In the short story "Young Goodman Brown", Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates the American Fascination with the occult. Set in Salem Massachusetts, the story is about a man who witnesses an occult meeting and has in encounter with The Devil. Some other ways this is demonstrated in our culture is through t.v series and movies.
I recently began watching American Horror Story, and without too many spoilers, there is plenty of evil and many alive-but-dead characters. It captivates viewers by, well, scaring the crap out of them. (I highly recommend it, by the way, especially for those who like the creepy and supernatural!) One character is convinced that the devil is responsible for the things that she's seen. The American culture has an obsession for anything scary, there are whole t.v. channels dedicated to it! (Chiller is a great one, plenty of B-rated scary movies, I've spent hours of my life watching and making fun of them. Most of the movies have hot girls, though.)
An example of an American movie that deals with the occult is The Witches of Eastwick. Based on John Updike's (an american writer/poet) novel, this movie put a humorous twist to the evils of the occult. Leave it to us to turn the devil and witches and supernatural powers into a joke. Although I've never seen this movie, it sounds pretty cool, I mean, an 80's movie about witches that didn't know that they were witches, what could go wrong? Back to the point-- whether it's a t.v series or movies, us Americans just can't seem to get enough devil in our lives.
Now, the big question: What does this obsession with evil and the occult say about our culture? I think this says that Americans are curious about the supernatural, about what happens after you die. America was founded on religious values, so naturally we'd be curious about the afterlife; heaven, hell. Specifically this obsession with hell though, it's like teenage rebellion. For a country founded on religious views, belief in God, it should somewhat taboo to find enjoyment in The Devil. America is just that teen-aged country that sneaks into the R-rated movie without it's parents knowing (and probably having nightmares for a week after). Not that I think it's a bad thing, I personally love the thrill of scary movies in the early hours of the morning. However, I have that teenager mindset so I'm probably a little biased. My question is, is our obsession with evil and horror healthy? Does it have any kind of affect on us and the way we live our lives?
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