Horror shows.

The season of horror is over (unless of course you count the celebratory burning of effigies of a Catholic who failed in a gunpowder plot as falling within that season). Masks were worn, fake blood was liberally applied and tricks, treats, monsters and evil all came to the fore. However, the terms by which this darkness was presented meant it's a very cartoony and caricatured thing, so as to distract us from evil's reality.

It's a very similar line to this that Christians often use to object to the celebration of Hallowe'en (aside from the 'why celebrate evil at all?' line): "When you make light of dark and demonic forces you underestimate their reality and their true power". This angle is often spoken from a perspective which considers evil's primary identity to be found in a spiritual and occultic dimension.

I would like to share the line of argument, but present it from a quite different perspective. If, in order to present evil, we have to put on hideous masks and think in terms of ghosts, ghouls, witches on broomsticks, and suggest evil is something alien and removed, we do two things which are damaging. First we deny evils within ourselves and evils which we participate in and perpetuate by our daily lives; by virtue of our systems and structures. The second thing is that we enforce the assumption that we will recognise evil when we see it, rather than acknowledge the insipid means by which it most commonly operates.

Within this however, and in the celebration of Hallowe'en, is also the fact that to scare ourselves is a good thing. Getting to know and tame the effects of fear on us, and to rehearse our responses in situations that induce fear in us is key to our survival. It's the same system kids employ when they play, and the way playing equips them to become adults. The value in scary films is that we ask ourselves 'How would i respond in that situation?' and that we shout things at the screen like 'No, don't run upstairs!!'.

I saw 3 scary films this Hallowe'en period, only one was a horror, this was John Carpenter's quintessential 1978 Halloween. The films that i found most horrifying and disturbing were however the other two. They were were completely unrelated in genre, country of manufacture, primary theme of exploration, intended audience and certification. But they were released in the same year (2006) and expose and condemn the same practise - adults using children to further their own ends.

First was the supremely difficult watch of the excellent London To Brighton


This film, set over two days, follows the story of a young runaway girl who gets trapped into prostitution and used as a pawn by characters inhabiting a world which she barely understands.

Secondly was the very uncomfortable Jesus Camp.

(Can i also recommend following the youtube link to the Bill Maher discussion about the film).

This film is a documentary about an American youth pastor's work with children whereby they entirely and passionately adopt the Christian Right's political stances and therefore become pawns to those ends.

What's scary in both these cases is not the bogeyman, it's the way these children are at the mercy of the powers - be they emotional, financial, cultural, psychological or philosophical (read 'spiritual' where you will) - influencing the adults exploiting them. I was left reeling after both these films and the fear was two-fold. On the one hand was my response to the overwhelming force of the reality of both these stories. Secondly was my helplessness in addressing the actual situations represented, and again helplessness in the way i perhaps use children in accordance with my own ideology. You can keep your Michael Myers.