The Woman in Black

On sunday I watched the Woman in Black with a friend when we had arrived too late at the cinema to watch The Artist.
'You do know it's a Horror' warned my friend.
'Bah, It's Daniel Radcliff, I'll laugh throughout it' said I, waving her off while paying for the tickets.

I did not laugh, nor did I scream, I just simultaneously gasped and stopped breathing. That was when I was actually watching, which was 70% of the time, the remainder of which I sat as far down in my seat clutching my friend's hand and cover my eyes with the other. She wasn't much help when I would ask what was happenning as she was covering her eyes too. 20 minutes into the film, I was dying for it to finish, literally dying, if my tachycardia and stalled breathing had anything to do with it. I tried to calm myself by thinking of Radcliffs wooden laughable acting in the first Harry Potter film, I guess he can actually act now.

Hence, I cannot say I enjoyed the film, or the notion of a Horror movie. Why any sane person would voluntarily pay hard earned (or government protracted) money to be scared so far out of their seats that their heart stops, is beyond me. I theorise it is why we enjoy Rollercoasters and being chased by raging bulls: the need for adrenaline. The need for it to interrupt our normal boring modern lives. Is has once been said that due to adrenaline playing such a deep role during the time of hunter gathering, being pumped with adrenaline is a requirement linked to our evolutionary ways. I personally can do quite well without horror films, rollercoasters, or bulls. So I stubbornly hold the opinion that the world is actually upside down because there is still a market for horror films.

Perhaps I am not being fair to the film... No I am not. I thought it would be a beneficial experience despite the horror as it was based on a famous novel and set in the turn of the century. The film was based on the typical horror plot: psychotic woman wanting revenge for her dead son, bla bla bla. I honestly think society needs to rethink its stigmitism with 'The Mad Woman' I mean.. there's never a 'Mad man' its usually a 'Drunk Man' but lately there have been more 'Drunk Women' too.

Lets consider the literature that deals with mad women: The Street Car Named Desire, Jane Eyre, The Woman in White and Madam Bovary.

It's safe to say that it's usually woman that get mad in literaure, and perhaps their use by horror films is a tad insulting to mad woman, they are poeple, perhaps not with sound judgmental capabilities, but still with the capacity to feel offended. Madness comes in many shapes and sizes, it is very rare that a mentally unsound person is barking raving lunatic that thinks of she jumps high enough she will reach the moon. Mad people can be quiet, and they are usually the ones you should keep your eye on.

So, The Woman in Black's Mad woman is not your usual mad woman, she screams constantly, and it can get annoying after a while. People in unrest don't scream like they're being electricuted, they shift their eyes and breath heavily. Urgh.. I'm ranting.

At the end of the day, I did not gain or learn anything from watching The Woman in Black except that the Victorian notion of a Mad Woman still maintains its strong grip in our social psyche today.  Good points are that it was well directed a it did propell my heart into my throat. So as a horror film it did what it had to do and did it well. I just think that it was all pointless and belittling to those with mental illness. And come to think of it, it's an insult to mothers! Mothers who have felt what no parent should; of having to bury their own child would never wish the same pain on other parents! Let alone making other children kill themselves! Gah! The whole thing is messed up!The Woman in Black is a film that screams to me that modern society have an undeniably incorrect idea of what mental illness is.