline reveals herself (and so does Bruce when he finishes the line) - ironically, it is a line about the danger of a kiss when it is meant seriously (implying the power of sexuality both a man and woman can possess). In costume, Catwoman's "kiss" sees her licking Batman's face, proving that in her radicalized incarnation, Selina is unable to have a normal and fulfilling sexuality, and only able to perform a parody of a real sexual act. So Selina's costume, while liberating her to live out her character, also prohibits her to exert her own sexuality.
In the end, she is able to finally confront Schreck, her costume now torn (as her opposing, less radicalized femininity breaks free, symbolized mostly by her blonde, girlish locks), rejects Batman's offer to have a normal relationship in favor of her political agenda and kills Schreck with a spark inducing kiss. Batman, once again, is left alone, and visibly scarred by Catwoman, but finds in the snowy Gotham streets Selina's cat. A part of her has chosen to live with him, even if Catwoman, her dress repaired, rises above the city's rooftops once anew.
I was also surprised at how adult and sleazy some of the humor was (Penguin going "Now there's the pussy I've been looking for!" when Catwoman lies on his bed and Batman calling her a rug muncher were truly surprising). The german dub also includes a risky line when Catwoman says "I feel... dirty. I should lick myself right here." (in the english version she says "take a bath, right here") and while Penguin grins, starts licking her arm and brushing her head, freezing Owald's grin to a baffled expression. Same goes with some of the movie references, with Cobblepot a negative John Merrick ("I am not a human being! I am an animal!") and Gotham an ever-transforming Metropolis AND Blade Runner homage (and I wonder if Burton saw Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre).
Batman Returns is a brilliant film, dealing with politics and feminism as well as with the problem of identity of those who choose to live a life behind masks. The only downside is that Burton never managed to flesh out his version of a Riddler and Two-Face themed Batman Forever.
One of the first things that is evident in Chris Columbus second venture into the Potter is the passing of time. Thus, Chamber of Secrets doesn't inspire us to look forward, but rather to ponder the past - not just because Chamber of Secrets greatly differs from Philosopher's Stone, but because it is an entirely different universe altogether.
What I mean by this? Well, take a look at the first scene of the film. In Philosopher's Stone, the trio hardly seemed older than 8 (although meant to be 11) and Daniel Radcliffe's acting skills were nonexistent. Here, the kids look their age (12) and Radcliffe gives a troubled, angry performance that can be felt from the very first few seconds on. The first film, concerned with conveying to the audience the wonder and excitement of magic, was an homage to old-school filmmaking and Steven Spielberg, while his successor has learnt a few lessons from The Lord of the Rings and - of all people - Sam Raimi. Yes, the very Raimi who handed in his Spiderman in 2002, who brought the subjective angles that characterized his Evil Dead trilogy to mainstream cinema. Many of this technique, can be found throughout the second Potter, and there is the same mischievous, slightly sadistic and campy feel in Chamber that feels unique to Raimi's works. There's even an evil book at the heart of the matter! But I digress...
What makes, and breaks, Chamber of Secrets is that the film is based on the by far weakest book in the Potterverse. While more concerned with puzzle structures than Philosopher's Stone, both are swift whodunit's whose payoff is based on the lack of understanding of behind-the-scenes going on's on the side of the reader. Sadly, the book is written in such a fashion that almost anybody can guess the outcome after a few pages, including the books main villain, the secondary villain and the character responsible for the villain's "escape", which takes the punch from the punchline. There is also Dobby who may either be a genius comment on Jar Jar Binks (a character introduced late in a franchise due to it's cuteness whose annoying behavior is meant to appeal to children, here twisted into a masochistic troll who attempts to "save" Harry by harming him or exposing him to other great dangers) or the worst character in the entire franchise. Take your pick.
BUT, luckily, Columbus proves to be a skilled director here, as he manages to make the books shortcomings into the films strengths - Dobby is now a mischievous and campy semi-villain who DOES inspire some thought on his inclusion as a comment on similar characters on franchises, and it is a lot harder to guess what is actually going on, and only visible to the VERY attentive eye.
