Author: Violet Degnan

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Locating the True “Horror” in Head Full of Ghosts

***ENDING SPOILERS DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED THE BOOK***

Image still from YouTube by user cccomaaha in which a pastor explains how you can tell the difference between mental illness and “possession”

Where was the real horror located in Head Full of Ghosts? Marjorie’s struggles — true to postmodern style — blurred the boundaries between authentic/performed, paranormal possession/earthly illness.

During the final few pages of the book, we discover that the Barrett family’s fatal end was dealt by Merry’s small, childish hands. The demon was not a paranormal, external force that snuck up on the undeserving, innocent Barretts. The demons were entirely human and interior to the family. This aspect of the book is espeically postmodern (and therefore, makes for an not entirely surprising ending): the monster is already inside of us and we are to blame for the tragedy it deals.

There were several earthly demons — or modes of human “horror”– running rampant in the Barrett household. Merry experienced the final, ultimate possession by Marjorie’s manipulation, her older sister capitalizing on their sibling bond and Merry’s naiveté.

The rest of the characters were possessed by their own fatal flaws. Their father became possessed by religion at the hands of Father Waverley and failed to help his mentally ill daughter. His fragile ego and emasculating job loss blinded him to the fact that he could be wrong about Marjorie’s condition. The reality TV show producers and crew exploited this situation, using the Barrett’s financial woes to ensnare the parents and then escalate Marjorie’s illness.

Their mother tried to step up and get Marjorie more psychiatric help but ended up deferring to her husband’s insistence on first the TV show and then the exorcism. Whether from a combination of depression, exhaustion, or weakness of character, she was the only adult in the situation who could have actually helped Marjorie and she failed.

These adults all failed so miserably to help an extremely mentally ill teenager that I nearly cheered when they died — what useless, spineless parents!

For me, the true horror comes from acknowledging that there was never any possibility of paranormal possession in Marjorie’s case. She was mentally ill and it escalated out of control because all these demonic adults were possessed by the concept of possession itself.

 

 

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Postmodern Politics: Post-truth, Putin, and Power

“Under what circumstances do we think things are real?” -William James, 1950

Postmodernism is about the break down of traditional boundaries, whether between fact/fiction, subject/object, high brow/low brow, man/woman, producer/consumer. As Isabel Pinedo points out, “categories break down, boundaries blur, institutions fall into question, master narratives collapse, the inevitably of progress crumbles, and the master status of the universal (read: male, white, married, heterosexual) subject deteriorates.” (Recreational Terror, 18).

While Pinedo goes on to explore how horror films reflect these postmodern elements, I am more interested in the postmodern horror of everyday life. Postmodernism compels us to see systems and relationships as complex and contradictory — even paradoxical in many cases — so it is important to note that while this particular exploration is focused on the negatives, there are positive aspects that emerge out of the liminal spaces that the postmodern condition makes rooms for.

A particular timely postmodern horror of everyday life is the break down of shared reality and facts. As boundaries blur and our conceptions of “truth” become tenuous, we live in perpetual uncertainty — what sociologist Ulrich Beck terms the “risk regime” of everyday life.

I say that this is timely due to events like Oxford Dictionaries naming “post-truth” the word of the year after witnessing Trump’s presidential campaign run on deceptions, half-truths, and blatant lies. Last week when the new White House released “alternative facts” marked another slippage into the uncertain realm between truth and falsehood.

Postmodern power figures are those who can manipulate reality in order to best cling to power. Putin provides an effective template by keeping Vladislav Surkov close by. Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Prime Minister and Putin’s “grey cardinal” actually came from a theatre and PR background and in turn, runs Russia like a political theatre.

Vladislav Surkov and Vladimir Putin in 2006 (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

He funds anti-fascism youth groups and then neo-Nazis in the same day; he takes over film companies; controls TV presenters; funds anti-Putin political parties  — the difference, however, is that he does so publicly. The result is a confused populace who are never really certain of the true motives and intentions of any group or the veracity of any broadcaster or creative. This type of postmodern knowledge paralysis is extremely effective at making it difficult for any dissenting figure or group to enact change or challenge power.

This presents one of the characteristic contradictions of postmodernism — perhaps some institutions do crumble. But the emergence of post-truth and Surkovian theatre politics also make it easier for powerful figures who understand how to bend and destabilize shared reality to retain indefinite power.