Irony

When I was a kid, one of my favorite shows was Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I was not born when the series was on television, but I watched reruns on a station that showed shows from the 60s. The interesting thing about the show was that it hit on the fact that Irony could be very scary. Almost every episode followed a formula where the was a mystery that had a creepy build-up that ended in an ironic plot twist that was scary and often lingered in my mind for a few days. This formula was present in almost every episode, yet it was done so craftily that it almost always worked.

From what I can see, using irony to scare people is a lost artform. This formula was used in the movie "The Sixth Sense" and it worked very well. I have seen other movies that attempted to do something similar to this but it didn't work nearly as well. I think that this is funny because Alfred Hitchcock used this Formula for a half-hour every week (or however often the show aired) and was always successful with it. The Twililight zone aired at the same time as Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Since The Twilight Zone often used this same formula, A person could see an hour worth of that type of plot every week and it was always quality.

I wonder why irony is not used to scare people anymore. Maybe they overused that style in the 60's and no one wanted to use it anymore. It would be great if someone cared enough to perfect it again, though...

I Don't Know Where I Am

There are so many situations where things are very much not what they seem to be by outward appearances. Looking at it with no further context, it basically looks like standard fanfare. Then someone explains that there is more to it and casts a completely different light on ths situation. I remember once when I was in Hollywood, I went to a bar by myself. This was a pretty standard bar and the theme was that it played a certain type of music. It seemed pretty typical and this was always the case when I was there with friends. A guy who I knew randomly from being around Hollywood in general advised me that I should always go to that particular bar w/ a girl and that I would never meet girls at that particualr bar. I was talking to a girl right at that moment when he showed up but apparently what I was experiencing right then was a very unrandom sample of what happens there. This is an intense paraphrasing of the conversation but it definitely made me think long and hard about what I think I am seeing when I look at a stiutation and whether it is a different place altogther to a person who has some "insider-info" about it.