In our culture, same as in the most world cultures, death should be treated with respect.
When coming to talk about it, it often becomes important not to cross the line with black humour and cynical attitude.
Although cynicism has now become an ordinary phenomenon and does not even shock us, there is still a paradox--our people are often very pious, often devoted believers, but on the other hand we watch TV-shows about the walking dead, celebrate Halloween and play computer games about zombies in which our task is to launch the strung up guy so that he flies as far as possible and escapes from the city using various assisting tools that can be bought from the game shop.
What do all these 'cynical' practices reveal about the human nature, and whether and how can they be integrated with our love to life and belief in the power of the Good? Let us take Halloween, for example.
This feast originated among the ancient Celts and was brought to America from Europe, but as it was later almost fully prohibited in England, France etc.
, Americans became the ones who truly breathed new life into it.
The initial idea behind the celebration was that on the night when the transfer from autumn to winter happens (and November was considered the beginning of winter), the souls and ghosts of the dead visit the Earth, and therefore, on Halloween people preferred not to stay alone, made fire and were on their guard in order to make sure the evil spirits could not have them over the barrel.
So that is where modern carnival comes from: in order to protect oneself from the evil spirits, one has to dress up and pose as these spirits.
This is by no means 'taking over demonic disposition and destroying human appearance that was given to them by God' - these are just the ways people use to protect themselves from the evil spirits.
In the modern society, however, people hardly think of how to protect themselves from the evil spirits by disguising themselves as zombies, witches and vampires - I would say that it most probably reveals the need of people to throw away their 'normal' social roles from time to time and take up something quite uncommon.
Similarly, most people do not tend to believe that such events can traumatize the child's mind, demoralize the children and even demonize them, vice versa, we treat this event as something to please our kids with.
Ok, that was about the celebration, even if a controversial one.
But how about all these scary movies and games involving werewolves, vampires and zombies? Are there not enough scary events in the criminal chronicles we are watching on TV every day? Well, such movies and games have exceptionally high ratings and rather wide audiences, and many would say that the reason for this popularity is the fact that many people like watching something unusual, stepping aside from traditions from time to time, getting themselves scared so that adrenaline is released, and for many such films and games represent the opportunity to overcome the fear of death.
In fact, I believe that such practices are a part of American death-denying culture pointed out by Mitford, as it teaches - as practically all pagan religions and feasts do --that people should not be afraid of death, and that humorous attitude to it is possible.
Everything should be balanced, of course, and it is totally up to you whether you love it or hate it.
But one thing should be kept in mind: people are all different.
We may hate these practices, holidays, movies and games and even try to abandon them--however, the fact remains that millions of people will be engaged into these activities and enjoy them a lot.
And not necessarily these people are bloodthirsty maniacs -- they may just be the people who are overcoming fear with the help of laughter...
or just having their fun.
When coming to talk about it, it often becomes important not to cross the line with black humour and cynical attitude.
Although cynicism has now become an ordinary phenomenon and does not even shock us, there is still a paradox--our people are often very pious, often devoted believers, but on the other hand we watch TV-shows about the walking dead, celebrate Halloween and play computer games about zombies in which our task is to launch the strung up guy so that he flies as far as possible and escapes from the city using various assisting tools that can be bought from the game shop.
What do all these 'cynical' practices reveal about the human nature, and whether and how can they be integrated with our love to life and belief in the power of the Good? Let us take Halloween, for example.
This feast originated among the ancient Celts and was brought to America from Europe, but as it was later almost fully prohibited in England, France etc.
, Americans became the ones who truly breathed new life into it.
The initial idea behind the celebration was that on the night when the transfer from autumn to winter happens (and November was considered the beginning of winter), the souls and ghosts of the dead visit the Earth, and therefore, on Halloween people preferred not to stay alone, made fire and were on their guard in order to make sure the evil spirits could not have them over the barrel.
So that is where modern carnival comes from: in order to protect oneself from the evil spirits, one has to dress up and pose as these spirits.
This is by no means 'taking over demonic disposition and destroying human appearance that was given to them by God' - these are just the ways people use to protect themselves from the evil spirits.
In the modern society, however, people hardly think of how to protect themselves from the evil spirits by disguising themselves as zombies, witches and vampires - I would say that it most probably reveals the need of people to throw away their 'normal' social roles from time to time and take up something quite uncommon.
Similarly, most people do not tend to believe that such events can traumatize the child's mind, demoralize the children and even demonize them, vice versa, we treat this event as something to please our kids with.
Ok, that was about the celebration, even if a controversial one.
But how about all these scary movies and games involving werewolves, vampires and zombies? Are there not enough scary events in the criminal chronicles we are watching on TV every day? Well, such movies and games have exceptionally high ratings and rather wide audiences, and many would say that the reason for this popularity is the fact that many people like watching something unusual, stepping aside from traditions from time to time, getting themselves scared so that adrenaline is released, and for many such films and games represent the opportunity to overcome the fear of death.
In fact, I believe that such practices are a part of American death-denying culture pointed out by Mitford, as it teaches - as practically all pagan religions and feasts do --that people should not be afraid of death, and that humorous attitude to it is possible.
Everything should be balanced, of course, and it is totally up to you whether you love it or hate it.
But one thing should be kept in mind: people are all different.
We may hate these practices, holidays, movies and games and even try to abandon them--however, the fact remains that millions of people will be engaged into these activities and enjoy them a lot.
And not necessarily these people are bloodthirsty maniacs -- they may just be the people who are overcoming fear with the help of laughter...
or just having their fun.