-
A Touch of Evil
2002-06-26 11:40 pm
i 've been preoccupied with evil lately. but its not as bad as it sounds. you see, as i've been spending alot of my free time reading and watching movies(what else is new, right?) i've been taking note of the way in which authors or filmmakers portray evil. an effective treatment of "evil" in whatever form it appears within the story is critical for it's success if this "evil" is integral to plot, setting, etc. unfortunately, few people have the talent or insight to infuse their works with the elements that make for a proper depiction, characterization, or even vague allusion to evil. however there are a select few who have masterfully creeped me out.now before i go on, i really should define this word that i'm throwing around- and i'll do so without getting into religious philosophy, theology, or metaphysical ontology, which means that the defeinition will be relatively pedestrian (we'll skip defining our theoretical assumptions and postulates- they're pretty obvious), but useful enough for our present discussion. evil then will be broadly defined as any malevolent and/or destructive will arising from non-human (or i should say from no source that has undergone biogenesis)sources. and as this definition is applied to literature and film it generally describes otherworldly, alien forces whose existence is antinomical to human existence.
now, the problem is, how can you possibly portray manifestations of something otherworldy and alien? you can't. but as i said before, some have come close- and this is so because they only define it to a certain point- leaving the rest for the individual human psyche to shrink from or search for as it deems fit.
to keep this relatively short, i'll name tolkien, david lynch, and lovecraft. tolkien's treatment of great ancient evil is simply unmatched in fantasy lit. from the vague, detached and shadowy portrayal of Sauron, to brief allusions to his own Masters. this is a key factor to the wonderfully oppresive atmosphere that is built as the trilogy progresses.
david lynch (see, lost highway, twin peaks, mulholland drive)leaves even more to the imagination. his use of disjointed timelines creates the "time that is not a time" atmosphere, an place where the otherworld and the physical world touch. now some people probably interpret his movies quite differently, but this is far more fun, don't you think?
and as for lovecraft, i will say only this: as he pushed toward the boundaries of horror, illuminating terrible things that humans were never meant to see, we realized that abyss was far deeper and darker than we thought. as human knowledge deepens, so too does the darkness that beckons at the edge of wakefullness.
�
�
Sign My Guestbook!powered by SignMyGuestbook.com
