I love Halloween
Oct. 11th, 2011 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenHalloween is easily better than Christmas, to me, although--GASP!--this year the rank commercialism that attends Halloween is starting to get to me. I predict, sadly, that next year I may even start to resent the appearance of orange, purple, black, and green items in August. Then I'll buy some of them and feel better. Halloween is an excuse to wear a costume, listen to spooky music, and watch horror movies. How could I not love a holiday that allows me to do what I would do every day, given the chance? (Okay, maybe I wouldn't wear a costume every day. Maybe.)
It helps that I like pumpkins. I really like them. I like them in my food, I like them on my desk (oh mini pumpkin on top of my black external hard drive, I <3 you), and I love their color. It helps that October is a habitual season of horror movies coming out. Love 'em or hate 'em (and I hated the greater majority of them, on balance), but the Saw movies were a constant presence in the theaters for seven years. It didn't matter that I didn't like half of them because it was a fun tradition--get dressed up, go to the movies. Recently, Paranormal Activity has picked up the slack. There's that The Thing prequel/reboot, too. I cannot be upset about any of this because, again, good or bad, it's just fun to go out to a horror movie during the spooky time of year.
It's also fun to reflect on how silly these traditions are. We gleefully celebrate ghosts and goblins at a time of year where, traditionally, people were scared or else quietly reverent of the dead. It's a way to throw off the superstitions of the past and mock them while at the same time inventing new ones that never quite go away. (Goodbye, Samhain! Hello, Razor Blades Hidden In Candy!) It's very...human.
It helps that I like pumpkins. I really like them. I like them in my food, I like them on my desk (oh mini pumpkin on top of my black external hard drive, I <3 you), and I love their color. It helps that October is a habitual season of horror movies coming out. Love 'em or hate 'em (and I hated the greater majority of them, on balance), but the Saw movies were a constant presence in the theaters for seven years. It didn't matter that I didn't like half of them because it was a fun tradition--get dressed up, go to the movies. Recently, Paranormal Activity has picked up the slack. There's that The Thing prequel/reboot, too. I cannot be upset about any of this because, again, good or bad, it's just fun to go out to a horror movie during the spooky time of year.
It's also fun to reflect on how silly these traditions are. We gleefully celebrate ghosts and goblins at a time of year where, traditionally, people were scared or else quietly reverent of the dead. It's a way to throw off the superstitions of the past and mock them while at the same time inventing new ones that never quite go away. (Goodbye, Samhain! Hello, Razor Blades Hidden In Candy!) It's very...human.
