EP420: The Shunned Trailer

[Yttermayn]

So is everything in the parade from a movie?   I  am scratching my head,  trying to figure out why none of it sounds familiar,  except maybe the Pacific rim robots at the end and the unmistakable elysium reference.  What are these other things I've somehow missed out on,  Alistair?   Pm me? 

[Unblinking]

I also like it as worldbuilding. In a world where there's Miskatonic University and priests of Cthulhu to to Yale Divinity, how cool do the magic powers have to be at Harvard?

That was my take on it too.  I didn't think it was out of character for him at all to have superpowers.  He is a Harvard man, after all, and if he is to be believed there is no greater pedigree of humanity under the sun than a Harvard man.

[Alasdair5000]

I also like it as worldbuilding. In a world where there's Miskatonic University and priests of Cthulhu to to Yale Divinity, how cool do the magic powers have to be at Harvard?

That was my take on it too.  I didn't think it was out of character for him at all to have superpowers.  He is a Harvard man, after all, and if he is to be believed there is no greater pedigree of humanity under the sun than a Harvard man.

Some movies, some comics, a little TV. There'll be a complete rundown of both this and the Pseudopod parade going up shortly:)

[PotatoKnight]

I also like it as worldbuilding. In a world where there's Miskatonic University and priests of Cthulhu to to Yale Divinity, how cool do the magic powers have to be at Harvard?

That was my take on it too.  I didn't think it was out of character for him at all to have superpowers.  He is a Harvard man, after all, and if he is to be believed there is no greater pedigree of humanity under the sun than a Harvard man.

The enticing question is, what are other schools like? We get mention of Radcliffe and (the author's alma mater) Vassar. As a westerner, I have to wonder how MIT and Harvard's western rivals Caltech and Stanford compare. And whether people to to the University of Iowa to get their MFA in Unspeakable Text Writing, to CalArts for Idol Sculpting, or to Cornell for Horrifying Non-Eclidean Archictecture.

[Unblinking]

I also like it as worldbuilding. In a world where there's Miskatonic University and priests of Cthulhu to to Yale Divinity, how cool do the magic powers have to be at Harvard?

That was my take on it too.  I didn't think it was out of character for him at all to have superpowers.  He is a Harvard man, after all, and if he is to be believed there is no greater pedigree of humanity under the sun than a Harvard man.

The enticing question is, what are other schools like? We get mention of Radcliffe and (the author's alma mater) Vassar. As a westerner, I have to wonder how MIT and Harvard's western rivals Caltech and Stanford compare. And whether people to to the University of Iowa to get their MFA in Unspeakable Text Writing, to CalArts for Idol Sculpting, or to Cornell for Horrifying Non-Eclidean Archictecture.

Yes!  Awesome questions.

[Unblinking]

I also like it as worldbuilding. In a world where there's Miskatonic University and priests of Cthulhu to to Yale Divinity, how cool do the magic powers have to be at Harvard?

That was my take on it too.  I didn't think it was out of character for him at all to have superpowers.  He is a Harvard man, after all, and if he is to be believed there is no greater pedigree of humanity under the sun than a Harvard man.

Some movies, some comics, a little TV. There'll be a complete rundown of both this and the Pseudopod parade going up shortly:)

Al, I think you meant to quote Yttermayn's post. 

[Peevester]

This was a very long way to go for an Ivy League rivalry joke, but the delivery was so good that I can't dislike it.

[BLCrawshaw]

Southern Fried Cthulhu. This was an awesome story! It had me laughing from beginning to end. I really enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek humor. It reminded me of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman in which the seriousness of certain religious people does not matter to divine beings. Also, Ma reminded me of Ma Vreedle from Ben 10: Omniverse
Quite the resemblance, huh? Other than that, this story really made my night and helped me get through the rest of work day. Keep that awesome stories coming!

[InfiniteMonkey]

It took me longer than it should have to get to this, and I'm sorry of that, because it was hysterically funny. I should have known what I was in for the minute I heard the word "Cyclopian".

And making it all the more funny was Norm's Dennis Leary-Ian Shoales-Hunter S. Thompson growl (though perhaps that's the wrong term... purr?).

As for Alasdair's challenge, I can be sure of really only two, Oblivion and Pacific Rim... is the this the right place for speculation?

[PotatoKnight]

The one I was sure of was Alien -- or more specifically Ripley ("the survivor").  I think there was also some Roadside Picnic/Stalker/S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but I may be misremembering.

