« 090: Solstice | Main | 092: The Failure of Family Trees » July 07, 2004

091: The Manuscript That Kills

In the Apocalyptic Thriller, there is a MANUSCRIPT. I was off doing some research about the Necronomicon and realized that it, and the others like it, serve a very important function in the Apocalyptic Thriller: they are both the device which warns of impending doom as well as the means by which doom is unleashed upon the world. Convenient that. Invariably the MANUSCRIPT drives the reader mad or, at the very least, allows demons to enter this dimension who, in turn, eat the brain of the reader.

Same result, essentially, just differing special effects budgets.

The MANUSCRIPT is the last gasp effort of the good guys to not die in vain; it is their attempt to leave a record of what they learned so that the next generation won't make the same mistake. The villains win if they destroy every record which counters their version of history and, because we can't stand the idea that evil really truly does win, we always provide for a way that the heroes can pass on their wisdom to the next generation. This is the OLD MAN's last will and testament, kids, one last note about the demonic forces massing beyond this purple barrier that has been kept intact by his persistent will for the last fifty years.

Why they always write the words you shouldn't read aloud in the frontspiece before the warning label that says, "Do not, under pain of terrible and awful death, read any of this text out loud" is just part of the way stories are written. You know, it's the first law: THINGS GET WORSE.

I'll readily admit that I have a fascination with manuscripts. Not that you could tell by the way I traffic for things at chain used bookstores. Hoping I'll find a gem that won't cost me an arm or a leg, I suppose. I don't even really know what I would do if a real MANUSCRIPT fell in my lap. (Well, other than reading it out loud, I suppose.) I still get a kick out of how Sam Raimi pulled off the old manuscript trick in Evil Dead II: he had the old scientist record himself reading from it as part of his field notes. So, when our young demon fodder show up and wonder where everyone is, someone -- without fail -- has to say, "Hey? What's this recorder? I wonder what is on it."

I suppose manuscripts are the lure of the modern occultist. It's hard to find a real Master in this day and age to learn from the knee of. You have to find your way through books. And, because Master isn't there to correct your pronouciation or remind you to close the pentagram before you get started, we do what all eager youngsters do with a new toy: we play with it immediately and read the instructions later.

Posted by Teppo at July 7, 2004 11:18 PM

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