The positive traits go further than the adaptation: the additions to the cast are very strong, including Jason Isaacs as malevolent black magician Lucius Malfoy, who will play an important role throughout the rest of the arc, and , yes, of course, Kenneth Branagh's campy portrayal of a slimy, arrogant egomaniac. And indeed, the film does belong to the ginger's: the Weasley's shine as well and Rupert Grint improves considerably. Sadly, one of the films major shortcomings is the reduction of Ron to comic relief and moaning. It's strange the film spends so much time on him considering his one-dimensional writing.
However, while being Columbus fault, the intention may have been to further shed light on the films overruling theme, that of darkness in the innocent looking. While the world of Philosopher's Stone had a dark lord hidden, foes and a ghastly forest, the wonder of colorful magic was prevalent. Here, Harry and his friends learn that there are doors better left untouched, people better not addressed, paths that they have to evade. There is even the first mention of the "Mudbloods", those half wizard, half muggle - fascism even manages to creep into the imaginary universe of wizards.
Thus Ron's tendency to get into trouble and either cry or being ridiculed may suggest that the child slowly progresses into an adult world which he can't handle just yet, that the colorful is no longer prevalent, that darkness is slowly evading. Still, Ron breaking his wand, then taping it back together and performing utterly frustrating anti-spells for the rest of the film is one of the flaws that should have been fixed, no matter if the wand is of importance in the climax or not.
And just like the wand, the films shortcomings can be counted by either bad luck or Columbus desire to stay close to the book. It was very bad luck that this is Richard Harris last film - the veteran's failing health can be felt throughout his performance, as his voice is brittle and his pose at times painfully tired. It was a shortcoming of the book that the climax takes FOREVER and is, again, much too close to it's predecessor's revelation to really generate suspense. But still, most of the film, while managing to generate an atmosphere and some suspense, never truly generates the interest it should. For long stretches, Columbus relies on exposition rather than to show us real emotions, and while explanations and puzzle-cracking is relevant considering the nature of a whodunit, it doesn't make for a very magical experience.
Chamber of Secret's can probably best be likened to the age of the protagonists: 12 is the end of childhood, shortly before puberty. Harry and his friends slowly become aware of the power of Voldemort and the threats of not just the dark arts, but of vanity and egoism, and also of innocence and naivety (after all, two corrupted children are at the center of the narrative - one choosing to go down the road of egoism, the other being tricked to do so due to lack of experience). This clash of the "magical" world of childhood and the impending darkness of puberty, yet being somewhere between the two forces, results in an uncertainty in the protagonists as much as in the film. Harry even goes as far to ask himself if he may be the "heir of Slytherin" (thus the grand grand grand grand etc. grand son of the wizarding-world's first fascist), grimly foreshadowing his link to Voldemort, questioning his own spirit. While Columbus chose the style, mood and looks of a Raimi film, which works wonders on the source's more grotesque and campy elements, the film never goes all the way and never dares to cross the border of mainstream entertainment to become a work of art. It gives a promise of what's to come and entertains, but never really trusts its own capabilities, its own desire to be more than what it is.
So what is Chamber of Secrets? It certainly is an entertaining Potter film, but it is also lacking whenever it chooses to tell instead of simply show. It ponders on the good and bad in people and society and is rich with themes and symbolism. While dull in places, it never ventures into the territory of frustration though, so it still manages to please every fan who decides to give it a chance. Outshone by what was to come and triumphing over the franchise's worse titles, it rests somewhere between cinematic adolescence and adulthood, frozen and caught in time much like it's key villain.
P.S.: In addition, a thorough analysis of the films and novels many symbolic meanings can be found here.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: / / / / / / / wands out of 10.
When it was announced that Chris Columbus would helm the Potter franchise, my heart sank. It still does whenever I think of this utterly bland, quite uninspired choice, considering that Terry Gilliam, ex Monty Python and director of such classics as Time Bandits, Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, was writer J K Rowling's favorite for the position. He apparently met with producers, which resulted in a long meeting - the end of which saw Gilliam exit the office building, head for his car and drive full speed over the Mulholland Drive for hours as he was "that angry" that he, apparently, was not to the studio's liking.
