Our Addiction To Dystopia, Horror And Sadness

Introduction

I am not sure what made me write this, maybe it's the TV I am watching, the book I am reading or what I write and what I see published on Vocal. I have touched on this many times before, so I know I may be repeating myself, but I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Why?

One of the main problems is that to make a story interesting we usually have to have some form of jeopardy or else it becomes boring. When I write I try to be positive and uplifting and often a positive ending only comes after the story has travelled through some dangerous areas.

It's like a roller coaster or a Ferris Wheel although we think we are safe there is an element of dander. What if you fall out or the car leaves the track and just going from high to low at speed gets the adrenalin going?

This was an attempt at a totally positive fiction story from two years back but it still contained small elements of jeopardy.

My latest Top Story which is a microfiction is positive, but it is just about things that go right that could go wrong.

A previous top story was a villanelle inspired by a beautiful creation by Bouke De Vries but I was feeling sad and fragile at the time and this encapsulated it.

How We Let Things Out

Both reading and writing can hep us deal with sorrow and loss, and also give us a safe adrenalin boost when we want excitement.

When we encounter horror it may scare us, but it is safe because it is locked on the page or behind the screen.

I was a bit worried because I had been watching "Silo" which is getting darker by the episode with elements of "1984" and other such novels. So, while I am enjoying it, I thought I would try something lighter, the new BBC comedy series "Only Child" . While it has funny bits it addresses the effects of dementia in older people so became a difficult watch for me.

I do think we as humans want to experience the good for real and maybe the difficult through the medium of print, music and film, but sometimes these things are forced upon us.

Conclusion

We love disaster movies, horror films, sad stories and sad songs and that is the way we are.

I have shared R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" which I sang live once or twice with Spoon (the Newcastle one) but we will make this life wonderful together.

Thank you so much for reading this mindwandering.