05-30-2011, 08:38 PM
Thanks for the posts guys, I knew I'd get some good ideas here. Great ideas Slamz, and I will read that book, Vladd.
What is it that curdles you again? Vampires and zombies, because they are popular? My thinking is that those have to be looked at exactly because they are so popular. Why are they are so overused? What is it about the ideas they represent that keeps bringing them back into popularity? And I also wonder, if the ideas they represent are so well known and hold no value, then why do they keep resurfacing?
And we will definitely get into more than just vampires and zombies. I'm not sure how we'll structure the class, but I am assuming they would just be a week of class each. I am personally a bit obsessed with werewolves, so that's going to make it in for sure. Are there any particular monsters you think would work well for our purpose?
It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it, so any suggestions you have would be awesome. Do you know of any good books that specifically deal with the themes and analogies used in horror and depictions of monsters?
grizzle Wrote:So, my first question would be: Vampires, zombies, etc., are overused monsters - introduced and used quite a bit in legacy films, and overused and heavily focused upon in contemporary films and books. Are there honestly any new examinations of these enormously stereotyped, overly reused, and heavily documented monster-types that you can teach kids that they haven't already discovered for themselves from the internet?Well, it's a writing class. So that is the major goal. Most kids show up at college barely able to write a complete sentence. Getting them interested so they get shit on paper to be critiqued is number one. Beyond that, I'm hoping we can discuss ideas that are used in horror and relate it to their own lives. For instance, Slamz' idea of humanity as a balance and monstrosity as the lack of it is something we can really get into. Any time we can find a horror theme and apply it to the real world I think we will be happy. Will we occasionally talk about some basic stuff that many of the kids have already thought of and know a lot about? Probably. I hope so. Maybe it'll get their geeky asses to speak up in class instead of sitting there with their thumb up their butts.
What is it that curdles you again? Vampires and zombies, because they are popular? My thinking is that those have to be looked at exactly because they are so popular. Why are they are so overused? What is it about the ideas they represent that keeps bringing them back into popularity? And I also wonder, if the ideas they represent are so well known and hold no value, then why do they keep resurfacing?
And we will definitely get into more than just vampires and zombies. I'm not sure how we'll structure the class, but I am assuming they would just be a week of class each. I am personally a bit obsessed with werewolves, so that's going to make it in for sure. Are there any particular monsters you think would work well for our purpose?
It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it, so any suggestions you have would be awesome. Do you know of any good books that specifically deal with the themes and analogies used in horror and depictions of monsters?