Fear inspired by horror movie

Today, I feel like putting actuality aside to focus on symbols and rituals. As the leaves are changing colour and falling outside, it reminds me that Halloween is coming and once again this year I'm excited to rush to the cinema to re-watch the great classics of horror or to discover new ones.

Even if a lot of people don't takes the horror movies seriously, they represent a huge portion of the capital of the cinema industry, and they are also the best medium for the transmission of symbols, stereotypes, and rituals. They are easy to understand and normally they expose the myth and their rules without detour or subtlety. The story needs you to understand what  the symbols are or the myth it is attached to, so normally they just present it very clearly. The director also excessively uses the stereotypes so you get attached to the characters very quickly, and he can use them against you to add surprise to the production.

The horror filmmakers really try to attach the production to your worst nightmare to reach the core of your soul and awake your most basic instincts to create FEAR. What is fear? Fear is an instant reaction to danger or the apprehension of danger. It makes you want to run as quick as you can or scream as loud as your lungs allow. Don't confuse it with anxiety, which is a long term reaction to a situation that can't be avoided. Fear is not suspense, it comes after it. You can't control it unless you know what is the outcome of a situation will be.

Often I hear my friends saying: " I wasn't afraid, I just jumped at some point !" Understand, dear friends, this jump is a reaction out of your control. It is your body entering into defense mode. It is fear. You weren't anxious, I agree, but they got you at the second you jumped.

In cinema, fear is controlled, and it's where the thrill is coming from. When I say it's controlled, I mean that you won't jump in the movie trying to defend yourself against a killer or a ghost. You are spectator. You connect with the situation and your connection with the story and the characters make you feel fear, but this fear normally vanishes the second the action ends. Fear reactions in the movie are not the same as you will experience in real life. Here are the more common reactions you will feel when you are watching an horror movie: jumping, sweating, cold hands, shortness of breath, scream, or the urge to close your eyes. To be fair, I have to admit that some of those are also the result of the anxiety, but you can experience them with just fear as well.

The thrill is not coming from those instant reactions, it is coming from the suspense, then the relaxation phase of the body after fear. The movies have to be paced to give you a moment of relaxation, if not your body will never stop being stimulated and you will be tired at the end of the scene. Normally the pace should go like this: suspense, fear, relaxation. It can also go this way: suspense, fear, relaxation, fear, relaxation. Suspense makes the fear and the relaxation moments more efficient. Your body prepares itself to react, then reacts, then relaxes. Often, you can observe this phenomena in cinemas just by listening the audience. In suspense situation people will be very silent - the most stressed people can chuckle to try to relax before fear. Then, you will often hear little screams, surprised exclamations, or see people jump in their seat at the fear moment. Finally, at the relaxation phase, people are often laughing or just exhaling deeply. It is a lot of fun to go to cinema to just experience the audience ambiance. If you've never done it, you should try it, it is a real thrill.

A lot of people are addicted to those fear moments. They like the loss of control, the feeling of unconsciousness, or just the perfect moment of relaxation it gives. In some cases, it can also cause anxiety issues or numbness. Everything can be abused with consumption. If you are experiencing those troubles, you should stop your horror consumption and meet a health professional. I'm going a bit extreme on this one, but a lot of people don't take those trouble seriously. So, be responsible.




If you are looking for a good experience, you can also consider video games that involve you at another level. To experience fear without excess of suspense, you should try The House, a free game very simple that was developed by Jaylsgame. Follow this link : http://www.gameshed.com/Scary-Games/The-House/play.html.




If you are looking for a suspense and fear experience, I recommend Slender, another simple game that will test your level of anxiety developed by Parsec Productions. Follow this link: http://slendergame.com/.

I know, I went on the physical and psychological aspect more than on the mythological one. I promise, in my next post, I'm going to analyse a horror movie with my mythologist eyes and give you symbol interpretation and their link to our society.

Prejudices: Secular Movement in Quebec

Currently, there is a huge polemic in Quebec government about the secularization of public institutions. Debates on the separation of the religion and the state are open and the public reaction is divided. People speak about freedom of speech and human rights, or about freedom of conscience and separation of church and state. In the end, the government will make a decision and there will be disappointment, but for now debates are open. My friends and I can't escape these debates.

I was chatting with a friend this weekend and she brought up the subject, telling me how shocked she was about the debates. I thought at the beginning that she was for secularization, but then I realize she was shocked about the lack of the government's open-mindedness. So, I interrogated her and we debated.

As we are both non-practising catholic Christians, at first I was a bit surprise to hear her take a position against secularization. She explained to me that she didn't need to practice a religion to understand that people need it in their life, and that we should have the right to express our faith everywhere. She was using the freedom of speech argument and she was very adamant about it.