So, I had only finished the first Potter book and found myself disheartened that the film could turn any good. Kicking off this series of articles on the various Potter films with Philosopher's Stone is as disappointing as sitting in the seat and watch the "fun romp" that is the first in the franchise unravel. Although, I must say, as I sat down last week to run through a lengthy Potter-film-marothon, the film revealed itself to be not quite as utterly horrible as I remember it being. To show you how sketchy my memory of that film was: I was absolutely sure that the exterior of Hogwarts was considerably changed on the DVD version to match the latter incarnation. However, a quick search found neither images nor accounts for a change. So this is not that horrible at all, is it?
Well, it depends. Chris Columbus had made a decidedly "kids" film, equipping a child-like gaze for his cinematography. Throughout, Columbus seems as enchanted by the magic on display as young Harry, who witnesses it for the first time. The sweeping camera highlights each and every quirk that can be found in this wonderland of living chocolate frogs, rubber-masked goblins and baby dragons. This is, after all, a kid's film. And one decidedly shaped after those of the past, namely Steven Spielberg's best work and 90s (or late 80s) B-movies.
Back when Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released, one of the main problem critics attested was the "messy" use of old school effects and CGI. Yes, the rubber masked Goblins... Looking back, the film feels almost charmingly naive and old-school, even though some of the effect's do lack in subtlety and craft (Flitwick's look here, which is decidedly different from later incarnations, is that of a yellowish dwarf with flesh-toned hands and no facial movement whatsoever). The main problems that critics had with the film still feels glaringly obvious though. And, sadly, it lies with the cast.
Given how many good actors lend their names to this film (John Hurt as wand-maker Olivander was a very charming surprise), it is frustrating that the actor portraying Potter fails to deliver a fitting job - something both Rupert Grint and Emma Watson manage. Daniel Radcliffe not only doesn't meet with the rebellious side of his character, he also feels closer in acting to aforementioned late 80s kids movies, and rather resembles Kevin from Home Alone than Max from Where the Wild Things are. This is a dutiful and obedient Potter, and not the slightly mischievous outsider with the messy hair that can never be combed into order. So the most interesting element of the early Potter books is absent in the films - that of actual characters. But as mentioned previously, both Grint and Watson convey their parts rather well. And then we have, of course, Alan Rickman, who shines and almost OUTshines the entire movie with his depiction of Severus Snape, whose best moments were yet to come, and Richard Harris, who proves to be a wise, calm and sympathetic Dumbledore.
As far as adapting a source material goes, the film also stays true to the book, only skipping one large sub-plot (that of the baby dragon), which is not really missed as there is always something going on in the narrative - even if it is only a Quidditch match (one of the few moments that take the viewer out of the film and actually could have been left on the cutting room floor, if it wasn't to show Harry's skills). There is little here that can be analyzed as far as subtext goes - we have some interesting ideas on schizophrenia (although some of the books background is sorely missing) as well as an outlook on the franchise's latter themes of struggle with a bigger-than-life-power, none of which transcends what is depicted on film.
So let's jump ahead and take another look at the way the film is made - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is an attempt to re-introduce the "old fashioned" blockbuster, the B-movie inspired fantasy film we all came to know from when we were kids. Sadly, there was something called The Lord of the Rings that sufficiently proved that something much grander, much more exciting was ahead for Blockbuster-movies. Thus, we are left, ten years after its completion, with an artifact of times passed - an homage to Spielberg, the B-movie, old fashioned, colorful, handcrafted films that made us excited for what was to come, that we begged our parents to watch dozens of times at the cinema in a row. It is sad, though, that Columbus lacked the subtlety and craft to inject the film with real quality and artistic interest. It is a spectacle, yes, and one that Hollywood seemingly has forgotten (compare this film to something like Green Lantern and the ten years will feel like decades), but it is also tame, watered-down, softened and, in the end, disappointing, even if its darkest moments may provide slight goosebumps. But what do you expect from a film that tames the protagonists messy haircut?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: / / / / / / wands out of 10.
