While on my morning commute, ( which still involves zoning out to Ira Glass.) I noticed that he and the show have, yet again, picked a show subject that matches up perfectly with my life at FMF.
Yesterday I talked about the documentary Hell House and critiqued the moral-based Haunted House on its extreme scare tactics used to convert it's "Hell bound" visitors to the other side.
Today, I discovered that the PRI radio show This American Life had interview the film's director and Hell House's actors for this weeks show!
For a real Halloween spook tale, you can listen to the show here.
Everyone has their own Halloween traditions. In his documentary Hell House, director/ producer George Radliff shows the not-so-common Halloween traditions of a town on the outskirts of Dallas, where the production of "Hell House" is annually held.
Hell House is a haunted house-style play focused on decisions that will exempt a person from the pearly gates. Teens and parents alike try out in large numbers, hoping to play "rave master" or"school shooting kid."
During Halloween season, "those who dare enter" watch a series of five-minute skits, showing what each character did to get in Hell. There's the boy who "chose the gay lifestyle" and became HIV positive; the woman who cheats on her abusive, alcoholic husband; the girl who took the abortion pill and died from blood loss, the boy who was so fed up with teasing that he commits suicide in front of his class and (can't forget this one!) the girl who goes to a rave, gets drugged and raped and commits suicide because of her guilt!
After seeing the characters tortured and burned in the final "Hell" scene, the audience is taken to calm room. Here, a person asks the group if they know where they would go if they were to die that night. Those who would like to go to heaven are offered entrance into a room where they can pray with church members.
This is where I sat on my couch, watching and thinking "WHAAAAAT! WAY TO BLAME THE VICTIM!"
This movie put things in the most disgusting terms: It's not the rapist who goes to hell, its the poor survivor. It's not the abuser or the mean students, it's the abused and the taunted.
It's time to identify this as what it is: fear mongering! They are showing extreme situations as scare tactics to sway their audience towards their unrealistic cause. To find out more about Hell House, rent it!
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While on my morning commute, ( which still involves zoning out to Ira Glass.) I noticed that he and the show have, yet again, picked a show subject that matches up perfectly with my life at FMF.
