In 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson penned the often misunderstood story of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is often thought of as a story of Good vs Evil, but if you examine the story more closely one will discover that Dr. Jekyll was not only pursuing the ‘Evil’ side of himself, but the many selves that lie beneath.
We all have our own inner primitive self that we keep under tight control just beneath the surface, the raging beast that gives us strength and drive, the ability to ‘defend ourselves’, we all need this creature of violence otherwise we would not be who we are. We all become angry at one time or another, we all have a selfish side to ourselves(fortunately, most of us can control this aspect)the part of us who is possessive, vain, controlling…..these are perceived as negative aspects, but they are all part of our whole self.
So, why is this horrible beast so critically important to our well-being? Why is it that we can’t live without the monster inside each of us? A good example is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need’s, an accepted collection of need’s for human psychological actualization. Physiological Needs: This requires the base instincts that we obtain from the predator inside all of us, the hunter that allows us to seek out food, drink(shopping), sex, and allows us to find the resources for sleep, without the creature none of these skills would be present, our survival instinct belongs to the beast. Safety Needs: These needs require the strength and protective instincts that the monster affords us all, our pursuit of security, employment, law & health are actually consistent with this. Psychological Needs: As we climb Maslow’s Hierarchy we see the emergence of the human intellect, compassion, control, in other word’s the ‘Jekyll’ to the ‘Hyde’ that we have been discussing. In obtaining the Psychological Needs(Family, Affection, Relationships, A Work Group)we must control the beast, and use the powers of judgement that come with our advanced intellect. Esteem Needs: Most would think that we had taken the final step away from the beast, but remember that the beast is proud and vain, both necessary aspects of self-esteem. Self-Actualization: Now that we have reached the pinnacle of Maslow’s Hierarchy, we find the emergence of our personal Dr Jekyll, the creativity, morality, problem-solving, acceptance……but what gives us this drive to achieve these aspects, what gives us the energy and strength to reach this point…..the beast.
There are those in our society who have for one reason or another given into the monster inside, given into the baser predatory instincts. These are societies criminals, individual who have created their own form of self-actualization, sociopaths. When control is removed from the beast this is the result. But worry not, those who have left societies norms have been found to have some form of moral or psychological defect….these are the few, most of us have learned to integrate our own personal Mr Hyde with our Dr Jekyll into healthy productive lives.
Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist & travel writer, was well ahead of his time in his understanding of the human condition, or was he just spinning an entertaining tale about a man who tried to achieve more than he should?
Why do many of us love Horror Movies? They give us the opportunity to experience our fears in a safe, secure environment. Many of our ‘phobias’ are the storylines for some of our favorite(and not so favorite)horror films.
Isolophobia(Fear of Being Alone) –
The Fear involved in the Haunted House Scenario, such as Alien(the classic Haunted House in Space)or the classic story of The House on Haunted Hill is derived from the fact that we are communal animals, we fear being seperated from those of our own kind, being out of contact with our local support system. Several other phobias related to Isolophobia include, Taphephobia(Being Buried Alive – Buried Alive), Agoraphobia(Open Spaces – Wolf Creek), Spacephobia(Outer Space), Claustrophobia(Confined Spaces).
Hydrophobia & Ichthyophobia(Fear of Water & Fear of Fish) –
Probably the most ‘influential’ horror movies involving the fear of water and fish continue to be Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster smash Jaws and the always frightening(on soooo many levels)Open Water(Open Water falls into multiply catagories here, but the most obvious is Fear of Water & Fear of Fish). But where does this fear come from? Our fear of water comes due to a number of reasons; it’s awesome power(it is one of the few unstoppable forces on earth), and it’s lethality(On average, 4,000 people in the USA die from drowning each year…225,000 people were lost during the 2004 Sumatra Tsumami …approximately 90% of all hurricane deaths can be attributed to the storm surge, the dome of water created by the low pressure center of a hurricane).