After five months, Damien had lost all will to go on. In his penultimate blog entry, posted on August 29, he writes:
Nothing about this thing is consistent. One minute he's passive, the next aggressive. Last night, he flung himself at my house trying to get in. Today, he simply appears inside. The bone warded him off previously. This time, he just casually inspected it. Watching him previously stopped him from pulling his disappearing act. I just saw him vanish before my eyes.
He's constantly changing. It's as though, with every encounter, he's never quite the same being twice. It's like there aren't any rules with him - he simply is.
How the hell do you fight that? How do you resist chaos?
A few days later, Damien posted his last update, a short, incoherent note that he couldn’t take it anymore. One week later, his brother, who apparently had found his blog, informed the readers of Damien’s suicide, and filled them in on the writings of a notebook Damien carried:
I don't know what is going on with this whole Slender Man nonsense, except it was something Damien became absolutely obsessed with, even before Ted died. After it happened, it only became worse. What rare moments I saw him, he was constantly glancing over his shoulder and making veiled reference to this "threat" to him from his "past". Which, by the way, is highly fictionalized. The drawings he supposedly found are all new.
(...)
There's a reference in here to ancient cave drawing. I can only presume he used it to create this weird horse bone that are among his things. There's talk of being captured by the "cult" and being put down on a slab and sacrificed because "I have turned myself into a door for the unseen, and they wish me to be opened." A few pages on the theory that he is his own demon, "Slender Man" being merely a projection to stay his conscience.
(...)
I'm sure there must be some symbolism or deeper meaning in this story that my brother invented to keep himself living after he lost nearly everything. Clearly, it meant something to him. It feels like this desparate cry for help hidden inside a fictional account of actual events.
Preceeding those final moments of the Dreams in Darkness-blog are a number of entries spanning five months, in which Damien is followed by a mythical, nameless entity, known to those familiar to him as Slenderman, The Operator or Großmann. The stories read like accounts in a gothic horror story, something Edgar Allan Poe or H.P. Lovecraft could have dreamed up. Yet, the story didn’t take place in the beginning of the 20th century, Damien didn’t roam the dark sreets of Arkham - he lived in clean and well kept suburbs. And he’s not the only one.
On June 20 2009, a then anonymous user posted the following video onto youtube:
It was the first in a series of videos of raw footage recorded by the film student Alex Kralie. According to the uploader (who’s only known as Jay to the audience), Kralie intended to burn the tapes in 2006 , but could be convinced to hand them over to the channel’s owner. With the uploader analyzing the tapes one by one, a disturbing picture slowly unfolds in front of the audience – during the making of a low budget film, Kralie was followeed and observed by what seems to be a featureless, tall man in a business suit. At first, the man seemed to observe the film’s shoot, lurking in the distance and watching patiently. As the crew moved to the house of the young director, the faceless features soon appeared in front of Kralie’s living room window – both at day and night.
The footage amounts to a mix of highly realistical cinema-veritée recordings in the vein of The Blair Witch project and short, surreal collages that seemingly gain quality from their own cinematic limiations.
People got hooked to the channel quickly – Marble Hornets youtube Channel counted 25.987 subscribers if the autumn of 2010, with some videos amounting to more than 400.000 viewers. There was something haunting, yet also comforting in this vision of haunted suburbs and distorted videotapes, that seemed to draw viewers in.
It was quickly revealed that the mythological creature at the core of the narrative was first seen on the internet in a forum post which also provided rare photographs and some scarce background information on the entity - yet not much more was to be found. Until a few weeks into Marble Hornets, when suddenly the blogs started to pop up out of nowhere.
The first one was called „Just another fool“: What started as a harmless diary of a young man slowly delved into madness and tragedy as the silent, faceless predator started stalking him.
