Totaly Filtered Reality

[Derek]

You know that old dominoes game where you stack them verticly in a row and knock them down and it makes a pattern. that's sort of a way my mind works, but it keeps going in dark places. the thread is really about movies but it does include music. I was watching the 2008 horror film "Quaratine", it was really scary, reminded me of one of my fav horror films "The Blair Witch Project". I sorta wanted to know why amature-documentry-style horror scares me so bad. Is it because that it gives you the feeling that what you're watching is the real thing? So i decided to "experiment" with my feelings just out of curiosity, see where it takes me. I went to Google and put in a key words like "death", "documentry", "media, cant remember all the words, it mightve been a phrase, cant really remember. I looked at the results, and my eyes seemed to have locked on "American television news reporter who committed suicide during a live television broadcast." It was a story about Christine Chubbuck who actually did just that. It happened in Florida in July 1974. i read her story, it was so nausiatingly depressing. It reminded me of band that i used somewhat like in the 90s called Nirvana. She did it the exact same way Kurt Cobain did it...but live on the air! (of course not EXACTLY, but what i meant was with a gun) That story disturbed the hell out of me. One reason, she didnt want to be 30 and single and a virgin. And was depressed by it. Now i'm finding myself listening to Nirvana.
This all started from watching "Quaratine" and "The Blair Witch Project". But my mind does do a "domino effect" like that. its fun to contemplate...but DANG! I better be more careful where it takes me.

[mervap]

This all started from watching "Quaratine" and "The Blair Witch Project". But my mind does do a "domino effect" like that. its fun to contemplate...but DANG! I better be more careful where it takes me.

I am assuming you mean it's fun to contemplate how the mind can wander from one seemingly urelated subject to another...I hope that's what you meant.

I had never heard of the case of Ms. Chubbuck...she obviously felt some deep preeure to be in a relationship. Back then, and to this day, there's more pressure on ladies to marry and make families by a certain age. The number is arbitrary in most cases, but it can have disastrous effects upon the lady and whomever she is dating...I wonder how many ill-advised marriages come from such pressures? Kurt Cobain himself was in a semi-poisonous relationship with Courtney Love at the time of his death...and drugs played a big part in that. Suicide is NEVER the answer to a problem...plus, it spews sorrow upon everyone who knows and loves the individual in question. I would advise anyone feeling that way to seek some professional help...there's no shame in it and one can learn to deal with whatever the problem is...

[Derek]

Yes Mervap, that's exactly what i meant. Its hard to stay on topic, i guess thats the trouble i have with message boards, they don't seem to be geared toward "domino" minds.
What this topic is really about is how these documentry style horror can put you in a mental state as to where if you really did see the real thing on a video tape you found, would you know it's real or would you just say "it's just another Blair Witch knock-off"?.
Check out this scenrio: You give a person 2 video tapes who has never even heard of "The Blair Witch Project" (or for that matter not even "Quarantine" or "Cloverfield" [those are more "unbelievable" than TBWP anyway]) One tape is the entire footage of "The Blair Witch Project" (minus the credits, movie ends when camera hits the floor) and the other tape is the news footage where Christine Chubbuck commits suicide in front of the camera. And you tell that person one's fake and the other one's real. He/she would not be able to tell which one is fake. Even the way the special effects are nowadays, the fake stuff looks more real than the real stuff. How that happen? I think it just has alot to do with desensitization. We're so used to seeing oscer-winning performances and special effects, when the real thing happens in front of our eyes, we wouldn't recognize it. I think that was the point i'm trying to make. (Even though, there was a whole other issue in this topic too)

"It's like a totaly filtered reality. It's like you can pretend everything's not quite the way it is."

[lampie1970]

I agree about desensitization. I try personally not to expose myself to too much horror or gore or violence so that if someone IS in trouble I am not just like: eh, someone else will help.

I don't get as freaked out by the scary dinosaur genre as I do the scary slasher genre, cause dinosaurs dont walk the earth anymore, but psychopaths do!! I just am very selective, as we all should be in this time when bloodier is better....ewww

[Derek]

Another thing that annoys me is that we are so used to seeing the JFK assassination. I don't think there's anyone who hasnt seen it. That was a real death on film, (and i just found out there's a word for that, it's called "snuff")and we're used to it. We even make jokes about it, even me, i'm guilty of that too. one time i said for halloween i want to dress up as the grassy knoll. My stepdad reminded me, although it was commen, it wasnt right. Now i know what he means. Yet, it's a normal historical scene that we see. This, to me, is the ultimate example of desensitization.
Sorry, i know this is a movie board and this was originaly about how modern horror especialy dockumentary style horror like "The Blair Witch Project" resembles the real world a little too much. Its OK to watch, but nowadays, you really have mentaly prepare yourself alot more with these types of movies then with "normal" movies.