The Fear of Fish often comes from our fear of what is strange or obscure(fish come in all shapes, sizes and varieties…from the Octopus, to the Trout, to the Sea Cucumber). When it comes to movies such as Jaws or Open Water(or Orca), we fear the size, strength and physical lethality of the many predators that inhabit our oceans(Sharks and Killer Whales), and the unpredictability that comes along with their primitive animal nature.
Necrophobia(Fear of Death or Dead Things) –
This is quite possibly the most easily understood fear out of all of those listed here. Death and Dead Things(Zombies, Mummys, Spectres…)remind us of our own mortality, our eventual deaths. One of the most disturbing forms of death in horror movies involves the inherent Fear of Devouring(Phagophobia)which is most prevalently featured in the George Romero Zombie Horror movies Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, and Diary of the Dead. This fear of being consumed harkens back to our primitive pre-history, during which time our ‘fear-response’ protected us from predators hunting us for sustenance.
Dysmorphophobia(Fear of Deformity) –
The Fear of Deformity is a very natural fear that we all possess to one degree or another, once again we fear things that are strange or different, but in this case we fear that such deformity could be inflicted on ourselves. Be it Freddy Krueger’s horribly burned face(Nightmare on Elm Street), the various facial deformities of Jason Voorhees(Friday the 13th part 2), or the various mutilations feature during the Hellraiser series of films…we all fear for our own appearance when confronted with deformity.
Demonophobia or Daemonophobia(Fear of Demons) –
As human beings we have an inordinate fear(and for some a facination with)of the supernatural, specifically; demons, devils, witches and other occult practices such as black magic(depending on one’s theological beliefs). Demons have specifically invoked fear in horror movies through their use of dominating abilities, such as; Possession & Mutilation(The Exorcist), Controlling their surrounding environment to envoke happenings(The Omen & The Omen II), Inhabitation and Domination of a physical location(The Amityville Horror)…or in the case of the movie Paranormal Activity, all three! Once again, we fear what we cannot control and what we cannot comprehend.
Molysmophobia or Molysomophobia(Fear of Contamination or Infection) –
This is an interesting fear, because instead of fearing an external force that we cannot control(once again, we fear what we cannot control or comprehend), Contaminations and Infections are INTERNAL forces that exist within our bodies that we are unable to control(or even see for that matter)or escape from. During the horror movie Quarantine, Jennifer Carpenter‘s character’s fear originated from her inability to combat the infection that was(supposedly)within her.
Xenophobia(Fear of Strangers) –
The fear of strangers is one of our most basic instinctual reactions…we fear what we do not know! We fear for our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones, we also fear for our personal possessions, and that fear often does not subside untill we gain some ‘personal knowledge’ or ‘influence’ over the Strangers that we are encountered with. During the movie The Strangers terror escalates because we are never quite sure of the intent of the ‘family’ that persistently ‘terrorized’ stars Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman.
Spectrophobia(Fear of Ghosts) – The Fear of Ghosts(or Spectres, Shades, Apparitions)is an ancient fear that involves a number of aspects from our list here. Fear of the Supernatural, once again we fear what we are unable to control(The Shining), Fear of Strangers(Xenophobia)- We often know nothing about these spirits, where they really come from or how many there truely are(Poltergeist), Fear of Dead Things(Necrophobia)- Ghosts and Spirits are once again often a reminder of the afterlife and our own mortality(The Others, The Sixth Sense). We all live in a ‘tangible’ world and we are used to dealing with material objects and individuals, spirits and spectres in the horror movies exist on a level beyond our control and comprehension…creating fear and apprehension.