I agree with freedom of speech. Of course, who would be against it? Without it, I wouldn't be able to write this blog right now. Everybody has the right to express their ideas and I don't think the law on secularization will change that. In fact, I think this law will help freedom of speech and the following paragraph explains why.

When the government speaks about secularization, it is not to force people to abandon their practice or to shut them up. It is a concern of uniformity, so nobody is allowed to judge one another based on their belief or religion. Without the prejudices, it is easier to listen to someone's opinion and to consider it. I'm not saying it will erase all prejudices. There will still be the sex, the race, and the age prejudices, but if we can eliminate some of them, I think it is worth it to give it a chance.

Normally it's here that people against secularization start to say, "Ok! We agree, but it is not everybody that has prejudices. Plus, politicians and state workers should be able to get over those prejudices to do their work. It is unprofessional to let their prejudices blind their judgment." To that I answer that we are human.

What does it mean to be human? In the present context, it just means that as an individual, each person judges their environment in relation to their own experience. This is how society is constructed, and where all our social rituals stem from. It is normal to have prejudices and EVERYBODY has prejudices. Sometimes they are negatives-- we normally try to get rid of those-- but often they are positive and are translated by curiosity. Prejudices are often accompanied by discrimination that can also be negative or positive. For example, some company will employ handicapped people to help them to integrate into society, but other companies will avoid them for the collateral costs. In the both case, we can speak about discrimination, the first one positive, the second negative.

Let's come back to the secularization of the state. The government tries to avoid both kinds of discrimination when it is about state decisions and I don't think the public wants their delegate to be influenced by their prejudices. They want to eliminate those preconceived ideas and allow people to speak freely about state matter. I don't personally think that removing religion symbols from the state will affect freedom of speech.

The secularization of the state is not against religion. It is for the state, a place where everybody should focus on government matter, not on the culture-- unless you are the minister of culture, of course. It is also a place where everybody should be considered equal in front of each other and I think it should be the same in school.

Fleeting Art

I was walking down the street with a friend the other day. We were speaking about things when he pointed out a street artist on the other side of the street. The man was reproducing Italian painting on the sidewalk with chalk surrounded by people. My friend started to laugh explaining that only women were interesting in this kind of art. I hadn't noticed it before he mentioned it, but it was true, only women were looking at his work.

My friend continued laughing about the fact that women were interested in this kind of art as no men will ever be able to enjoy it. I was curious about his statement as I didn't understand how art could interest one gender more than the other, so I questioned him to better understand his point of view.

He said  that in Vancouver, the city of rain, it was not logical to practice this kind of art as the water would erase everything in one day and all this work would be worth nothing. He also said that men could never be interested in something so fleeting and illogical.

He began talking about another random subject, and I didn't go further into my interrogation. But it ran through my mind later that night. I though he was a bit unfair with the artist and I wanted to come to the artist's defence. I won't jump into the "girls like" vs "boys like" war; not today. I will only try to understand why this art interested this group of women the other day.

Like I mentioned earlier, the street artist was doing Italian paint reproduction with chalk. It wasn't original work. The artist was carrying and showing his source, so the passers could compare it to his drawing. I think the intention of the artist was to showcase his technique rather than his own art. So the women around him were looking a show. The artist was performing in front of them, like a singer, but the medium was different.

I had to agree with my friend on the ephemeral aspect of the drawing. I found it sad to thing that all his work will be gone with the rain, but if we compare it with a singer or a dancer, the perspective changes. Each time the singer performs a song in a show, the song is different and unique. Isn't that why we go to music shows? To meet the performer and admire the unique, live performance in front of us?

So, I have to disagree with my friend. I think the intentions of the artist were not to have a unique and durable product, he wanted to offer a performance. It is perfectly logical to watch him draw on the sidewalk.

Plus, I think there is a kind of beauty in something that last only a short time.

Why do I hate the movie TROY (2004) ?

I know this movie is not a recent movie. It is a 2004 movie, meaning that almost 10 years have past since it was first seen in a theatre. But a very good friend of mine invited me yesterday to watch the movie with her and I couldn't refuse. So, I went to her place and we watched Troy.  I don't think my friend was prepared for the storm that occurred when the credits appeared at the end of the movie. Watching this movie after all those year opened a wound that I though was healed.

Why do I hate this movie so much ? Why, each time I watch it, do I want to raise an army and walk to the producer to teach him mythology ?

I think this movie is an insult to Greek mythology and I'll show you why, but first I have to set the stage. I know that Greek mythology changed and evolved through history and I think this is a natural mechanism as we, as a society, evolve too. We need the myth to transform and stick to our ideas and principles, because the symbols are very strong tools of communication. If the purpose of a drastic change in mythology is to serve an idea or a principle, I totally agree with it. And I totally know and accept that when we transform a myth, it is to make it apply to our concept of life and make it appealing to the public.

