July 11 - Michael Myers Resplendent

All right, let's be heretics.

This song could not be more different from the previous album. Huge, bombastic, drums like gunshots, soaring strings, and a narrative about the focal role of the killer in a slasher film.

I love a good villain. And my definition of "good villain" is very particular. I love a character who moves the narrative, whose presence is the cause of action. I love seeing the motivation that means that the story is something instead of nothing. Sometimes that's revenge, sometimes it's something complicated and human, sometimes it's simply that the world is one way and a force of chaos needs it to be another way. What's crucial is that they have a reason, and it's true to them. The worst horror films are the ones where the person committing the crimes doesn't seem to know why they're doing it. They're just Bad. Or worse, they're not even Bad, they're just an enemy for the narrative to fight against.

And when done right, the villain of the narrative could be retold as the hero in other circumstances. I'm a huge fan of the TTRPG Actual Play podcast Worlds Beyond Number, and without giving away anything that happens in their stories, there is a villain in one narrative who is, on their own terms, not only entirely justified, but acting in a way that requires bravery, resourcefulness, and a fair degree of self sacrifice. They are working hard to do the right thing, and it's not their fault that the people around them can't see it. But more than that, they're someone who is clever and charming and personable. The GM of this arc stated that he wanted to create a character whose personal morality was as far from his own as humanly possible, and then make the audience like them. That's a tall order, but it's only by achieving that tall order that you get a truly wonderful villain.

Michael Myers is a very other school of thought to me. A force of nature. A chaotic agent acting upon the world. A living motivation, the simplest story of all. And that's why it's his story.

See you next time for more heresy.