Consider this, then. We understand how psychology works and why this situation is complety outside of any realm of possibility. Yet it is happening anyway. Consider that there is something out there, something external, something unknown, that we aren’t even aware of yet that can have an effect on the human brain beyond the scope of our understanding or capabilities.
D&D has mindflayers that command a powerful control of the psyche. In that world, it is a logical reason for unusual or impossible behaviors. Harry Potter has the imperious curse as a logical way to accomplish something similar. These don’t work in the real world and we have no real world equivalent.
But, the things in those worlds weren’t always known about. There had to have been a period of discovery. Same with our reality. There have been many things we never knew we never knew until they were discovered. Applying logic to these situations with the knowledge of the time made it harder to understand or take seriously because we didn’t have a concept yet for what it was. Yet it was there.
The fault represents that unknown both in knowledge as well as understanding. It isn’t meant to be taken literally as “This thing can cause supernatural brain control.” Rather, it is playing on that concept of discovery of the unknown. The hole we as humans must dive into to understand the world around us. The comic doesn’t reveal the reason for it. But isn’t that the very nature of exploring the unknown? We are driven to it to fulfill a need.
Sure, it could be that there is an unknown “thing” the comic never reveals, something left to our imagination to fill in the blanks which can often be a lot scarier than anything we can come up with. But it is stirring those thoughts of curiousity to find the reason, the source. The hole is considered “my hole” not because it was made for us, but because that is our personal passion, our special interest, our allure for discovery. And through it, you are changed.
Why are people enthralled by mind flayers compelled to act, and not just post about the act on instagram? At this point you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing, because lord forbid you concede your initial take maybe wasn’t so amazing.
Stories ultimately are a way for the author to try to connect with the audience.
If there’s a connection here you feel with the author, that’s real. But all I’m saying is that this story, despite me reading it in its entirety, failed to connect with me.
That’s fine. Horror is always subjective. But throughout the entire horror here, I just couldn’t get around the fact that this magical compulsion-mechanism could have been solved through much less… horrifying… means? Again, cellphone on a long string. Or whatever. If they really wanted to “explore” the hole (and yes, I seem to recall that “feeling of exploration” being suggested in the story).
Well, in Cosmic Horror, dropping the camera and perceiving what’s in the hole only compels you harder to go in as it only strengthens the Great Old One’s grip on your mind.
Which would have been a better story. The more you research, you (inadvertently) get pulled into the mind-virus more and more. That’s why cosmic horror is… horrifying. The very act of trying to understand it only pulls you deeper into the horror.
I’m not saying “I don’t want an answer” or that “space-magic” isn’t cool. I’m saying that it was poorly written. A better written story should have had a good answer to the obvious “Try a cell phone first”. The fact that none of the characters tried “obvious” solutions to the problem makes it incredibly unbelievable IMO.
This “hole compels you to jump in” crap is just not as horrifying to me as the better written stories out there. You have to have the main characters do something the target-audience would do, so that the target-audience can form a connection with the characters. Even if “magic” or “supernatural occult stuff” is the answer to the end, you can work around that.
Because if you read the whole story you find out that the people whose holes these were did something horrific to deserve this fate over and over again. So their compulsion stems from an external source outside of their control.
I’m not against Karma in stories. Mind you, I don’t believe in Karma, but I accept it as a storytelling mechanism. But things with karma don’t get more horrific, if anything, it lessens the horror because “I’m a good person, so that won’t happen to me”. Innocent people dying in horrible ways is more horrific, at least to me.
But as I said before, horror is subjective. I’ve given this particular story a lot of thought and… it just doesn’t scare me. And no matter how much I ponder on it, I can’t make the story scare me. I don’t know if its my personal experiences or something. But it just doesn’t work for me.
Consider this, then. We understand how psychology works and why this situation is complety outside of any realm of possibility. Yet it is happening anyway. Consider that there is something out there, something external, something unknown, that we aren’t even aware of yet that can have an effect on the human brain beyond the scope of our understanding or capabilities.
D&D has mindflayers that command a powerful control of the psyche. In that world, it is a logical reason for unusual or impossible behaviors. Harry Potter has the imperious curse as a logical way to accomplish something similar. These don’t work in the real world and we have no real world equivalent.
But, the things in those worlds weren’t always known about. There had to have been a period of discovery. Same with our reality. There have been many things we never knew we never knew until they were discovered. Applying logic to these situations with the knowledge of the time made it harder to understand or take seriously because we didn’t have a concept yet for what it was. Yet it was there.
The fault represents that unknown both in knowledge as well as understanding. It isn’t meant to be taken literally as “This thing can cause supernatural brain control.” Rather, it is playing on that concept of discovery of the unknown. The hole we as humans must dive into to understand the world around us. The comic doesn’t reveal the reason for it. But isn’t that the very nature of exploring the unknown? We are driven to it to fulfill a need.
Sure, it could be that there is an unknown “thing” the comic never reveals, something left to our imagination to fill in the blanks which can often be a lot scarier than anything we can come up with. But it is stirring those thoughts of curiousity to find the reason, the source. The hole is considered “my hole” not because it was made for us, but because that is our personal passion, our special interest, our allure for discovery. And through it, you are changed.
But why must we jump into our hole? Why aren’t these people driven to drop cell-phones into the hole and record what happens inside?
Why are people enthralled by mind flayers compelled to act, and not just post about the act on instagram? At this point you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing, because lord forbid you concede your initial take maybe wasn’t so amazing.
Stories ultimately are a way for the author to try to connect with the audience.
If there’s a connection here you feel with the author, that’s real. But all I’m saying is that this story, despite me reading it in its entirety, failed to connect with me.
That’s fine. Horror is always subjective. But throughout the entire horror here, I just couldn’t get around the fact that this magical compulsion-mechanism could have been solved through much less… horrifying… means? Again, cellphone on a long string. Or whatever. If they really wanted to “explore” the hole (and yes, I seem to recall that “feeling of exploration” being suggested in the story).
It’s metaphorical. To drop a camera into the (physical) hole is to take your first step into the (rabbit) hole of research and discovery.
Well, in Cosmic Horror, dropping the camera and perceiving what’s in the hole only compels you harder to go in as it only strengthens the Great Old One’s grip on your mind.
Which would have been a better story. The more you research, you (inadvertently) get pulled into the mind-virus more and more. That’s why cosmic horror is… horrifying. The very act of trying to understand it only pulls you deeper into the horror.
I’m not saying “I don’t want an answer” or that “space-magic” isn’t cool. I’m saying that it was poorly written. A better written story should have had a good answer to the obvious “Try a cell phone first”. The fact that none of the characters tried “obvious” solutions to the problem makes it incredibly unbelievable IMO.
This “hole compels you to jump in” crap is just not as horrifying to me as the better written stories out there. You have to have the main characters do something the target-audience would do, so that the target-audience can form a connection with the characters. Even if “magic” or “supernatural occult stuff” is the answer to the end, you can work around that.
Because if you read the whole story you find out that the people whose holes these were did something horrific to deserve this fate over and over again. So their compulsion stems from an external source outside of their control.
I’m not against Karma in stories. Mind you, I don’t believe in Karma, but I accept it as a storytelling mechanism. But things with karma don’t get more horrific, if anything, it lessens the horror because “I’m a good person, so that won’t happen to me”. Innocent people dying in horrible ways is more horrific, at least to me.
But as I said before, horror is subjective. I’ve given this particular story a lot of thought and… it just doesn’t scare me. And no matter how much I ponder on it, I can’t make the story scare me. I don’t know if its my personal experiences or something. But it just doesn’t work for me.