Zoophobia(Fear of Animals) –
A fear of animals often arises from a fear of their primitive nature and a lack of understanding of their inherent psychologies, animals don’t adhere to our conventional civilized morality, and animals are capable of defending themselves with far greater skill than any of us could ever hope for. A great many animals are capable of inflicting lethal force on us as people; Bears(Grizzly), Lions & Tigers(Prey) Bees(Swarm). And in the case of Apes(Planet of the Apes), they can be disturbing because they are so similiar to who we are, and they remind us of what we once were. Further subcatagories of Zoophobia include; Agrizoophobia(Fear of Wild Animals), Myrmecophobia(Fear of Ants), Arachnophobia(Fear of Spiders), Chiroptophobia(Fear of Bats), Apiphobia or Melissophobia(Fear of Bees), Ornithophobia(Fear of Birds), Gatophobia(Fear of Cats), Cynophobia(Fear of Dogs) Alektorophobia(Fear of Chickens)….
Dementophobia or Maniaphobia(Fear of Insanity or The Insane) –
Insanity is an integral part of most mainstream(and not so mainstream)horror movies, be it the psychotic Freddy Krueger from Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street, the murderous serial killer Michael Myers from John Carpenter’s classic Halloween, or the disturbed Jason Voorhees from Steve Miner’s Friday the 13th part 2(and the ensuing series of movies), we fear the insane due to there unpredictability and the lack of control that they represent. Often the insane do not share our common morality and that frightens us. True life examples of what the ‘insane’ are capable of include; Ed Gein(inspired The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Norman Bates from the classic movie Psycho & Buffalo Bill(Jame Gumb) of The Silence of the Lambs), Ted Bundy, John List(inspired The Stepfather)
Cognoscere, meaning in latin "To Know", in essence to gain knowledge, that is part of why we are all alive, we are all in the pursuit of "knowledge" of who we are and why we are here.
This blog is an attempt at gaining knowledge, at examining the vagaries of the world we live in, some of them serious, some of them not so serious....all of them information.
Food Matters
Watch the movie Food Matters, it will change the way you look at food, your doctors, the medical profession and the government.
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"There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there".
- Albert Einstein
This is often thought of as a story of Good vs Evil, but if you examine the story more closely one will discover that Dr. Jekyll was not only pursuing the ‘Evil’ side of himself, but the many selves that lie beneath.
the raging beast that gives us strength and drive, the ability to ‘defend ourselves’, we all need this creature of violence otherwise we would not be who we are. We all become angry at one time or another, we all have a selfish side to ourselves(fortunately, most of us can control this aspect)the part of us who is possessive, vain, controlling…..these are perceived as negative aspects, but they are all part of our whole self.
inside each of us? A good example is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need’s, an accepted collection of need’s for human psychological actualization. Physiological Needs: This requires the base instincts that we obtain from the predator inside all of us, the hunter that allows us to seek out 
food, drink(shopping), sex, and allows us to find the resources for sleep, without the creature none of these skills would be present, our survival instinct belongs to the beast. Safety Needs: These needs require the strength and protective instincts that the monster affords us all, our pursuit of security, employment, law & health are actually consistent with this. Psychological Needs: As we climb Maslow’s Hierarchy we see the emergence of the human intellect, compassion, control, in other word’s the ‘Jekyll’ to the ‘Hyde’ that we have been discussing. In obtaining the Psychological Needs(Family, Affection, Relationships, A Work Group)we must control the beast, and use the powers of judgement that come with our advanced intellect. Esteem Needs: Most would think that we had taken the final step away from the beast, but remember that the beast is proud and vain, both necessary aspects of self-esteem. Self-Actualization: Now that we have reached the pinnacle of Maslow’s Hierarchy,
we find the emergence of our personal Dr Jekyll, the creativity, morality, problem-solving, acceptance……but what gives us this drive to achieve these aspects, what gives us the energy and strength to reach this point…..the beast.
inside, given into the baser predatory instincts. These are societies criminals, individual who have created their own form of self-actualization, sociopaths. When 
control is removed from the beast this is the result. But worry not, those who have left societies norms have been found to have some form of moral or psychological defect….these are the few, most of us have learned to integrate our own personal Mr Hyde with our Dr Jekyll into healthy productive lives.
Cognoscere 