Hashtag HorrorFam

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

It is Friday the 13th today, and the horror community on Twitter has gone bonkers. 

As you know, I've been tweeting for about six weeks now. At first, it felt odd to me. I am, as you know, a verbose fellow, and the idea of confining my published musings to short bursts felt weird.

But the #HorrorFam or #HorrorFamily as they refer to themselves have been a delightful surprise to me. If your mental picture of a horror movie fan is of a hideous 13 year old boy in a smelly t-shirt. Or a 39 year old version of same, then me too. 

I am guilty of profiling. 

But while I am quite sure there are a number of teenage boys in the hashtag horrorfam, there is a surprising amount of diversity there too. 

In fact, the statistics I've seen quoted appear to be borne out. Most of the horror community on Twitter appears to be women. It's way over half, probably more like three-quarters. And definitely a high proportion of LGBTQ as well. 

There are scholarly theories on this. Most of them laid out in a very influential book called - I'm not kidding - "Men, Women and Chainsaws". In the book, it is explained that horror is the most feminist of all genres.

"But don't women just get naked and die?" asked Caro.

I had to admit, this happens more than you'd think.

But horror films have also been featuring women heroes for at least 40 years. It's the genre where women talk to each other about things that are not boys, or babies or marriage. And when I stopped to think about it, all of my favourite actors - Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton and Jessica Lange are all from horror. It was a bit of a revelation. 

Although - before we get too far away from stereotypes - a lot of the women on Twitter do tend to be called things like "Lavinia Moonchild" and post pictures of themselves with too much eyeshadow, looking angst-ridden. 

The horror family is also remarkably progressive and liberal. Almost no right-wing voices. 

And - randomly - a very high proportion of wrestling fans. I'm not sure what that is about. 

But what I find really interesting is how self-aware they all are. They post things about the current political situation in the USA, or Covid-19 or online bullying. They openly say that the #HorrorFam is where they feel safest, and they retreat to a world of blood and gore and Gothic monstrosity to release their anxieties. 

I love it. These people are smart, and self-aware. And remarkably sensitive. Yes, their movies are full of machete murders, but the people who like them are - for the most part - gentle and sweet-natured. They have really been very sweet and encouraging to me too. Those who have listened to the podcast seem to understand what I'm trying to do and they like it. I feel like I have been accepted into the tribe.

So it has been very nice interacting with these people. Though not as satisfying as talking to you, dear friends. I don't know why but I experienced a severe PANG today. I have moments of PANG often that I do not tell you about. And today, you were PANGING about all over the place.

I feel a need to sublimate these feelings. I may need to watch a disembowelling.

S.

p.s. Happy Friday the 13th.
p.p.s. Jason Lives.