House reader Todd Ford sends along this essay, which he wrote for his site Cinema 100 Film Society on low-budget blockbuster Paranormal Activity. An excerpt:
"So, consider this proposition: Paranormal Activity is in one sense a nice, scary little demon-possession story about a guy who is a bit of an immature jerk sharing a haunted house with his girlfriend. And it is also an allegory representing a case study in domestic violence."
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It's poor form, I know, but I thought you might enjoy my take on the subtextual dynamics of Paranormal, such as they are: http://thatfuzzybastard.blogspot.com/2009/10/paranormal-activity.html
I say poor form be damned. I thoroughly enjoyed your post on the movie. The aspect of the hauntings representing fears of future parenthood (if I followed your train of thought correctly) is quite compelling. I guess it suggests the movie to be Eraserhead's cousin.
Yeah, exactly. Relevant too that the hauntings something from Katie's childhood---in that sense, it's related to The Shining, one of the great movies about a parent's fear that they'll treat their children as badly as their parents did.
I'd have to see it again to get the quote right, but Katie refers to Micah as being like a child and wanting him to grow up. And I even described him in my essay as immature. This relates to fears of future parenthood as well, specifically her fears that the man she's with may not be daddy material. Maybe the final text refers to her being "out of there?"
Or another thought related to fears of parenthood. When Micah and Katie go out for dinner -- something they would find hard to do as new parents -- Micah leaves the Ouija board behind for the demon to play with. The demon fumbles with it a bit and then throws a tantrum like a child left home alone. (I wish now that I could remember the words Micah wrote down as possibilities that the demon was trying to communicate.) Is the demon mad because daddy takes mommy away without even having the decency to hire a proper babysitter?
I believe the demon was writing the name of the previous girl to fall victim to the demon, the one they later look up online (I wonder if that site was created as a viral, and if it can be found now?). I do love the idea of the demon as a cranky child left home alone, though.
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