- Reyes (2014), describes Body Horror as being a “fictional representation of the body exceeding itself or falling apart, either opening up or being altered past the point where it would be recognised by normative understandings of human corporeality.” How do The Colour out of Space and Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth make use of this definition to explore themes of the unknown?
Cosmicism is a literary philosophy that everything we do- as humans- is insignificant compared to the vast unknown universe. That “there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a God, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic existence.” (Nguyen, 2016)
Cosmicism capitalises on that feeling of helplessness in horror, that no matter what we do it’s all in vain. Some horrors that get the feeling of helplessness right are: ‘It Follows’ from 2014, a teenage girl finds herself being stalked by a demon that can shape shift and appears invisible to those around her, but it is restricted by it’s inability to run. The demon can only pursue her at a slow pace and thats how ‘It Follows’ hits that sense of dread perfectly, by having our main character be unable to rest while the demon is in pursuit.
‘Final Destination’, where the cast survives a catastrophic event that should’ve ended their lives, Death itself comes to finish the job. Having a omnipotent being as your enemy is horrifying, however it isn’t a physical being; you don’t have the luxury of knowing when it’ll happen, you simply have to wait as you watch the main cast attempt to outsmart a God.
The classic ‘Blair Witch Project’ has the sense of dread in spades. Not even being aware whether the characters are messing with each other, if they’re that inept, or that there really is a witch in the woods.
With ‘The Colour out of Space’ and ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’, they specifically gather dread from the anxiety of outer space. The fact that we don’t know everything that is out there, and maybe never will. However, this anxiety only works if there is an underlying fear about the universe within the audience, and if there is not- if the audience does not believe there is anything otherworldly to discover- then this literary philosophy falls flat.
References:
Lovecraft, H. P. (1936). The Shadow over Innsmouth.
Reyes, X. A. (2014). Body gothic: Corporeal transgression in contemporary literature and horror film. University of Wales Press.
Today, P. (2017, September 28). Lovecraft’s Cosmicism: What it is, how it works, and why it fails. Retrieved from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/gloryseed/2017/08/lovecrafts-cosmicism-works-fails/
Nguyen, T. (2016). History of Humans. EnCognitive.com.
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