I totally agree, intrusive thoughts aren’t often acted upon.
I think the story is trying to capture what it feels like to have intrusive thoughts, how horrifying they can be, and is maybe a way for the artist to work through the idea of “what if those thoughts became so bad - through some supernatural mechanism - that we all succumbed to them?” It’s not meant to be realistic, but just to capture and communicate that feeling of dread combined with compulsion.
It’s kind of similar to Lovecraft’s way of telling stories. He tells you about horrifying and incomprehensible actions taken by regular people and gives some hints about their motivation. But he can’t really convey the full experience of cosmic horror so he leaves you to fill in the blanks. Some people are really affected by it, and for some it’s just too vague and speculative.
If this is the take, then its shallow. Cthulu / Great Old Ones, Lovecraftian horror, has a simple "solution’ to the question I pose.
“If you drop a cell phone into the hole, and see what’s inside of it, it only compels you far more deeply than ever before”. Lovecraftian / Cosmic Horror is about how observation is itself an act, and the act of observation is all you need to do to fall prey to Cthulhu’s mental control of you. And the more you understand the situation, its your [b]very understanding itself[/b] that draws you deeper into the horror story.
Let me tell you a horror story. Lets say the god of this world is evil. But not only that, the very act of me telling you that “god of this world is evil” is enough to put you on god’s hitlist. The fact that you’ve even read this sentence, the omniscient god already knows you’ve been tainted by my words and its too late for you to be saved. (This is the story of “The Ring”. If you watch The Ring, it will haunt you, because its the very knowledge of the tape that traps you into the situation).
Okay, so I’m not a good writer. But there’s all sorts of ways that “intrusive thoughts” have been turned into a horror story by many different writers. There’s “better ways” to invoke a horrifying a mind-virus upon the reader (or in the case of “The Ring”, the viewer).
I totally agree, intrusive thoughts aren’t often acted upon.
I think the story is trying to capture what it feels like to have intrusive thoughts, how horrifying they can be, and is maybe a way for the artist to work through the idea of “what if those thoughts became so bad - through some supernatural mechanism - that we all succumbed to them?” It’s not meant to be realistic, but just to capture and communicate that feeling of dread combined with compulsion.
It’s kind of similar to Lovecraft’s way of telling stories. He tells you about horrifying and incomprehensible actions taken by regular people and gives some hints about their motivation. But he can’t really convey the full experience of cosmic horror so he leaves you to fill in the blanks. Some people are really affected by it, and for some it’s just too vague and speculative.
If this is the take, then its shallow. Cthulu / Great Old Ones, Lovecraftian horror, has a simple "solution’ to the question I pose.
“If you drop a cell phone into the hole, and see what’s inside of it, it only compels you far more deeply than ever before”. Lovecraftian / Cosmic Horror is about how observation is itself an act, and the act of observation is all you need to do to fall prey to Cthulhu’s mental control of you. And the more you understand the situation, its your [b]very understanding itself[/b] that draws you deeper into the horror story.
Let me tell you a horror story. Lets say the god of this world is evil. But not only that, the very act of me telling you that “god of this world is evil” is enough to put you on god’s hitlist. The fact that you’ve even read this sentence, the omniscient god already knows you’ve been tainted by my words and its too late for you to be saved. (This is the story of “The Ring”. If you watch The Ring, it will haunt you, because its the very knowledge of the tape that traps you into the situation).
Okay, so I’m not a good writer. But there’s all sorts of ways that “intrusive thoughts” have been turned into a horror story by many different writers. There’s “better ways” to invoke a horrifying a mind-virus upon the reader (or in the case of “The Ring”, the viewer).