Films and Feelings

       Raise your hand if growing up you were “that friend” who couldn’t stomach scary movies.      Don’t worry, this is a safe space. I hated scary movies for as long as I could remember.      In my youth I didn’t find the sensation of clenching your toes for 80 minutes straight particularly appealing, so I just let horror movies exist in their lane. Their lane, approximately 39 and a half feet away from mine. Of course, fast forward fifteen years and one Media Arts Studies degree later, and that’s not really an option anymore. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920)      My scholarly dives into the genre have taken me to some interesting places, most of them very fascinating. The Shining stands out as one example of a film I never thought I’d love growing up, but here I am. But unfortunately, that's not the experience I have with every scary movie.     T his summer, I finally viewed a certain horror film, a...

January 1st, 2020 was one of the most stressful days of my life. For weeks, January 2nd had been marked in red ink as the premiere date for this weird new project. My first three essays for my new blog were all spruced and pruned and ready for exhibition. I had spent months eyeing this date from a comfortable, hypothetical distance. Hanging over the precipice was giving me vertigo. It's not like I wasn't used to writing about film. This is more or less what I did for three years working for a film degree. Goodness, I have notebooks as far back as 5 th  grade full of writings about favorite films--I've technically been doing this for a long time. But this is the first time I’ve shared my work with the public. And when you're writing for an audience, you feel transparent. Naked. But I took a step into the oblivion anyway, and this blog has been a labor of love for me over the last year. Easily one of the best decisions I've ever made. If you're interested Some i...