This is what happened with Troy. Normally, I would play the smart girl and simply enumerate the differences between the traditions. But in the case of Troy, I can't help it. I have to stand for the myth and the characters. Please let me set things right.

I will pass over the hate of gods, the rights of the women, and all the material omitted from the Iliad. Those are usually points the new cinema changes, because our society prefers to think we were always a godless society and that the women were always emancipated and equal to men. I will jump directly to the hearth of the war of Troy, Achilles.

Achilles is the reason I'm so frustrated by this production. He has been my favourite character ever since I started to read mythology a long time ago, and I love him so much. I've even thought "I'd marry him if he was still alive," but we all know that he died centuries ago in front of the wall of Troy. Yes, you read right: in front of the wall, never inside of the city. Achilles never went inside Troy. But this is a minor detail compare to what is coming.

From the beginning to the end of Homer's Iliad, Achilles' mood is the main point of interest. In fact, the victory of the Achaean is based on Achilles' interventions in battle. However, the Greek hero refuse to participate; he had too much anger against the Achaean king. But what happened ? Two lines at the beginning of the poem explain the problem to the reader: Agamemnon, king of the Achaean, claimed Briseis for his own, because his woman-slave, Chriseis, was sacrificed to Apollo. Briseis was the slave of Achilles and he had to give her to Agamemnon and that made him angry and unwilling to participate to battle.

Oh ! I heard you. You think this is love. You're thinking, "poor Achilles, he lost his dear Briseis. That's not fair!" In the Iliad, nothing explain the feelings of Achilles for Briseis. In fact, Briseis is a part of the booty harvested during the looting of the temple of Apollo. She was given to Achilles. Given! So how do you think Achilles feels about this? I think it is more a question of pride than love. To understand that, first you have to understand Achilles.

Who is Achilles? It is a secret to no one, Achilles is the son of a human and a goddess. Even before his conception, Achilles was promised a great fate and his mother knew it. Thetis loved her son and she was scared to loose him as he was mortal. Depending of the tradition, she used different tricks to hide him from his destiny: the Stix water bath, offering him a long life instead of a short and glorious life, or the Lycomede's girls. However, she failed. Achilles, great representation of ancient Greek ideals, preferred a short, but glorious warrior's life to a long and anonymous existence.

In the Iliad, nothing reveal the age of Achilles when he entered the battlefield. But if you read post Homeric documents, you will soon realise Achilles was pretty young when he was first approached by the Achaean, probably around 12 to 15 years old. If you know there is 10 years of siege at Troy before Achilles decides to rampage the Trojans, it means that Achilles was around 25 years old when he died. It also means that Achilles from 15 years old to 25 was surrounded by men who idolized him and begged him to enter the combat. It was his destiny to put an end to this war and he knew it. As he is young and frustrated, he just decided to wait until Agamemnon accepted his conditions to enter the combat.

I mentioned it earlier— we don't know what the real feelings of Achilles for Briseis were. Could it be love that motivated Achilles to stay in his tent, when what he wants is to die gloriously in combat? I don't think so. He is not a romantic hero. I think his pride was hurt when he was obliged to give his toy away. How could Agamemnon be more important than him, hero of heroes? So, because he is young and immature, he just decided to stay in his corner and pout. Yes! He was pouting and nobody could change his mind. It was a question of principle, a question of pride.

So, what brings him into combat? Patrocles' death. Why? Because he loved him, because they were best friends, or because they were lovers. Once again we are not sure about the real feelings of Achilles for Patrocles, but we know that they were close to each other. We also know that Patrocles is defeated on the battlefield not because he is not strong enough to fight, but because he pretends to be Achilles and he is not as strong as him. When Achilles hears of the death of his friend, he becomes full of rage. Is it only for his friend? Probably not. It will also be for himself. "So, you thought you could defeat me so easily?" Pride, immaturity, and rage throw him in combat. He kills and destroys everything in front of him forgetting combat ritual and good manner. He don't needs mortal laws, he is over it, he is half a god and too young to understand the conventions. All he understands is the rage and the pain he has inside.

It is because he considered himself taller than man that Achilles acted like he does in the Iliad. He is the equal of gods. Love is nothing in the Iliad, it is nothing for Achilles.

So, how should they have represented Achilles in Troy? He should have been younger, caring for nothing else but himself, his feeling, and his pain. Achilles was the tallest, the strongest, and the best warrior, but he was too young and had too high an opinion of himself to understand how to behave. He is not a lover seeking love, he is a warrior fighting for glory and pride. That is why I admire him so much and why I'm so disgusted by Achilles in Troy (2004).

