I had cause to be in a church last weekend (a rarity these days, I assure you), and the thought that would germinate into this thread came to me. We see religion used as a scare device all the time in horror film. Which is kind of odd, when you think about it; religion was meant to explain the unexplpainable, & thereby provide some measure of comfort (a "logical" reason for & method of the creation of man & the universe, an afterlife, rewards for conforming to the faith's tenets, punishment for those who fail to do so, etc.). But there's no denying religious things can be scary as hell, and that's why they're used so much, from gregorian chants somehow being made to denote the demonic in "The Omen", to "Carrie's" mother's warped & sadistic fanaticism, to the creepy preacher-like Tall Man from Phantasm, to the Biblical plagues in "The Reaping", & so on.
So of course, I started wondering why this is.
I suppose in today's Western culture, it's mainly because most of us are raised in the practice of some faith or other, to some degree (for the vast majority of Westerners, that faith is some strain of Christianity). Many sects of Christianity are replete with horrific visions of the torments of hell, meant to scare impressionable youth straight. Be good, or else untold, unimaginable horrors & torments await you. Not that the fact they're unimaginable stopped them from laying all kinds of terrifying imagery on you, anyway; fire & brimstone, demons with pitchforks, eternal ice, etc. Having all that thrown at you as an impressionable child is bound to leave a mark for the rest of your life. Vengeance is Mine, sayeth The Lord, indeed.
But there may be an older root cause as well. I imagine the following is downplayed in today's culture, but some societal collective memory no doubt remains, even if we're not conscious of it. I posit that religions, Christianity in particular, and even more so Catholicism, had huge amounts of political power back in the day, & used it to horrific effect. Stuff like The Crusades (murder, rape & pillage in an incredibly barbaric and mindless manner, by the Grace of God, Amen), the inquisition (torture thousands to death for their failure to believe in Thee, O Lord, in the manner we say is best, through the mercy of God, Amen), to witch hunting (any woman that floats is a witch, any woman that sinks is a well disciplined witch, Amen) had to strike terror into the hearts of even the faithful, who saw things like this and said to themselves "I sure as hell hope no one ever denounces ME."
I read an article in an old issue of Newsweek that said the Catholic mass used to contain a passage wherein the priest led the congregation in a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, who were (without said conversion) destimed to hell as a race because of their role in the killing of Christ. This appeared in the mass until the late 1960's, when it was done away with as a result of the Second Vatican Council's reforms. Think about that, for a minute. The largest sect of Christianity in the world, and the religion with the most power & wealth, preached thinly veiled hatred & presection against the faith it stemmed from for almost 2,000 years. This & the fact nut jobs like Mel Gibson's dad want to bring this stuff back are pretty fucking scary.
So I guess my point is that we fear religious fanaticism on screen not only because of the torments of hell their preachers promise, but because the preachers themselves, as well as those they inspire, can be violent & dangerous, holding their fellow man up to an impossible to meet standard, finding all but themselves unworthy of anything but death.
Now, I also have a question for those familiar with non-Western cultures. Do the religions of other cultures figure into their horror fiction in a similar manner? Is J-Horror influenced in some degree by a perversion of ancestor worship similar to the perversion of Christianity we see in the West? Are there Isreali-made horror films with tenets of Judaism exploited in the same fashion? Ours can't be the only religious culture vulnerable to corruption & fanaticism, resulting in violence & intolerance. But are we the only culture that points up, whether consciously or not, these frightening facets of our dominant religion in our macabre fiction? If so, why do you suppose that is?
So of course, I started wondering why this is.
I suppose in today's Western culture, it's mainly because most of us are raised in the practice of some faith or other, to some degree (for the vast majority of Westerners, that faith is some strain of Christianity). Many sects of Christianity are replete with horrific visions of the torments of hell, meant to scare impressionable youth straight. Be good, or else untold, unimaginable horrors & torments await you. Not that the fact they're unimaginable stopped them from laying all kinds of terrifying imagery on you, anyway; fire & brimstone, demons with pitchforks, eternal ice, etc. Having all that thrown at you as an impressionable child is bound to leave a mark for the rest of your life. Vengeance is Mine, sayeth The Lord, indeed.
But there may be an older root cause as well. I imagine the following is downplayed in today's culture, but some societal collective memory no doubt remains, even if we're not conscious of it. I posit that religions, Christianity in particular, and even more so Catholicism, had huge amounts of political power back in the day, & used it to horrific effect. Stuff like The Crusades (murder, rape & pillage in an incredibly barbaric and mindless manner, by the Grace of God, Amen), the inquisition (torture thousands to death for their failure to believe in Thee, O Lord, in the manner we say is best, through the mercy of God, Amen), to witch hunting (any woman that floats is a witch, any woman that sinks is a well disciplined witch, Amen) had to strike terror into the hearts of even the faithful, who saw things like this and said to themselves "I sure as hell hope no one ever denounces ME."
I read an article in an old issue of Newsweek that said the Catholic mass used to contain a passage wherein the priest led the congregation in a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, who were (without said conversion) destimed to hell as a race because of their role in the killing of Christ. This appeared in the mass until the late 1960's, when it was done away with as a result of the Second Vatican Council's reforms. Think about that, for a minute. The largest sect of Christianity in the world, and the religion with the most power & wealth, preached thinly veiled hatred & presection against the faith it stemmed from for almost 2,000 years. This & the fact nut jobs like Mel Gibson's dad want to bring this stuff back are pretty fucking scary.
So I guess my point is that we fear religious fanaticism on screen not only because of the torments of hell their preachers promise, but because the preachers themselves, as well as those they inspire, can be violent & dangerous, holding their fellow man up to an impossible to meet standard, finding all but themselves unworthy of anything but death.
Now, I also have a question for those familiar with non-Western cultures. Do the religions of other cultures figure into their horror fiction in a similar manner? Is J-Horror influenced in some degree by a perversion of ancestor worship similar to the perversion of Christianity we see in the West? Are there Isreali-made horror films with tenets of Judaism exploited in the same fashion? Ours can't be the only religious culture vulnerable to corruption & fanaticism, resulting in violence & intolerance. But are we the only culture that points up, whether consciously or not, these frightening facets of our dominant religion in our macabre fiction? If so, why do you suppose that is?
