Halloween, Horror, and Science Fiction

Posted bykeithpetersen80Posted inChristian ApologeticsTags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,

My wife and I are homeschooling the son of close friends of ours. The curriculum that his charter school asked us to use includes a language arts textbook with a unit on horror, which we were going to start this week. However, he said that he doesn’t want to read any horror stories, and I’m certainly not going to make him do so; we’ll just read some essays about horror and move on from there.

Not coincidentally, I’m sure, Halloween is just a day away, which has caused me to think even more about the horror genre, especially since the streaming service we subscribe to has been advertising such movies. I’ve written before about how old horror movies (up until the late ’70s) usually portrayed monsters as evil creatures that were, in the end, destroyed. In contrast, over the last 45 years or so, there has been an increasing tendency to portray monsters (especially vampires) as sympathetic, even attractive creatures; the Twilight series of movies (2008-2012) is a prominent example. Another difference is that the purpose of horror movies used to be to frighten people; in the last three decades or so, from what I’ve read, many seem at least as focused on grossing people out.

There is another genre of fiction which has been my favorite ever since I was a young boy: science fiction. While there have been some movies, TV series, and books that have incorporated horror elements (the Alien series of movies comes to mind), for the most part, sci-fi has not lost its original ability to impart a sense of wonder rather than fright. The best sci-fi sends one’s imagination soaring to other worlds–sometimes quite literally.

Another element of some of the best sci-fi which I eventually came to understand and love is heroism. I noticed this last summer when I watched the 12 Monkeys series; there are at least three primary characters that make the ultimate sacrifice. You can also see this in The Stand TV miniseries (1994), which portrays two groups of humanity after a virus wipes out most of the human race; one group is evil and led by a demon (in human form), while the other is not merely good, but is led by a godly character. For those who are familiar with Isaac Asimov (the greatest sci-fi writer ever!), you may recall that in his novel Second Foundation (part of a seven-book series), a group of 50 scientists make the ultimate sacrifice. As a final example, who could forget Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is killed by Darth Vader in the original Star Wars movie.

A third element of sci-fi which took me longer to appreciate was its poignancy, which is intertwined with the heroism in the four series (above). We also see this poignancy in different ways in Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past book trilogy, starting with the well-known The Three-Body Problem. That first book in the series has also been made into a popular Netflix series. If you want to “lose” yourself in a sci-fi trilogy that you’ll never forget, I strongly recommend Liu’s trilogy.

Sci-fi sometimes has elements of learning a new language. This applies to the setting (time and place), but also sometimes quite literally to the language. If you read the first book in Frank Herbert’s Dune series of six books, you will find a 22-page glossary to help you understand the book better!

As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, this post is primarily about why sci-fi is the best genre ever! I’ve only touched on some of the best. I hadn’t even mentioned the original Star Trek TV series yet! There’s certainly bad sci-fi out there, too, but if you’re looking for something that will send your imagination soaring rather than frightening and grossing you out, I recommend sci-fi. (OK, sometimes sci-fi can be frightening, but in a different way.) One final TV series I’ll mention is Fringe; it has what reviewers commonly refer to as “disturbing images,” but Season 2, Episode 16 (“Peter”) is my favorite TV episode (of any series, any genre) of all time. It has at least two of the elements of sci-fi that make it such a great genre.

In closing, I’ve written in another post that on Halloween, my wife and I give trick-or-treaters candy with an attached message. This year, our church couple’s fellowship group has decided to do this together, and here is the message: “For many people, Halloween is a time to fear. Witches, ghosts, and the like may be fun, but at the same time they can cause fear. But the Lord says to those who know Him, ‘Don’t fear because I am with you and will guide you.’ Have a fun—and fearless—Halloween.”

16 thoughts on “Halloween, Horror, and Science Fiction”

  1. Hi Keith, just about all Chinese-American pastors and church leaders that I’m aware of feel that Christians should not celebrate Halloween even though many kids from evangelical families go trick or treating, I don’t know about evangelical pastors of other ethnicities such as whites, blacks, and Hispanics, I would appreciate it if you clarify this point for me. I am uneasy with images of ghosts, witches, skeletons, and demons myself. Thank you for your kind attention.

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    1. Tony, when I first messaged our fellowship group about the messages that we attach to the candy, I didn’t necessarily expect the others (mostly Chinese) to respond that they would like to do the same thing; however, some of them did, which is why we’re doing it together this year! This is a way to “redeem” the holiday and reach out to unbelievers, but I understand that many Christians are still uncomfortable with Halloween. This probably includes the majority of Chinese-Americans, as you say; we see plenty of Hispanic trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood, which doesn’t surprise me because they celebrate the Day of the Dead. Whites seem to be mixed about the issue, as do blacks, but Christian leaders that I’ve heard in various media are almost universally against it.

      As always, I appreciate your comment!

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    1. Thanks, Michael. Like every schoolboy back in the day, I had to read some of his works, starting with “The Tell-Tale Heart.” In fact, that’s the story (no surprise) starting off the horror unit that I referred to at the beginning of my post. I’m not a big fan of his tortured mind, but I understand why his works are included in literature books.

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  4. Although it’s been, probably over sixty years since I’ve read “The Tell-Tale Heart,” I remember it well. That one, and another short story by Edgar Allan Poe “The cask of amontillado.” I found both of them online, and read them again. I think his mind was broken.

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  5. “The Black Cat” is another, maybe the “best.” I didn’t read “The Pit and the Pendulum,” but I did watch the1961 film directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr and Luana Anders.

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    1. Thanks, Brother. As I mentioned in the post, he’s the son (eighth grade) of close friends. This is our second (and final) year of doing it. He’ll continue at the charter school next year; I think he’s made a good transition from public school (where he wasn’t doing well either academically or socially) to charter school (where he’s doing better, especially socially). We teach him some at our house, and he’s also in a couple other classes with teachers and other kids.

      Oh, I almost forgot to tell you: the Lord has provided our church with a pastor (from mainland China, but he and his family have been living in the States now for a few years). Today is his first official day “on the job,” but they’ve been with us for three weeks. Thank You, Lord!!

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    1. Thanks, Annie. There was one brother who questioned in the chat app that my church uses whether we should “celebrate” Halloween; we had some good discussion, including my posting what my family has been doing for years. And in fact, as I mentioned in the post, our couple’s fellowship group decided to do this together; we played games in someone’s garage and passed out messaged candy as kids stopped by.

      And by the way, I remember seeing that photo on your blog before; love it! 💗

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