[Windup]

Yeah, I heard Ripley as "the survivor" as well. 

And was the first float Roberts Universal Robots?  I haven't read it -- I thought it was a play -- but I see references to it as having popularized the use of the word "robot" to mean a human-like machine.  I think it's actually a Czech word that means "worker" but the author applied it to the "mechanical workers" in his story.

I think I got "Oblivion," and the robots of "Pacific Rim" as well.  But that's about it…

[Fenrix]

Y'all really need to see The World's End.

[Jen]

I loved this one - giggled my way through the afternoon rush and even enjoyed the commute. And Norm's reading made the story even better!

[Prophet]

Beautifully written. Masterfully read. Enjoyable from start to finish. Not much else I can say.

This story reminded me of EP25: The Great Old Pumpkin.

[eigenvector]

The writing and narration were excellent, but the concept is problematic. The story is comparing poor religious people who live in trailers with hideous creatures that worship the Elder Gods. Classism is a prejudice like any other, and it's something I'd like to see less of in fiction.

[Windup]

The writing and narration were excellent, but the concept is problematic. The story is comparing poor religious people who live in trailers with hideous creatures that worship the Elder Gods. Classism is a prejudice like any other, and it's something I'd like to see less of in fiction.

I thought about that as I was listening to it, but realized that the story was equally unsparing in it's ridicule of the Ivy League elite.  Even Lord Cthulhu (and by extension, H.P. Lovecraft) didn't escape unscathed. 

I invoke the "Will & Grace Exception" on this one:  It isn't mean-spirited if you make fun of EVERYBODY. 

[InfiniteMonkey]

The writing and narration were excellent, but the concept is problematic. The story is comparing poor religious people who live in trailers with hideous creatures that worship the Elder Gods. Classism is a prejudice like any other, and it's something I'd like to see less of in fiction.

I'm not sure I agree. The trailer-park Cthulhu worshippers are blessedly free of pretention when they discuss their northern cousins.

Does it indulge in stereotypes? Yeah. But I don't think the author is equating ALL trailer-park people with hideous creatures, but more "wouldn't be funny if Lovecraft's creatures lived in a rural American trailer park?"

And the narrator is clearly a feckless cad in any case.

[Fenrix]

Fear of The Other is a frequent theme in Lovecraft, both in terms of race and class. "The Lurking Fear" and "The Picture in the House" are both very effective stories where the protagonist's fear of the degenerate mongrel population fuel the unease they feel in the area. The classism is yet another nod towards Lovecraft, and handled in an irreverent but balanced fashion. 

[evrgrn_monster]

I had a lot of fun riding along with this story. Normally, I'm not usually one for satire. My main issue with satirical pieces that are so focused on a single author or subject matter is that oftentimes, they forget to actually be a story, as opposed to just a joke. That's what separates movies like Shaun of the Dead from just your normal satirical horror blah-fests; take out all the humor from Shaun, and you have a truly horrifying zombie movie. It never forgets to love where it came from. This story gave me the same feeling. Take out the humor, and it's classic Lovecraft - horrific and hopeless - and that's what made it a great story. Sure it was funny, absolutely hilarious, in fact, but underneath all the weird condoms and haughty ivy-league bashing was something pretty bone-chilling. Major props to the author, because it was obvious that this was someone who adores the work of Lovecraft, and lovingly hacked it apart to make a great piece of short fiction.

That being said, I do have a shameful enjoyment of the first Scary Movie. Guilty pleasure right there.

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

I'm going to join in the love fest for this one.  Pure hilarious fun.  The author's witty language delighted me throughout this piece.  Where else would you get a line like: "Her mouth was something that even Mick Jagger would have to kiss in installments"?

[bizbrig]

Ten thumbs up.

[PotatoKnight]

Fear of The Other is a frequent theme in Lovecraft, both in terms of race and class.

Didn't want to necessarily derail the conversation about this story (which is very much not saying that low-income folk are like Cthuhlu-worshipers since it outright says that lots of privileged folks are also Cthuhlu-worshipers, but whose trailer park portrayal is not unproblematic) with a discussion of problematic things about Lovecraft, but yeah. I would go further than the above and say Lovecraft was a capital-R Racist.  You know how we say that some people are racist by today's standards but reasonable by the standards of their time? Lovecraft was pretty racist by the standards of his time. It's pretty hard to read some of his stories aloud without constantly cringing.

