It's Like Blood to a Vampire

Posted by E

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

In the song “Vicarious” by Tool, the following is stated:

We all feed on tragedy
It’s like blood to a vampire

Taken in the context of the entire song, the meaning is such: We all, though we may try to hide it, take some personal joy in the misfortune of others. We’re all guilty of slowing down while passing an accident. Many (not all) of us take on a morbid fascination in the more unhappy offerings from the media: news and otherwise. Notice that CSI and its multitudinous offspring remain quite popular on the television?

For many, this is all the morbidity they need, otherwise content to dwell in the sunlit world of what they believe to be reality. But there is, unseen by most, an underworld of entertainment. A world that is just as real, but not as brightly lit. (Pardon my levity.)

Violent entertainment has been with us since our beginnings. One only has to read ancient texts to hear of public stoning, witch burning, gladiatorial combat…the list goes on and on. As much as some in the world like to harp that modern violent entertainment is a herald for the end of mankind, the fact remains that it has always been a part of life.

The fact of the matter is that there are those of us out there who crave more ghoulish fare. Those who are doomed to be drawn to what is “swept under the carpet”. Some fit the stereotypes you would expect, some are the average Joe you meet on the street. I fall in the latter category. J

The various forms of media we are subjected to are intended to entertain and generate some form of reaction in us. Whether that intention is to amuse, excite, titillate or frighten is dependent upon the whims of the creator and the receptivity of the audience. Literature throughout the ages has attempted to test boundaries. In the history of film there have been myriad movies that attempted to push the limit of what is acceptable. Video games, though a comparably new medium, have also caused their own minor controversies.

I seek to offer a tour through the lurid underbelly of the darker forms of entertainment. Yes, I am one of THOSE guys. I possess an all-too encyclopedic knowledge of horror films, “extreme” entertainment, violent video games and all things morbid.