Wednesday night I finished The Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix and I keep going back and exploring the different feels that book caused.
My mom raised me on a heavy dose of horror/thriller/slasher movies and I was pretty pleased that I was able to identify all of the movies Hendrix alludes to in the book. But aside from the typical horror/thriller/slasher tropes, he spends a good amount of time writing about death, dying, and the inappropriate glee audiences feel at the mutilation of innocent young women.
And that really made me think and has kept me thinking. Why is it okay for movies to rip apart young girls and call it entertainment? Why do I now feel like the monster for participating in that culture? It's never too late to change, so with eyes open I'm going to start evaluating the horror movies I watch going forward. When I re-watch my favorite horror movies this October I will be especially vigilant and stop accepting that violence against women is a natural part of the entertainment business.
So, as you can see, the hangover a book gives us isn't always about the plot or characters or setting, but the social critiques and how we digest them.