Some folks just don’t appreciate my twisted sense of humor . . . and I don’t blame them . . . I received a coupld unhappy comments from folks who didn’t spot the clues to the ghostly car video post from folks who watched the video very intently looking for that white mist only to have the willies frightened out of them . . . one of my students tells me that she spilled her orange juice all over her table when she saw the effect.

When I saw it the first time . . . and I’ve seen so many of these that it is amazing how many I still fall for . . . I ended up having to clean Diet Coke off my monitor . . . a whole mouthfull of Diet Coke . . . it was quite the sticky mess.

A commenter at youtube where I host the video was less than kind. He was rather upset at having the bejeepers scared out of himself and a little bit outraged that I posted the bit as he thought I was serious when posting the piece.

Actually, I was very serious when I posted it, but not about the same things that the text of the so-called ghost story claimed to be. The point I was making about perceptions, language, and images is still quite real. The shock effect is very obvious but it is heightened due to expectations created by the framing story. If a filmmaker merely uses shock shots and cuts, they can have an immediate effect but the audience becomes jaded. Better to build dynamic tension . . . we are waiting for the mist so we KNOW something spooky will happen . . . tension rises . . . so the payoff is much more powerful . . . spilled Orange Juice or spat Diet Coke and all.

Unlike most sites carrying this and similar pieces, at least I was nice enough to warn folks with heart conditions or sensitive natures NOT to watch . . . of course, in the 1960s they had nurses stationed at theatres for the first Psycho and such warnings only increases the curiousity value of others, performing a two-fold function of plausible deniablity and liability protection while increasing interest and enhancing expectation . . . another aspect of influence . . . if something is forbidden then interest rises . . . the Catholic Church and The Da Vinci Code are a wonderful example as the Church actually increased sales exponentially of the book and attendance for the movie by telling Church members it is "dangerous" to their religion and they should NOT see it (one professor told me her Pastor told everyone at their church they were forbidden to see it) . . . when I was a kid and told not to see Jesus Christ Superstar it certainly made me want to see it all the more (and I did and I loved it – btw, yes, there is a subtext that Mary Magdelene loves Christ in that film as well).

In any case, I hope the orange juice wasn’t too big a mess for you to clean up.

All the best,
Brian

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]Certified Hypnotherapist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.briandavidphillips.com