I'm passing over a lot of details, among other the death of Agamemnon and the lack of Amazon in the movie, but I touched the core of my idea. Achilles represents the Ancient Greek ideal of a hero and the production had to transform it to stick to our concept of a hero what means an experienced and skilled warrior that has to prove his heterosexuality by fighting for love. Achilles is deeper than his representation in Troy (2004) and I hope I gave you enough details to believe it and the taste to learn more about this great hero.

Ashamed to be gamers

Earlier this weak, I was speaking about game with a friend.  We were debating about the balance of teams in video games and we ended up speaking about WOW (or World of Warcraft for the neophyte). I found it strange and interesting that he was shy to say that he really loved WOW. I asked him many times to explain his feelings and he confessed that the game swallowed his life and he lost too much time playing it. He was explaining his undesirable addiction, but at the same time he was proud of his accomplishment in this fictional world.

I started to think about all the gamers who had this feeling of double identity. One real identity with a family and friends that has to go to school or to work every morning and a second identity that kicks ass in the dungeons and is respected by his peers. They are addicted to a game world where they feel more accomplish than in their real life. They can escape the bullying and problems of their life in this perfect world.

I was surprised to realize after our discussion how jealous I was about this experience. In fact, when I was in high school, we didn't have Facebook and online gaming. Internet was a newborn and we barely spoke about it at school. When I was coming back home after my day being a student, with a head full of social frustration and with homework to do, I was the same as my friend; I wanted to escape.
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The options I had at that time were different, but I consoled myself anyway telling me that tomorrow would be better and that one day people would respect me for my work. I found an activity and I stuck to it hoping people will love it, but the opposite happened and I found myself alone with my passion.
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Listening to my friend and his passion for WOW, I was envying the relationships he had with the other gamers. Like me, when he was tired of the world, he was escaping in his activity. Like me, people laugh at him because of his passion for it. But at the end of the day, when he was joining the people online, he was respected and appreciated. Being accomplish and respected by a community was the drug, not the game.

It is the social part of WOW that made people addicted to it, because they could showcase their ability and skills to the world and be important. You start as a noob ( new and inexperienced player), you learn some skills and knowledge, you bring it in combat, and finally you win the recognition of your colleagues. You become important for them, then you are important for you.

WOW is an opportunity for the players to showcase their skills in a world, there are thousands of games like this on the market. When you subscribe to the game, it's like you were subscribing to a social or a sports club. You commit yourself to the rules of conduct and you have a chance to prove yourself to the community. If you were acting against the convention you become excluded, just like in real society, social clubs, or sports.

So, why are WOW gamers are so ashamed by their activity ? If we admit they are a social club, why are we laughing at them in the schoolyard ?

I think there are two answers; the first answer is probably the ease of accessibility. Anybody can play and can complete the objectives. It is not like in a sport club where the players has to prove is capacity by exercises and challenges to be a part of the team. In game, if the player paid, he can play. This easy accessibility suggests that anybody is able to be the best. Even if this argument isn't true, society sees the WOW player like a very common player. There is nothing exceptional in having a WOW account as everybody has one, because it is easy to access. It means that the WOW player is someone banal without originality or interest.

The second answer is the stereotype or the image of the nerd. Yes, you know what I mean. The picture of this huge guy sitting in front of his computer in a room tinted in blue, the color of his computer screen, eating chips and drinking beer. I'm not telling there aren't players who look like that, but I'm telling you that a lot of people believe all the players of Word of Warcraft look like that.

The truth is WOW is a game that takes a lot of time. When you are playing, you don't feel like being interrupted by anything, I promise. You don't want to go to bathroom. You don't want to make food. You don't want to answer your phone. This is a feeling I'm sure we've all felt at least once in our lives. As I'm writing this article right now I don't feel like doing anything else, not even eating. So yes, when a player plays often and eats pizza from the corner restaurant instead of fresh vegetables, he gains some weight and feel less energetic. It isn't the game, it isn't the community, it is a habit problem. And surprising as it sounds, this bad habit is not coming from the game, it is a personal problem.

OK. I hear you. Let's be fair. The game isn't the main cause of the bad diet habits, but the game maintains this bad habit. I mean, if the player was susceptible to this kind of trouble, the game won't help him to fight against it. But the game won't force the player to eat bad and stay home all day. It is the player decision, it is the player problem. It's just a game.

Players of WOW, don't be ashamed. You are a member of this huge community, the biggest online community to date. You play. You have fun. You are with your friends. There is nothing to be shy about. Be proud of what you learn in the game: fight with strategy, use teamwork,  learn about geography, culture, and humor, etc. These skills are essential to your club, to your community, and to your life.

It is what I was jealous about: Sharing all of that with a group. If as a player, you have the luck to be a part of a team to share and evolve, don't let anything stop you. It is what I would have loved to have when I was younger. It is what WOW gave to the young generation: a chance to be a part of a community.