Based on a true story

Criminals, killers and psychopaths, all amoral characters which are responsible for many of our nightmares and have been the cause of social panic for decades. Many of these characters have also become the subject of many mainstream commercial films and have since become embedded in popular culture, more specifically postmodern media. These films tend to be generated from the “Horror” genre, or if a studio wishes to broaden their potential demographic a ‘Psychological thriller’. You can also find references in: comics, novels, merchandising, clothes, and even modern art.

Why in a post-modern culture, do filmmakers and artists manipulate these characters into their work? Why do we as consumers feel that it is appropriate? How long is it before we feel it is okay to present these horrific events in a medium like film? Many of these filmmakers could easily be blamed for exploiting these people and victims for profit and self justification.

(1)   “It seems to be the tendency of much postmodernist media criticism to remove itself from the activity of society, the real world, to focus lived experience solely as text and discourse.

Such an approach is often considered as cynical, “academic” in the worst sense (irrelevant to public debate and public concern) and a particularly amoral stance when the subject becomes something as charged as the omnipresence of violence in American life” - Christopher Sharrett, Mythologies in post modern media. 1999.

Violence is something that has always been exploited as a means of entertainment.  Ancient Romans are a perfect example, the games being held at the Coliseum(s) and other purpose built structures for the paying public (of many classes), where children were also allowed into, to watch the mutilation of human and beast.  Each of these resulted in an actual death and dismemberment for most of the “entertainers” involved. It became more important that it didn’t finish without a death, attempting to brand this as a ‘sport’.

The Bible a basis for morality and decency, is itself an incredibly violent and dark work of fiction, although you could argue that many who live by its teachings would not perceive it as such. People do tend to forget how scary and horrific it actually is.

Ed Gein.

Arguably in the last century, there has been more attention being paid to violent crime through all media, most notably in cinematic work post 1950’s.  In my opinion this was due to the much-publicized murders of Ed Gein.  He may not be the most prolific or even the most famous but his crimes have been adapted and re-created many times, people now may not recognize the source material and from where it came.
 Ed Gein was a simple ‘handy-man’ who lived on his family farm just outside Plainfield, Wisconsin. A small town, which at the time these crimes were committed, had an estimated population of 700 people. Gein was initially arrested in 1957 for the murder of Bernice Worden, a local hardware store worker; upon searching his property police discovered her corpse and remains of Mary Hogan, a bartender who had been reported missing. Remains of several other bodies were found, what was more shocking was what Gein had used them for.

Body found in Gein's home.

Human remains were used for upholstery for furniture, ornaments and masks, all made from the skin of bodies, which he had exhumed from neighboring cemeteries, these were just some of the macabre items that were found at Gein’s home.

 He was arrested and confessed to both murders eventually being deemed “unfit for trial by reason of insanity” 1968, he was committed to a mental institute where he remained until he died in 1984.

      Gein was arguably one of the first individuals to not only affect mainstream Hollywood cinema, but at this time McCarthyism was rife, to be an American was to be part of a wholesome family; moral, upstanding, contributing to the economy by consuming only the best, being religious attending church, anything that would convey the ideal of ‘perfection’.

This image had many an irony especially when it came to media and advertising. This advertisement shows George Reeves playing Clark Kent aka: - Superman with Jack Larson playing “Jimmy Olsen”. This commercial shows the two enjoying a bowl of cereal together at the breakfast table. Noel Neil who portrayed Lois lane at the time was kept out of the advert as producers reportedly had trouble with the idea of the audience seeing Lois and Clark eating breakfast together, which lead to them de-sexualising the on screen couple in fear of what that image would or could imply. Although at the time the irony of two grown men sat at a breakfast table together first thing in the morning may have been lost on some people.

   Even more ironic was the reports of Gein’s murders were probably more circulated and widespread because more and more Americans had televisions in their homes as well as a high circulation of newspapers.

Many psychiatrists have theorized that Gein’s psychosis had stemmed from the apparent abuse of his mother she was intent on teaching Ed and his brother the sins of women the horrors of sex and consequences of not worshipping god.

