welcometonightvale
patreon
Director's Notes: 225 - Renegotiations
🕑 Added 2023-04-03 14:04:48 +0000 UTCOne of the scariest short films I've seen is Mama (I put the link here for you, but just know if you're not into horror, proceed with caution.) It's 2 minutes of freaky, disconcerting frights.
In 2013, Guillermo del Toro produced a feature-length version of this short. Cecil, filmmaker Isa Mazzei, and I reviewed it for the Random Horror No. 9 podcast. I really enjoyed the feature film, though I found it far less frightening. It's compelling. It's scary at points. It's tense, of course. But at the heart of it, it explains the story of "Mama" from the original short film.
Explanations are anathema to horror. Horror thrives in the unknown. I've said it many times before: Seeing a spider on your wall is scary; but looking back and realizing the spider is gone is horror.
When we learn why a ghost is a ghost, or when we're told exactly what the terrible/deadly monster really is, it diminishes the horror. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. Again, the feature-length Mama is a good movie if you don't go in with the same terror-based expectations of the original short. But backstorying a villain in horror is a bit like explaining a joke in comedy. It provides clarity, but it dulls the bite.
The University of What It Is serves as this kind of killjoy in Welcome to Night Vale. Night Vale has always eschewed explanation, but it's been an enjoyable challenge for Joseph and me to explore this type of meta-villainy. Dr. Janet Lubelle and her cronies are enemies not only of the city of Night Vale, but of the creative team too.
We're always creating antagonists that can pose real threats and ramp up true tension, and some of those threats are physical (giant worm things destroying town), some are existential (strexcorp synernists), and in the case of Dr. Lubelle, we're getting to play in the metaphysical terror, even as she tries to strip away the horror one explanation at a time.
-Jeffrey Cranor
April 1, 2023
Comments
Rob Cottingham
When Dr. Lubelle looks at Cecil with pity, tells him his perceived reality has been shattered, and that she'd love to study his 'confused brain' โ she and her university suddenly struck me in several different ways. As the enemy of the willing suspension of disbelief that makes dramatic fiction possible; as the voice of doubt in a wildly creative moment, telling you to retreat to safer, better-known territory; as the easy cynicism that can so readily be deployed against sincerity, vulnerability or wonder. I don't think I've ever encountered a villain before who doesn't just threaten the world in the story, but the story itself. She's a marvelous invention.
sorcererinthestars
Brand new to Patreon but I'm loving everything about this. Thanks for all that you do.
Courtney Wathne
While the strex corp arc is amazing and a classic relisten, this current arc not only shows the growth of the characters but for you as well as writers.
Tyler Johnson
I can definitely say the tension is ramped up and I am on the edge of my seat with this storyline
Vivika Kerridge
My poor bruised heart. I may need some time to recover ๐ฅ amazing episode, loving this arc and desperately hoping for some good comeuppance...
