as a general rule, i’m of the opinion that media images, particularly fantasy images, rarely GIVE kids nightmares
and so those parents who insist on “protecting” their kids from “scary stuff” are wasting their time – particularly if the only reason is to prevent themselves from losing a couple of hours of sleep
the nightmares will still happen, it just won’t be a known entity: “but honey, Ronald is just a corporate shill, he’s not real”
instead it will be some weird, nebulous horror assembled deep in the kid’s subconscious: “but honey, the goldfish is gone, remember? it won’t crawl out of the-- no, not even if it grows crab legs-- because that’s not-- yes, some fish can fly-- no, not like bats-- because they can’t-- who told you? the voice in the air vent?”
see? better the devil you know, i say
having said all that, i do believe media images can provide the CHARACTERS with which to populate a nightmare
when a child’s subconscious vomits up a nightmare (for whatever reason) the nightmare demands some scary avatar to do the heavy lifting – so the subconscious grabs the closest thing at hand which, more often than not, is something the kid has recently seen or read
and so correlation is, in the time honoured tradition, confused with causation
until recently, the only media creation i can remember appearing in one of my nightmares, was when i was a kid – it was the Big Bad Wolf from the animated Disney short, Three Little Pigs - i saw it on an old black-and-white TV and so the Big Bad Wolf in my dream was black-and-white too
i was reminded of Mr. B. B. Wolf recently, when i had the following dream:
[don’t make that face – i promise i’ll make this as quick as possible]
a friend and i were out exploring – scrambling along a craggy cliff face – it was a beautiful day and the dream had blessed us with the ability to scamper over the rocks like a pair of parkouring, ninja mountain goats
soon we found ourselves on the grounds of a mansion in an overgrown garden – the grounds weren’t particularly ominous and the day was still lovely, so we set about exploring our new discovery
then suddenly, from out of nowhere, a third friend appeared – they sprinted past, yelling as they went: “I found it!” – surprised, i turned to my parkour companion, only to see that they too, were running
confused, i looked around and saw ... a WEREWOLF!
but this was no ordinary werewolf – even allowing for the fact that it was out and about on a lovely, sunny day with not a hint of a full moon to be seen
rather than the animal-human hybrid we are all familiar with, it was a life-sized being constructed in much the same way as Wes Anderson’s hero in Fantastic Mr. Fox
which, i admit, doesn’t sound that scary – and it wasn’t ... until it MOVED!
it didn't move like a puppet or as a figure in stop-action animation, instead it sort of flowed as it ran up on its hind legs, circling me, and--
i SCREAMED! – waking myself up ... and my partner (who was not amused)
thinking back, it still stirs the hairs on the back of my neck – brrr!
now i know what you’re thinking: another wolf! – but no, i love dogs and, while i’m very respectful of their non-domesticated cousins, i am unaware of any fears or phobias related to the genus Canis – the genus Crocuta is another thing entirely – hyenas are scary as fuck
leaving aside what, if anything, the dream “meant” – it was pretty easy for me to figure out from which pieces of media my subconscious assembled the Phantastic Mr. Wolf
for a start, i’m currently toying with the idea of retelling a classic werewolf tale – so, lycanthropes have been on my mind
i had also recently read an article on Neil Jordan’s classic 80s movie In the Company of Wolves – not for research, but just because i like the movie – in addition to spooky wolves, the memory of the movie may also have provided the fairytale-like background of the mansion with its overgrown garden
and finally, i had also recently watched a youtube video in praise of "Fantastic Mr Fox” ... although, in Mr Fox’s defence, he’s a charming rogue and nothing like that creepy, uncanny-valley muthafucker that accosted me
which finally brings me to a screenplay-related question
Q: in a movie, could something as hokey as a human-sized, werewolf puppet running around in broad daylight, actually be scary?
sure, it was terrifying in the dream – but dreams can make the most innocuous things absolutely scarifying
and, if confronted with such an “entity” In Real Life, i think most people would be terrified (and possibly shit themselves) – however, it must be admitted, some small children may want to run up and hug it
BUT in a movie?
i think if you showed Phantastic Mr. Wolf running around the overgrown grounds of a mansion, pursuing terrified adults ... most people would laugh and say words to the effect of: “It’s a puppet! How much damage could it do?!” – and so completely miss the point
which i think is a bit of a shame ...
but more on this next time ... or the time after that … definitely soonish!