“I try to read a scary book every October because Halloween is the best holiday. And this, though not what we’d traditionally call horror, fit the bill nicely. Thrilling, funny, and man, you will root for the character’s survival, which is an element of horror that I find to be missing a lot. I saw that movie last year…the one about the haunted mirror? Anyway, the problem I had, I didn’t really care if they all died. American Horror Story? I didn’t really care if bad things happened to Dylan McDermott because he was kind of a shithead. But in The Martian, I did want to see Mark Watney survive. I had stake in it.
Because these reviews are almost never focused on the book, let’s talk Halloween some more. Yes, I’ve heard the arguments against Halloween. I’d like to disassemble them if I may.
“You only like Halloween because ladies dress inappropriately”
Well, paraphrasing because I choose not to use the word “slutty” here, but that’s the word that gets tossed around.
Sure, I guess a lot of people do. But that doesn’t really matter to me. If people choose to dress that way, who am I to stop them? And it doesn’t really change my behavior towards people if they’re dressed a certain way. Isn’t that what we decided, that just because a person dresses a certain way doesn’t mean they ARE a certain way? Why does this rule not apply on Halloween?
As for me personally, it’s just not true. I think I’ve been to maybe one Halloween party where I didn’t know all the people already, most of whom were married to each other or dating or whatever. I’ve not found Halloween to be a pumpkin-themed orgy, so to say that I like it because that’s out there somewhere in the world that I don’t experience, well that just makes no sense.
“Halloween is dumb because you have to dress up.”
Am I the only one who feels like he’s wearing a costume pretty much every day? That sounds overly cosmic, but seriously. I would not own a pair of khaki pants if it weren’t for my work dress code. I own several pairs of khaki pants. I hate them. They’re shitty. They don’t fit well. But I wear them because I have to wear them, and I don’t bother to get better ones because the thought of spending money on work pants starts me a-seethin’.
Maybe don’t take yourself so seriously that you can’t wear a Batman get-up once a year, eh?
“Kids just like Halloween because of the candy.”
Kids just like Shrek because he talks funny and is a cartoon. I don’t think that the un-nuanced way a child enjoys something means I can’t enjoy it and still be an adult.
Guys, two words. Pumpkin Patch. If you don’t see what there is to enjoy about a pumpkin patch, then please un-friend me on Goodreads and we’ll never mention it again.”