A premise for horror
A premise for horror: If domestic violence is a pyramid, with murder at the apex, then beneath that apex exist all manner of violence. From battering, and below that threat of battering, below that tirades of verbal violence, below that… and so it goes.
Really, it isn’t a pyramid. It just is.
Domestic violence exists when a person is scared (apprehensive) of their partner, of what they might do or say next. Abuse = a misuse or corruption of power or privilege. Doesn’t have to be violent but it always violates.
And of course we all nod and say yes it sucks, but how many of us can spot a perp? How charming, how seductive, how manipulative they are. They may well have their family and friends and neighbours convinced of their perfection.
I know heaps of people who honestly believe that person X is a, ‘really nice guy.’ When I know for a fact that X is a bloody nightmare. I’m not immune either. I may think Y is a really nice guy, until someone whispers in my ear that they are not.
And if you go to a friend or a family member or the police and say, ‘person Z is gonna kill me,’ then you should expect to be believed and action taken.
We live in a world that is dominated by a perversion of the male archetype. Following Jung’s four archetypes of manliness, The King becomes The Tyrant, The Magician becomes The Manipulator, The Warrior becomes a Sadistic Bully, and the Lover becomes the Rapist. (This is a fuller explanation)
Women are not immune. They, too, can and do adopt the perverse male archetype mantle, especially when they walk into positions of power.
For humanity lacks an awareness of power, let alone mastery of it. Therefore we are seduced by power and as it enters us and we welcome in that delicious Uberman sense of it, our awareness is eclipsed and we are from then on addicts.
It all needs to change. So, what’s to be done? Educate. Educate. Educate. Teach Jung. Start in Kindergarten.
We already know how to change things. But inertia and the pull of the status quo hold sway.
Above all, our desire and our capacity for denial hold sway.
Which makes for a damn good premise, for a horror novel.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: domestic violence, horror, Isobel Blackthorn, literary fiction
Really, it isn’t a pyramid. It just is.
Domestic violence exists when a person is scared (apprehensive) of their partner, of what they might do or say next. Abuse = a misuse or corruption of power or privilege. Doesn’t have to be violent but it always violates.
And of course we all nod and say yes it sucks, but how many of us can spot a perp? How charming, how seductive, how manipulative they are. They may well have their family and friends and neighbours convinced of their perfection.
I know heaps of people who honestly believe that person X is a, ‘really nice guy.’ When I know for a fact that X is a bloody nightmare. I’m not immune either. I may think Y is a really nice guy, until someone whispers in my ear that they are not.
And if you go to a friend or a family member or the police and say, ‘person Z is gonna kill me,’ then you should expect to be believed and action taken.
We live in a world that is dominated by a perversion of the male archetype. Following Jung’s four archetypes of manliness, The King becomes The Tyrant, The Magician becomes The Manipulator, The Warrior becomes a Sadistic Bully, and the Lover becomes the Rapist. (This is a fuller explanation)
Women are not immune. They, too, can and do adopt the perverse male archetype mantle, especially when they walk into positions of power.
For humanity lacks an awareness of power, let alone mastery of it. Therefore we are seduced by power and as it enters us and we welcome in that delicious Uberman sense of it, our awareness is eclipsed and we are from then on addicts.
It all needs to change. So, what’s to be done? Educate. Educate. Educate. Teach Jung. Start in Kindergarten.
We already know how to change things. But inertia and the pull of the status quo hold sway.
Above all, our desire and our capacity for denial hold sway.
Which makes for a damn good premise, for a horror novel.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: domestic violence, horror, Isobel Blackthorn, literary fiction
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