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A Belated Halloween History - Monsters Edition

Posted by Zonk on from the blah-blah dept.

uriah923 writes "Nick Dilmore has published the second edition in his Snarky Halloween History series, featured on Slashdot last year. This time around, he concentrates on movie monsters: vampires, werewolves and zombies. From the article: '[D]id you know the movie monsters we've all to come to know and love (in a platonic way, of course) have colorful histories stretching back to the earliest civilizations? What, you didn't think some Hollywood hack actually had enough imagination to invent vampires, werewolves, and zombies, did you? Silly, silly non-monster-trivia knowing person.'"

5 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. Wow! by trickyrickb · · Score: 4, Funny

    I always though slashdot invented trolls!

  2. Yes, we know by the_womble · · Score: 3, Interesting

    did you know the movie monsters we've all to come to know and love (in a platonic way, of course) have colorful histories stretching back to the earliest civilizations?
    I suppose a completely ignorant illiterate might not realise that these monsters are based on folklore.

    Someone who did some basic research, rather than just reproducing what Wikipedia says, might could even have written an intersting article about the subject.

    This article deserves to be eaten by the Snark - one monster that is not based on folklore!

    1. Re:Yes, we know by orangesquid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Folklore, definitely. But, folklore as most people think of it is a pretty simplistic notion. There's a lot more to the culture and beliefs of our ancestors. paganlibrary.com has some interesting things on Halloween and, also to some extent, our modern monsters (primarily: see Witch's Thoughts, All Hallow's Eve, Origins Of Halloween; also useful: Death of Llew, Derivation of the Word "Witch", Wiccan Sabbats, the (mildly humorous) Public Service Announcement, and perhaps /phpBB2/viewtopic.php?=&p=52511 -- they all show up within the first 30 hits.)

      (defining) Halloween: A pagan holiday perpetuated by the American Dental Assoc.

      {insert obligatory HAIL ERIS ALL HAIL DISCORDIA ... obligatory for me, at least!}

      --
      --TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
  3. Re:Yeah... by geezer+nerd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Our ancestors probably didn't have the governments terrorizing them!

    What? You don't watch Robin Hood on TV? Just look what that evil sheriff does to his people!

  4. Do the editors think we are morons? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2, Interesting

    did you know the movie monsters we've all to come to know and love (in a platonic way, of course) have colorful histories stretching back to the earliest civilizations? What, you didn't think some Hollywood hack actually had enough imagination to invent vampires, werewolves, and zombies, did you?


    Do the editors think we are morons? Or was this article just posted so anyone with an IQ > 60 could rip this loser a new one?

    I think the fact that I'm about comment #13 on a seven-hour topic says it all...