I am pre-emptively terrified of the scene in Return of the King involving a giant spider.
I read the book when I was a kid and had to skip over that part - due to the dread of shrieking nightmares. Same with Stephen King's It. I LOVE that book, but I literally found the final confrontation with "It" too terrifying to even read.
Finished 1984 last night.
The last section of the book - where Winston is being tortured - involves O'Brien, the guy running the torture, explaining, rationally, some of the principles behind state-organized torture. It's a terrible scene. It is impossible to not put yourself in Winston's shoes. It is impossible to not imagine what you would do, how YOU would handle torture.
O'Brien explains that everybody has "something" which they cannot face. Everybody has a fear which is irrational, and beyond the touch of the mind. When faced with this fear, all rationality flies out the window. It is different for everybody. For some people it is death by fire. For others it is heights. Others death by drowning. (For Billy Bob Thornton, apparently, it is antique furniture.)
I have a friend who literally gags (gags! Reflexively!) at the thought of snakes.
Snakes don't bother me. Neither do little rodents, although I certainly wouldn't want them crawling all over me. But still - the sight of them does not send a convulsion of horror shrieking thru my soul. Yes - my SOUL.
But spiders bother me so much (or - even just the thought of them) that ... I dare not even speak their name. In MY house, they are always referred to as "s", or (horrors) "s"s (plural!!). And when I refer to an "s", it is usually in this panicked context, "Okay, there's an S in my closet. Could someone please come and deal with it?"
It is irrational. It is not based on anything psychological. I didn't have a bad experience with an "s" once upon a time. And my New Age friends reassure me that "s"s mean "creativity" in Native American religions - and this does not matter to me at ALL.
It is a deep-down primal horror which I cannot explain and cannot even THINK about long enough to TRY to explain.
That's what I thought of when reading that section last night in 1984. For Winston, that "something" was rats.
When confronted with the threat of having a box of rats dumped all over his head - he betrayed his lover, he gave up his contacts, he confessed to everything. (All lies, of course!)
Anyway.
I am going to have a difficult time with that scene in the movie. I will not watch a second of it, and this is non-negotiable.
Any other primal irrational fears out there?
Posted by sheilaeven while in a swimming pool, i hear the famaliar notes and can "feel" the shark swimming up behind me...
Posted by: Betsy at December 17, 2003 5:33 PMSpiders and heights.
I love that scene in Bandits when Billy Bob and Cate Blanchett list all of their phobias. That movie is hillarious.
Posted by: Emily at December 17, 2003 6:01 PMNumber one, Sheila- remember when Tom was watching that DUMB movie with the GIGANTIC "S" and you tried to watch it with one hand over one eye, and the other eye peeking? I almost died laughing!!!!! Sorry.
Number two- I don't know if it is technically a fear, but eye friggin' creep me out!! I remember as a kid I would imagine running down my street (which is a huge hill) and imagining falling down and skinning my eyeballs. Therefore, I NEVER ran on my street- I ALWAYS walked,picking my way carefully down the terrain of Pleasant St. Also, if someone DARES to pull down their eyelids, or, God forbid, flip them over, I will KARATE CHOP them until they stop moving. GROSSSSS!!!!!!
I've long had a pet theory (pun intended) that everyone innately possesses a finite quantity of fear that is allocated between snakes and what you call "s"'s. The luckiest are those who experience an approximately even division. The unluckiest are those of us who gravitate to the poles. I know psychologists claim that fear of snakes is learned; I think infant fearlessness is a function of lack of development, not virtue. Sex is innate; it doesn't mean a thing that infants have no interest in it. Of course, there are exceptions to my theory, notably insane Aussies and Brits who charge into the wilderness in short pants looking for the most venomous examples of both snakes and "s"'s. How do I explain it? I don't. They don't count.
Posted by: Robert at December 17, 2003 6:32 PMSnakes. And I'm a country kid, who's run across his share of them. I just give them their room.