And then others started to come forward witht heir own experiences – some of them on the run from the creature for years, others oblivious to the supernatural occurrences until they were beyond the point of return. Marble Hornets also attracted a wide variety of bandwagon jumpers, who seemingly copied their MO for a place in the spotlight.
This „first generation“ of Slenderman-blogs came to the halt with the sudden appearance of the „Monolith“ (as its writer Jeffrey Koval calls it) Everyman Hybrids.
Starting out as a health-exercise-series that parodied the genre tropes of Slenderman-lore, the three protagonists soon found themselves not only followed by the eldritch horror, but also by a creature calling itself HABIT – a raving, arrogant and overtly violent voice without a body that communicated over the internet and mysterious packages that some of the viewers who participated in mini-games received. Going for over a year now, the series is still ripe with twists and turns, as some of the „players“ of the mini games got sucked into the narrative themselves and the friends of the three protagonists – Jeff, Evan and Vince – are slowly picked off one by one.
It is a challenging watch, but also highly rewarding, with inspirations ranging as far as Vladimir Nabokov’s books and Heath Ledger’s Joker to the records of the avant-indie band Animal Collective (who seem to occupy a very curious spot in the meaning of mysterious, surreal videos the in-game protagonists cannot watch).
Another very relevant work was the video-series „Tribe Twelve“ – seemingly starting out as a Marble Hornets-rip off, the series slowly started to come into its own, broadening its own mythology as well as creating what may be the most striking SFX-work of all series, it’s creator one of the most mischievous and widely creative writers of the entire movement.
Thus, the second generation was born. The creators of the new blogs and videos were much more content to approach the meta-aspects of the Slender-Universe. Some writers had collected information on the supernatural being that connected the stories and created elongated guides on their adventures, others seemed to have given up the fight, becoming violent lunatics and created dozens of surreal, non-narrative short films to channel their obsessions.
As of now, the Third Generation of Slenderman-lore is still going strong, with many interesting blogs and video series. Among the most interesting is the so called „TJ&Amy-Project“ – starting out as the making-of of a student film, two girls had to slowly realize they were stalked by the creature they meant to use for their story, but also by a masked being resembling a plague doctor. Seemingly inspired by real life issues, the series proved to be the darkest of all the video blogs so far, including symbolical representations of rape, domestic abuse and self-harm. The emergency brake was pulled when in one especially disturbing entry, the protagonists cut up their bodies with knives, admiring the self-inflicted wounds with a curious euphoria. Although the scene was – of course – faked, the video was removed from youtube, which led to the creators decision to end the series as of now (a spin-off is currently in the works and should start in the weeks following this article).
And there is the second season of Marble Hornets, which proved to be more complex, disturbing and visually more artistic than its predecessor.
So two years after its sudden apearance, the story of the Slenderman is still going strong, with no indicator as of where this creature came from or what it wants. Yet the question of interest here is not where this being came from, but why it attracts so much interest in its audience.One way of finding an answer to this question is further researching up in-game attempts of the so-called „Runners“, the victims who are content to escape the monster’s tentacles, to come up with an analysis of their pursuer, such as this one here: FOLLOW THE LINK
The idea that the Slenderman is a creature whose appearance is meant to induce respect and comfort in those who approach him rather than fear leads to the conclusion that this monster is sort of a modern „Ratcatcher“-phenomenon. This also fits with the original mythos, in which Slenderman’s appearances was connected to children, in some cases even to schools. Although the original mythos included various instances in which the monster would leave behind the empty bodies of its victims, their organs collected in plastic bags hung into trees (and wooden organs put into the bodies as replacement), there seems no real indicator as where these children are actually taken to, which leaves the possibility that the Slenderman has good intentions. Another early story states the creature would take those who would intend to do evil and cause others harm at an early age, making him a divine clean-up device.
