We are beset on all sides by disturbances of what the ancient poet-philosopher Lucretius called “an alien sky.” The Covid-19 pandemic is felt by all of us as a presence, a presence of that which should not, which cannot be—inasmuch as our ordinary perceptions define what can and cannot be. It sticks out like a sore, a wound, sudden and without warning causing even the bravest and strongest to groan. Our lives were moving right along, certainly already beset by intrusions into a billion little homeostases, when suddenly it all came crashing down. Before horror, we have felt a fascination with the very strangeness of it all, this thing which should not be that has arrived on our doorstep.
Read moreVirus as Crisis/Crisis as Virus
When is a virus more than a virus? There is one virus, the novel coronavirus that is leaving thousands of dead in its wake. This is the physical virus at the base of the bigger crisis now emerging across the globe. The other virus is more abstract. It is the effect of this pandemic on human populations, on bodies, on selves, dissolved into the abyss of mortality. It is the social virus, the virus disrupting the social and economic system in which we live and move and have our being. It is virus-as-crisis, the limits of the system of social relations now being tested to their breaking point. It is manifested in the chaotic events of each day, when hospitals are overwhelmed, normal life is disrupted by social distancing, and the stock market crashes in a drama dwarfing 1929. This is the broader crisis, the Crisis. The one which defines the entirety of our lives and the future of our species. It is a crisis of capitalism as a set of social property relations, as a means of governing populations, as a means of determining what is and is not meaningful.
Read moreThe Formless Monstrosity: Recent Trends in Horror
In an October 2017 piece “How We Ended Up in the Golden Age of Horror Movies”, Scott Meslow notes that the history of horror films has been one of keeping the lights on in Hollywood while receiving no respect from the studios. Director Mike Flanagan recalls endless “eye rolls” at pitch meetings from executives who balked at any attempt to make a serious film in the horror genre—capital’s representatives wanted the equivalent of fast food with “empty calories” making up the bulk of their horror repertoire. What then explains this change of heart in recent years, with studios churning out critically acclaimed films such as Get Out (2017) and Hereditary (2018)? The most immediate cause is to be found in smaller studios producing critically-acclaimed box office hits with minuscule budgets—an attractive model in the era of $100 million dollar blockbusters.
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