She was reported to be a very religious and an overbearing character that had nothing but disdain for the world that she and her boys lived in. As a result Ed had very little contact with the outside world, it was only when his mother passed away that he ventured outside, Psychologist say that Gein could have been so consumed by loneliness and resentment coupled with an inability to socially interact with anyone that this truly allowed his psychosis to surface and take over completely.

Maybe you could say that this incident was itself indicative of the horrors of repression, the suffocation of our own instincts. I don’t think that it is sheer coincidence that after these events followed by the Vietnam war and Watergate Scandal, the notion of a “perfect” utopian America was crushed.

(2) “The Hyper violence of the post 1960’s cinema seems to have flowed logically from this attitude and from the barbarism of the Vietnam War the political assassination of the 1960’s, the scrapping of the social contract at Watergate.” - Christopher Sharrett, Mythologies in post modern media. 1999.

 The first instance of Gein’s story being adapted was in “Psycho” (Dir. A. Hitchcock, 1960) adapted from the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch)).

 This told the story of Marion Crane who makes a stop at a motel ran by Norman Bates. Unfortunately he turns out to be a violent killer, his mind twisted by the voice of his dead mother playing over in his head. The film certainly adapts element of Gein’s history although it certainly wasn’t as overtly gruesome as later films. Incidentally the main deviation from the book was the character of Norman himself, in the book he was an older unattractive man. What Hitchcock cleverly did was to present him to the viewer as an all American male. Tall, good looking, polite, a man who clearly loved his mother. This may be seen as an intentional act to communicate to the audience that Norman could be any one of us in society.

(3) “Psycho explores the varieties of middle class entrapment following their troubled protagonists as they negotiate a terrain configured by the interlinked authority structures: - psychic, familial, social, sexual that endanger pleasure and freedom” :- Richard H. Millington Hitchcock’s America 1999.

“Psycho” itself has become one of the most important films of all time and it was also the start of a revolution in “horror” filmmaking.

It has been parodied many times most notably in The Simpsons.

This it-self is interesting in the sense that children can watch The Simpsons and even watching those scenes they do not realise where the original source came from. To me this is a perfect example of post modernism, creating a parody resulting from appropriation.

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (Dir. T. Hooper. 1974) is notorious for its tagline

“What happened is true. Now the motion picture is just as real”.

Curiously enough it took the more visceral elements of the Ed Gein story (the upholstery, the skin wearing etc) and to place them into the story of a cannibalistic family living in the heart of Texas, torturing and slaying unlucky passers’ by. The most iconic character is of course, “Leatherface” a man who uses human remains to decorate himself and his house. His actions, although despicable, are the actions of a sociopath and a damaged mind not the actions of someone with any particular motivation. These traits were very much those of Gein, so it could be argued that “Leatherface” is the closest adaption of Gein.

It has not only become a much-loved film amongst independent filmmakers but also a horror masterpiece. It was at the time of its release, considered “immoral” and evil and was banned by the BBFC for over twenty years.  You could argue that due to its exploitative nature it deserved its treatment.

  It’s not just Film that deals with real life monsters. Art and music have also commented on the deeds of evil people. In fact, many facets of society appropriate images of evil and wear them, as a symbol The Pink Triangle is a great example.  In world war two Homosexual males, when being led into concentration camps, were branded with a pink triangle next to their numbers to denote their sexuality.  Along with women who were branded with the black triangle, die to them not conforming to the ideals of the Nazi regime. Nowadays the gay rights community uses them to symbolize their rights they have to fight for. Re-merchandising a weak symbol, this becomes a symbol of power and community.

Horror merchandise has become a subculture in its own right. You can buy mugs with the faces of serial killers emblazoned on them. In music, heavy metal bands have long used real life horror stories as the basis for their lyrics, sometimes purposefully presenting a tongue in cheek slant within their songs.

"Myra" by Marcus Harvey.

People may ask why artists choose to use these horrific events as the basis for their art, other than to shock and appall. I think to inject humor to retell these events and re-address these events and to push them into the public eye serves to both make people aware and to strip these horrors of their power to allow us to accept that they happen and as people we all have the ability to commit acts of evil, but in the end we all have the choice not to do so.