But there are deeper connections that can be drawn. Interviewing some of the creators as well as fans, I actually encountered serious fear of this fictituous creature. The writer of one of the mythos most famous blogs wrote to me when I inquired if he feared the being:
„Since I was introduced to him back in January, whenever I come home from college, there has not been a single night where I have not had something wedged into the doorknob to prevent it from opening, because I don't have a lock on my door. This thing has me terrified to sleep in my own house at night. At college I'm fine, but when I go home, I am absolutely petrified, even now, eight or so months later.“
I was also reported some real-life instances, in which the creators and fans had experienced childhood trauma either on a bigger scale or just in one occasion, but that one connected to a fear of supernatural intervention.
Collecting these interviews was surprising in so far as it painted a broad picture of both the creators and the audience that made the Slenderman-fiction into a phenomenon. There was an overwhelming interest in a world that we ourselves only get glimpses of and that the adult mindset denies, a realm which decides our fate – and in the end, even comfort in a fictituous creature that both observes and induces fear.
So the Slenderman can be seen as a catharsis of both the hope and the fear of outer intervention into the lifes of its audience. The creature both carries these people away, but also gives them the opportunity to belong to something and find meaning in a more archaic lifestyle. While we are a generation used to getting everything we want, the writers seem to find comfort in writing themselves as anonymous entities roaming the streets, carrying with them only what they need to survive.
Observed from this angle, the Slenderman is an almost mephistophelic diety that, by fear, recruits new followers of an absurd religion that is as inspired by Zen Budhism as by the roots of christianity (this is especially vital once we realize the circular-X-symbol which the Runners have to scribble religuously wherever they go, further identifying their meaning of a newfound life).
And indeed, some of the more esoteric blogs speak of the Slenderman either as the center of the Universe or a means to „fix and guard its many gaps and holes“. So is the Slenderman just watching out that those who see the glitches in the Matrix don’t explore them? It would be an interesting turn of events if once a character would succeed in taking a look behind the scenery, yet also one that would reveal the Slenderman’s meaning (something that certainly would take from the individual’s story).
Another theory is based on the idea of „thoughts forming matter“ – that Slenderman was created by the dozens of minds of those who first encountered him, that reading or writing about him will call him. It is a modern twist of the Candyman and Ring-videotape mythos, in which the evil is so omnipresent it birthes itself, yet the creative ideas connected to this origin story seem to have gone stale.
But most likely, the explanation of the adolescent fascination with Slenderman can be found in what occupied the collective consciousness of the last decade. Following September 11, terror had become a faceless, autoritative threat that could seemingly strike everywhere at every time. This idea of a personal threat that could strike without a recognizable reason must have done its fare share on the minds of children and teenagers alike. The media – especially in america – further fed the individual impression that something unspeakably evil was out there waiting, leading to an almost religious fear of a faceless threat. The elongated arms and the business suit could even further lead the analyst down the road of a fear of capitalism, in which the atoritative system our life is based upon is content to decide our every move, a monster whose reach and grasp we can’t flee. Ironically, the runners seem to carry no possessions and seem to have no need to further acquire what may be seen as desired status-symbols, making Slenderman a mute, eldritch Patrick Bateman.
So now that the Slenderman is out there, he allows an entire generation to exorcize this abstract trauma of an unknown, omnipresent and autoritative creature that makes decisions based on rules only the creature seems to understand, finding comfort in a fictituous character and his illusion of leading a sober and conscious life.
So now that we have reached the third stage, where will the fourth stage take us? Going with a famous horror film cliché, the fourth chapter of our story might well take us into space – it might introduce the cosmic, socio-political and religious concepts that are the roots for the mythos. It could lead to further self-analyzation where previously the creators only exorcized their fears and defy the rules of space and time which the Slenderman himself doesn’t seem to know. If the first three stages have gone from introduction and curious genre exploration to individual, psychological adaptation, this next stage may introduce a messianic counterpart to the evil the protagonists face. And indeed – during the last few months of the third stage, the various characters and stories have, crossed over, some of them meeting each other on the streets, others openly collaborating on defeating their pursuer. The story of the Slenderman is, after all a combination of collective social trauma and religious quest. And we all know where that leads to.
