“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Aesthetic Dynamics of Horror

"There is absolutely no reason to signal to the enemy when and how, and for how long, you plan to strike them -- none. As I’ve said before, you don’t send out a save-the-date card to the enemy." (Mitch McConnell)

Actually this is a rather good idea. A good idea along the lines of what Žižek says about the best horror films: they tell you they will horrify you, then they do. It actually increases the feeling of surprise. 

Or, as one might say to one's children's before actually going berserk, "I am about to go berserk." That often does the trick. 

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