This morning, as a favour to a friend who doesn’t have an internet connection (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it), I looked up P. S. I Love You and was surprised to find on HMV that they considered the ‘perfect partners’ for this three tissue movie to be I Am Legend and Twilight Saga: New Moon. Talk about your WTF moments! Either there’s a bit more to the ‘dead guy’ angle in P. S. than the plot synopsis suggests or horror movies have grown a lot more wimpish in recent years.
At the weekend I watched Spirited Away which I taped over Christmas, and a delightful film it was too, the story of a young girl who stumbles across an abandoned fun fair which is now home to the Japanese gods and spirits. All through I kept thinking how the various bit players on the supernatural side of things put me in mind of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos – shadowy figures floating down night time streets, tentacled monstrosities etc. I’m wondering if his influence has now grown so pervasive that Studio Ghibli took on board some of HPL’s ideas, or if the old guy was actually influenced by Japanese mythology (we know from reading his Supernatural Horror in Literature essay that HPL was aware of oriental tales via Lafcadio Hearn – and I really need to find a window of opportunity to read Hearn myself, as HPL makes him sound fascinating). Which came first, Cthulhu or the Stink Monster? Skipping forward a few years, will we see a Pixar release in which the Old Ones hang out at Neverland? Now there’s an idea!
One last thing, go check out the online version of Sein und Werden: Pharmacopoeia, which has just hit a internet outlet near you, and if you’re one of those lucky people who still have disposable income you might consider purchasing the print version. Make editor Rachel Kendall happy. She deserves it.
Trumpetville 