American Horror

I realized recently this may not be a part of American history that many know of but I think it is essential to understanding concerns disabled people have in relation to the horror genre specifically horror monsters. Ugly Laws existed from the 1860s until 1974 in the US and were meant to keep "unsightly" individuals out of the public eye. Individuals with disabilities, conditions, and injuries were legally barred from public spaces. The language and implications of this legislation is truly disturbing. I have linked below information on what Ugly Laws were in the USA and my most recent paper analyzing "The Outsider" with the context of American Ugly Laws. The Eugenics Archives: Ugly Laws Overview   Ilse Paper 1: Horror and Ugly Laws

  our discussion today about fear of the unknown and knowledge that is not unlearnable/inescapable once known, as well as Call of Cthulhu as a text reminded me a lot of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves , a book ive been trying (and failing) to finish for years, yet it is one of the most effective horror texts ive read. there are various similarities between this text and Cthulhu, such as the discovering of manuscripts as a device to unveil horrors, unimaginable and incomprehensible interpretations of what one thinks they know, and the idea that once you learn certain information you are doomed to face the horrors you now know. this text is so dense and functions literally as a puzzle the reader must solve, which is primarily the reason i have struggled so hard to finish it, especially when it devolves into pages you have to hold up to the mirror in order to read or messages that need to be decoded in order to comprehend. but this is a part of what makes it so effective horror wis

 

 I absolutely love this art by Andrew Mar of the old man from Tell Tale  https://www.instagram.com/p/CPQ_B5YD6IU/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

     in our discussion of the function of animals in horror, i was reminded of one of my favorite reads of the summer, Pearl by Josh Malerman (who also wrote Bird Box, which you’ve probably seen the netflix adaptation of). Pearl  has a bizarre premise, centering on a telepathic pig that makes people kill themselves, and it lives up to this absurd and scary idea perfectly - its fun, slashy, and existentially horrifying. one of the aspects of this book that really struck me and reflects on our in class discussion is what makes Pearl become violent towards humans is his witnessing of the violence towards him and the other pigs by humans, as well as his gradual learning of human philosophy, ideas, and morals from the farmer who owns him. this idea that animals are disposable and reproducible are what leads Pearl to violence, as well as the capacity to think in the way that humans think - making the decision to commit violence rather than just acting on animal instincts, which are devoid o