A friend has a garage full of them in tanks. He asked me to feed them while he was on vacation. It just about sent me screaming batty into the night when saw that the python could bump the lid of his pen open, and potentially get out, after I forgot to put the weight back on top of the tank
The scene with Winston is one of my favorites in all of literature, because it's so tautly put together. Because it's so horrible. And because it's so disheartening. Because you know how it's going to turn out. Because.
Posted by: BSTommy at December 17, 2003 9:25 PMSheila-Ditto. Aside from hearing someone I love saying "David Michael", nothing strikes more fear in me than an "s" in the house (Ok, I do dread someone coming up to me and saying "I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help" but that's another story). I know exactly what you mean.
You can get past it though. You'll have to find you're own way but I'm sure it's there. I still find the little bastards incredibly repulsive, but I deal with them when I have to (never recycle ALL of your newspapers).
Take care and regards,
Dave
David Michael, (doh!) thanks for the tips although I admit I have taken a very defeatist attitude about s's. They exist. I hate them. I don't see them often so I don't have to confront the fear much. I am grateful for the service they provide, in terms of bug-eating and pest control - but I cannot be near one without losing my Sheila-ness.
I saw a great pastel drawing once by Louise Bourgeois (or something like that - she's a painter...) It was a stark drawing of an empty room with a small woman standing in the middle of it. The floor is red. Hanging up in the corner by a teeny web is a teeny tiny little S. But the shadow it throws - the shadow it throws - takes over the whole damn room.
That is my experience of seeing an S. it's ridiculous. i am a slave to this fear.
by the way - just came back from the movie - it was incredible!! but i kept my eyes shut for the whole battle with the S - and missed Sam's big gladiator moments. which is a shame.
Posted by: red at December 18, 2003 12:30 AMI have this thing about red socks...
Posted by: Jim Moran at December 18, 2003 11:01 AMI am completely petrified of S's. Whenever I spot one, I insist my husband rid our home of the little bastard. Of course he's compassionate, and will scoop it up with a piece of paper, and gently toss it outside. I'd rather it get bashed with a shoe. Going outside means it may, just may, make its way back inside. My fear originated when I was about 10 years old, and was awakened in the middle of the night by a teeny s crawling on my arm or leg (forgot which), causing me to jump straight out of bed, searching desparately for the s. Since then,I've always been paranoid and jumpy around s's.I also have uneasiness with heights, tight spaces, and for some reason really long, high bridges creep me out.
Posted by: Laura at December 18, 2003 1:28 PMOne quick comment:
The fact that so many of you have respected my insanity and refer to spiders as "s"s as well - as though it is completely normal - You have leapt right into my world and I thank you.
And Laura - I also cannot rest until an "s" I have laid my eyes on is dead and flushed down the toilet 5 times. Gently letting him/her/it go outside is not good enough for me. It will haunt me.
Posted by: red at December 18, 2003 4:22 PMBeth-As someone with a touch of eye-injury phobia myself, I can advise you--NEVER see the Salvador Dali/Luis Bunuel film "Un Chien Andalou"(The Andalusian Dog). I saw it nearly 30 years ago, and one of the images in the film haunts my nightmares to this day. A thin sliver of cloud nears the full moon as a woman approaches a sitting man from behind. She carries a six inch razor. The two scenes progress as you see one setting, then, the other. I have to stop because I am blinking vigorously.
Posted by: David at December 19, 2003 11:35 PMThanks for the heads up. It is strangely comforting to know that someone undertstands my freakish feelings!!
Posted by: Beth at December 19, 2003 11:57 PME.T. No idea why. He's just a scrawny, little red-lit....*shudder*
I don't like crawly things either, but E.T. is so much worse for me. I can't even watch someone do the finger-pointing thing, and when they re-released the movie, I couldn't walk by the Chips Ahoy packages with his picture on them.
Posted by: Prague at May 21, 2004 9:06 AM