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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 11/09/2007 : 18:46:36 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by LizW
filthy, pleco let me drag you back on topic. Do you feel that artists who work in horror genre have their work evaluated fairly. So far as what is horror, to paraphrase a senator on the subject of porn "I can't give you a definition but I know it when I see it".
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The horror genre isn't something I read a lot of although I have read a good bit of King. Unfortunately, he lost me with the Dark Tower series. I agree with Cuneiformist; The Stand & 'Salem's Lot were his best. I also liked The Talisman.
Sure, it's art. A well-told story of any sort always is. Another that'll tempt you to check under the bed before you get into it is By Reason of Insanity, by Shane Stevens.
As for horror movies, with a few exceptions, some of them notable, there's little art there: 20 minutes of precious little, then a big shot of adrenalin, then another 20 minute snoozer. Example: Alien. I was dragged to it by a girlfriend, and we both regretted the experience. The best part of it was, as far as I was concerned, Sigorney Weaver wandering about in her skivvies.
The story had been done so many times, in one variation or another, that it was beyond stale and the writing left something to be desired. In short, it was more business than art in my opinion, and there, it was quite successful.
I still read a little Poe occasionally. The man had an incomparable gift.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 11/09/2007 18:50:15 |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2007 : 00:25:02 [Permalink]
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While I have read most of Poe's work atleast once, and some of King's, I don't know if I can contribute much of anything to this.
Stephen King is a very skilled novelist. He can engage his readers well, and make them keep reading and come back for more.
Poe was more of a short story guy. Arguably he is one of the best writers to ever employ that format.
Poe is definitely not suffering (currently, he did in life though) from a lack of acceptance. King, on the other hand, is widely read and accepted now, but it remains to be seen if any of his work is socially relavent enough to last. If King's works (or those of any other horror writer) have trouble gaining approval of critics, it may have something to do with the fact that they rarely (if ever) take on the controversial social or political issues of the day. Other fiction genres seem to manage this quite well, but horror seems to be all about the next plots twist or gruesome death. Only infrequently, in my experience, does King try.
Also, King can't seem to get his work to translate well to other mediums. I don't think I have ever seen a movie version of a king novel that was anything other than pure campy. Some of Poe's works have been translated into film, or short films, that worked quite well. But none of King's work has the box office punch that the hack-written splat films have (friday the 13th, halloween, nightmare on elm street. etc). That probably has more to do with a crappy agent getting bad deals with movie studios and cheap screenplay writers than anything else though. Still, you'd think a writer of King's talent could get atleast one big boxoffice hit from somewhere in his prolific portfolio of work.
And Dave_W, (have to ask this of you, not your wife) How is it your wife wrote her last research paper before either of you were apparently born, in 1953? Because if you guys are bogarting the time machine, we may have to exhange some harsh words! Hook a brother up!
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2007 : 00:40:56 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dude
Because if you guys are bogarting the time machine, we may have to exhange some harsh words! Hook a brother up! |
Ixnay on the imetay achinemay, FFS(ay)!
I'll talk to you about it later... |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2007 : 02:31:06 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Originally posted by Dude
Because if you guys are bogarting the time machine, we may have to exhange some harsh words! Hook a brother up! |
Ixnay on the imetay achinemay, FFS(ay)!
I'll talk to you about it later...
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And not "I'll talk to you about this last Tuesday? And can you take me to southern Iraq ca. 2050 BC? I have some questions... |
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Are death, insanity and mutation art?
