Jordan Peele - Horror is pulling back the curtain - The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Part of what horror is, is taking risks and going somewhere that people think you're not supposed to be able to go, in the name of expressing real-life fears.

 from  Jordan Peele - Actor, Producer, Writer

I like to watch a good horror film as much as the next person.  I am fascinated that a genre which exercises the amygdala has the bones to layer on creativity.  BOO! becomes ingenious, revealing, thought provoking, and cathartic.  Jordan's film, Get Out, was kitschy, creative, funny, and exposing while being entertaining.

I picked today's blog topic because I just finished listening to Jordan's interview on NPR:  Jordan Peele Looked Into The Mirror And Saw The Evil Inside "Us." (stupid, idiotic American grammar rules ).  One of the quotes that I liked was:

 'So that is what this movie is about to me, is that: Whatever your "us" is, we turn "them" into the enemy, and maybe "we" are our own worst enemy.'*

This labeling, this very human need to try to clarify our dangerous and threatening world, has been on my blog to-do list for a while.  I am letting that idea ripen because I feel strongly that it is important.  However, this blog post is not about to parse that out.

This blog post is about the horror of everyday practices, rituals, and accepted habits that also keep us sane.  Another quote from the NPR interview shows Jordan's take on this:

"I think that's my style. My favorite horror images are the beautiful ones that are subverted. This is why I was drawn to The Stepford Wives, and movies like Jaws and The Shining appeal to me, is that when you have something idyllic and beautiful and sort of perfect, that's where true horror lies. In this movie, it's even — to present the shiny, happy, "Hands Across America" version of our culture with the promise of the darkness underneath."

I love reading Stephen King because he can take an ordinary thing and twist it to become fictional horror.  Dead cats coming back to life.  Cars on revenge trips.  Frickin' clowns.  But he puts in twists.

For me, the scariest horror story written didn't have a "horror twist."  It didn't have a supernatural aspect.  It was too real.  

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is the scariest fiction I have ever read.  It does have a brilliant and horrible twist, but it exposes the terror of accepting community standards.  How beneath the accepted banal is evil.  It is a Civil War era painting with black servants in white gloves.  It is a school class picture with one student having a skosh more room around her.  It is polo-and-khaki protesters accessorized with tiki torches. It is "liberals" bemoaning appropriation of culture in a mixed society. It is a synagogue built to look like a well-appointed fortress.

Comedy can push the norms ( Lenny Bruce ) and horror can expose the fear within us.  Jordan Peele combines both of these wonderfully. But Ms. Jackson scares the bejesus out of me.

*Standardized quotations are a blessing and suck, all at the same time.

Gratitudes:  Short waiting lines, compact wallets, bottle openers.