Good fiction is the eloquent sublimation of passionate thoughts and feelings. Humanity's fascination with death and our innate reproductive impulses naturally influence those thoughts and feelings. Sex and violence are provocative because they are intense and primal. Sexual violence is especially powerful, especially if done with sensual finesse. Alas, such intensity stirs us by rousing the natural fibers of our being. As a writer and an artist my favorite theme is this ultimate theme of sensual mortality.
As I was saying: humanity is thrilled by the killing of human beings. We delight in the fancy of what we dread. Our desire to propagate stirs our passions for life and death. I wondered why. I still wonder why, though I have found the answer. The question itself thrills me to ask.
It is good that you point out the sadistic and masochistic sides of this interest. Power being the ability to make another suffer, killing is the final demonstration of it.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Rendering someone dead brings them to an end. The strength of the victim is sapped by the assailant.
DeleteLife and death in fiction seems to be more thrilling than it is in real life, but that is often because it is glamorized by story and fascinating heroes and villains. Even when we were at war, people were adding a romantic element to it which made it more interesting. In reality, killing is a surprisingly simple thing which also makes it more dark and less romantic.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Reality is bland, cruel and pointless more often than not. Fiction is at its best when it turns grim reality into meaningful themes that entertain us.
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