A Prelude to Horror

After the summer of Barbenheimer I’m ready for a horror movie marathon. Years ago I wasn’t much for the gore and shock of experiencing recreational fear, but lately it feels like a great escape from the reality of the last few years.

While I won’t go deeply into a review of Barbie and Oppenheimer, the cultural attachment to these images seems to reflect some of the escapism of the 1950s atomic age. Living with impending doom certainly builds comfort in having a space where you can live for the moment.

What was wonderful about Barbie was how it managed to have a message about gendered spaces in society from a product that could have easily been without- while Oppenheimer was more concerned about the placement of the figure of Oppenheimer himself and the politics of self aggrandizement. In a way it could reflect Nolan’s own obsessiveness. Make it larger, grander- but I really wonder how many people walked out of that film having new insight into the use of atomic weapons.

Barbie on the other hand asked more insight of the audience examining gender roles and expectations. And even with understanding we can be anything- we can also just BE.

In that sense I’m also another obsessive film consumer- junkie who will likely talk compulsively about the same machismo archetypes that filmbro Kens love The Godfather and Rocky. And yes, I even enjoy the Snyder Cut!

All of those films do deserve to be watched, but it is also good to stretch how one interacts with movies. My own movie journey has made me appreciate the gutsy artistry of the horror genre as it has the most boundary breaking creativity in the modern era of filmmaking.

Here’s to a month of horrific cinema!