The interesting question that I've never seen addressed and I'm not sure how I feel about is whether the genre of cosmic horror itself (which I do quite like) can be fully divorced from the racism of its origins (which is not just Lovecraft's). That Fear of the Other you mention is the emotional core of the genre. That Other in more contempiorary pieces is a lot more "alien" than different races or classes of human beings.  Yet there is something uncomfortable, when you think about it, about a genre that roots itself in the same fears that have given rise to the worst human atrocities and treats those fears as reasonable. That aspect of the genre is very resonant and maybe that's the real, secret, uncosmic horror.

Bringing this back to the story at hand, it is possible to see this story as it plays with the genre conventions as pushing back a bit against this uncomfortable part of the genre. This story takes the Other from the Lovecraft stories and makes it Us. Some Cthuhlu worshipers are not unlike charismatic Christian denominations, others basically like mainline Protestants. Cthuhlu himself is no unimaginable alien intelligence--just a guy, and one willing to show up and help out in a natural disaster. The rising of Ry'leh is basically an engineering project. Though I won't say it's part of the story's purpose, it is interesting how a more or less loving ribbing of the genre can also puncture one of its roots.

[Fenrix]

Didn't want to necessarily derail the conversation about this story (which is very much not saying that low-income folk are like Cthuhlu-worshipers since it outright says that lots of privileged folks are also Cthuhlu-worshipers, but whose trailer park portrayal is not unproblematic) with a discussion of problematic things about Lovecraft, but yeah. I would go further than the above and say Lovecraft was a capital-R Racist.  You know how we say that some people are racist by today's standards but reasonable by the standards of their time? Lovecraft was pretty racist by the standards of his time. It's pretty hard to read some of his stories aloud without constantly cringing.

The interesting question that I've never seen addressed and I'm not sure how I feel about is whether the genre of cosmic horror itself (which I do quite like) can be fully divorced from the racism of its origins (which is not just Lovecraft's). That Fear of the Other you mention is the emotional core of the genre. That Other in more contempiorary pieces is a lot more "alien" than different races or classes of human beings.  Yet there is something uncomfortable, when you think about it, about a genre that roots itself in the same fears that have given rise to the worst human atrocities and treats those fears as reasonable. That aspect of the genre is very resonant and maybe that's the real, secret, uncosmic horror.

I think it would be more accurate to say he was raised and started his writing career as a "capital-R Racist" but as he matured and saw more of the world, his views became more tempered. The jaw-droppingly offensive pieces are earlier in his career, and he got significantly better after he move back to Providence from New York City. There's a definite evolution, not a toggle switch flipped to hate.

One interesting interpretation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth that I've read is a coming to terms with being The Other. Our protagonist finds out by the end that he is one of Them. And rather than being full of self loathing and dread, it's almost a hopeful ending full of acceptance.

"I shall plan my cousin’s escape from that Canton madhouse, and together we shall go to marvel-shadowed Innsmouth. We shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to Cyclopean and many-columned Y’ha-nthlei, and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever."

[Gary]

This story snuck up on me and then had me laughing out loud. The 1% meet the none%. Just so much fun!

I will say that when the tornado showed up though, some of the air went out of it and when the frat boy suddenly had powers, it kind of spoiled the joke for me. For me, the joke wasn't the red-neck stereo-types, or Cthulu worshipers or frog people ... but that this guy suddenly finds himself in the midst of this utterly impossible and alien situation and doesn't freak-out because that just wouldn't be done! So he just acts normal. He's in waay over his head but continues to act as if he was in control of things.

When he suddenly turns out to have powers it's like "Oh. That's why he didn't freak out. This IS all perfectly normal to him and he actually was in control the whole time."

Still, up until then the ride was worth the effort!

[bounceswoosh]

I tried to rationalize the portrayal of the "hicks" by figuring it was just the college boy's point of view, and that he was pretty scathing in his descriptions of everyone in the story, not just the trailer park residents - but ultimately it was just too uncomfortable.  I liked the story, but I also felt it was, as PotatoKnight said, "problematic."  And I'm not sure how you could write the same story without having those problematic elements.  And yes, it was funny.  But substitute the hicks with black people with caricature physical features, eating watermelon and fried chicken, and see if you can stomach it.

My husband went to MIT, so I *did* laugh out loud at the last few lines!