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• Friday, January 18, 2008 03:37 PM

  Anon: "Denounced for heresy"?

  Come on. This isn't about you. It was you who first responded to my post, remember? I was just trying to state a case for those of us who DON'T find this kind of thing questionable or inappropriate.

  " It seems a bit weird to say that the Japanese people needed a film of a guy walking around in a lizard suit to deal with the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "

  I didn't say anyone needed it; I said some have suggested that's where the original film came from, an attempt to deal with deeply seated fears. One attempt; not everyone's (although the popularity and longevity of this monster suggest it meant something; it sure wasn't the awful rubber suit). People cope with horrors many different ways; some people do it through fictional tropes.

  Again, ask: Why do we subject ourselves to horror? Why do we like to be scared? Why is being frightened considered "escapism"?

  And I never denied the 9/11 subtext. You'd have to be a fool to miss it. If you'll note earlier, I made the links to "United 93" and "World Trade Center."

  Hell, 9/11 is practically TEXT in "Cloverfield."

  -- "I imagine most people who watch these movies are looking for escapism and nothing more. Note that many of the people above even deny that there is a 9/11 subtext, so if that's what's appealing to them, it's only on a very subconsious level."

  Exactly: The subconscious. That's what I was talking about. Sometimes you want to stir it up, sometimes you want to leave it alone.

  And now, like you, I want to leave it alone. Apologies if I ventured out of bounds or made you feel oppressed, Anon., but like many here, I'm just trying to make a point understood.

  —Mark Hughes Cobb Read Mark Hughes Cobb's other letters
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