From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Sun 24 Aug 2003 - 05:12:54 GMT
From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Freddy Krueger as social contagion (some
spoiler content)
Date sent: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 01:02:03 -0400
Send reply to: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>
> OK, I broke down and watched the new _Freddy versus Jason_ movie
> pitting everybody's favorite childkiller Freddy Krueger (of _Nightmare
> on Elm Street_ fame) against everybody's favorite 80's slasher from
> Crystal Lake Jason (of _Friday the 13th_ fame). The movie wasn't as
> terrible as I expected. One rather nifty plot device was that Freddy
> had been long forgotten on Elm Street and had no power because he
> wasn't known or feared by anyone. The town's elder folk had managed to
> wipe Freddy from cultural memory and the high-schoolers were unaware
> of Elm Street's notoriously gruesome past. There was a cordon
> sanitaire around the Freddy contagion as any kids who had been exposed
> to knowledge of him years previously were placed in a mental
> institution and dosed up on an experimental drug that inhibits
> dreaming.
>
> Well Freddy has the bright idea of enlisting the aid of Jason to get
> his name mentioned on Elm Steet once again and regain power. So when
> Jason does his special slasher magic and kills people, it's assumed
> that Freddy is the culprit. Eventually people start mentioning his
> name and the high school kids become aware of the Freddy legend and
> his power increases. Now he's able to invade the high schooler's
> dreams. Thus Freddy comes back as a result of social contagion, with
> help of Jason. The rest of the movie had the obligatory gore and a
> smidgen of suspense (not much), but the 'Freddy as social contagion'
> plot device was rather nifty I thought.
>
> I was unfortunate enough to be subjected to a trailer for the upcoming
> remake(?) of the _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_. I imagine Leatherface will
> be making his comeback now on the coat tails of Freddy and Jason.
> Maybe eventually they will become a power trio.
>
> Every once in a while the horror genre makes a new gasp for air. _The
> Ring_ was a pretty decent movie with a sort of contagious plot device
> of its own, where a videotape must find victims, so some girl trapped
> in a well can exact revenge. Did the victims have the videotape or did
> the videotape have them?
>
The Ring has already been cyberaped in Fear.com.
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>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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