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Beyond the Grave: Exploring Our Fear and Fascination with Horror
7 Plays4 months ago
Show Notes for “Passing Perspective with Death’s Apprentice”
Episode Theme:
Exploring the intricate relationship between society’s fear of death and its fascination with the horror genre.
Main Discussion Points:
Paradox of Fear and Fascination:
Analysis of society’s fear of death versus its attraction to horror media, including zombies and vampires.
Examination of cultural taboos surrounding death discussions contrasted with the popularity of horror content.
Historical vs. Modern Depictions:
Comparison of historical and modern portrayals of death in media.
Shift towards more realistic depictions and its societal implications.
Horror as Emotional Processing:
Exploration of horror’s connection to personal fears, particularly through true crime and works by authors like Stephen King.
Discussion on how fear can be beneficial for confronting anxieties about death and grief.
Genre Popularity and Audience Reaction:
Analysis of horror’s divided reception, similar to extreme sports in providing adrenaline and anxiety.
The role of horror in trauma processing and emotional exploration.
Symbolism in Horror:
Interpretation of monsters like zombies and vampires as symbols for deeper fears related to death, change, and loss.
Discussion on how horror encourages reflection on themes of loss and grief.
Future Discussions:
Teaser on practical steps to take when someone dies, highlighting the importance of contacting emergency services, funeral homes, or hospice care.
Reflection on life after death and an invitation for audience engagement on the topic.
Engage with Us:
Listeners are encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences related to the themes discussed in this episode, particularly around the impact of life after death.
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/the-wayward-hearts/a-calm-hellfire
License code: TOEJOJDEKNY4JPIU
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Trigger Warning
00:00:06
Speaker
Thank you for listening to Passing Perspective with Death's Apprentice.
00:00:10
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Being that this is a podcast about death, dying, and grief, some topics discussed may be triggering for some or not suitable for younger listeners, hence the explicit rating.
00:00:24
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Listener discretion is advised.
00:00:28
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Enjoy the show.
00:00:37
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Thank you.
Zombie Outbreak and Horror Themes
00:00:46
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Welcome back to Passing Perspective.
00:00:49
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I am your hostess with the mostest.
00:00:51
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Questions?
00:00:53
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Desapprentice.
00:00:55
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Last week, we ended the episode with a question about whether a zombie outbreak could ever become a reality.
00:01:04
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The answer was resoundingly probably not.
00:01:08
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But the question was definitely a tie-in for this week's episode.
00:01:12
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Everything has a purpose.
00:01:14
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I touched a bit on what it is about zombies that we fear and a little on the theme itself.
00:01:19
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This week we are talking all about the horror genre and basically death in the media overall.
Cultural Fascination with Death
00:01:27
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I'm sure you're asking yourself what that has to do with anything related to the death industry, but bear with me.
00:01:34
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I promise it does.
00:01:36
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In the first episode, my question was, why are we afraid of death and what makes one more prone to fear it?
00:01:43
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The horror genre, in both literature and media, is a popular one, and it is all about death.
00:01:50
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Whether it is zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, or whatever scary concept the human brain can come up with.
00:01:59
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And there are lots.
00:02:00
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The main focus is seemingly death.
00:02:04
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Combine that with sensationalized news that seems to be non-stop death and war and even with video games we play.
00:02:15
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Death is a huge part of our culture.
00:02:18
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Why is horror and death such a huge seller in media when as a culture we are afraid of death and consider talking about it to be taboo?
00:02:29
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This week, we are going to go into why we humans love death across all forms of media.
00:02:38
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But do we love it?
00:02:39
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I don't know.
00:02:40
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What is our attraction to reading it, viewing it, and playing it, and watching it on the news?
00:02:48
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What does it all really mean?
Evolution of Death in Media
00:03:23
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So why are we obsessed with horror and death across all the media formats?
00:03:31
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Death is all over the place.
00:03:33
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It's everywhere we turn.
00:03:35
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Sometimes, whether we want to see it or not.
00:03:39
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We see it all over the news, and what we see now is drastically different than what was being shown even 30 years ago.
00:03:51
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What changed for us that we are more accepting of the more vivid portrayals of death?
00:03:58
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Not just with what we see on the news, but like in video games and movies and TV shows.
00:04:07
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I loved the old horror movies before CGI and technology because it was campy.
00:04:14
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Because you could tell it was fake.
00:04:16
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It was scary, but not that scary.
00:04:19
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It was lacking a realness to it that doesn't compare with what we see today.
00:04:24
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The part I liked the most was the unrealness of it.
00:04:29
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These days it doesn't even have to be a horror movie to depict realistic death.
00:04:34
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Most action movies are full of it.
00:04:37
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We stay glued to our news stations when disaster and war strikes taking in every image of destruction.
00:04:45
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We play games where we realistically simulate war and shooting and unlike real life, you can just respond when you make a mistake and start over again.
00:04:59
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The old saying goes and I think this is it.
00:05:02
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Art imitates life, life imitates art, something like that.
00:05:06
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But which case is true, I think there is a difference in disconnect between horror in literature and horror in media.
00:05:15
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Each are the same in some ways, but vastly different in others.
00:05:19
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And I wouldn't be doing this topic justice if I didn't speak on them both separately and together.
True Crime and Fear Exploration
00:05:26
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I mentioned finding death everywhere, including action movies, right?
00:05:32
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But what are the genres, both in literature and in media, that depict these deaths?
00:05:40
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A big one lately is true crime.
00:05:43
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I have seen this absolutely blow up recently.
00:05:49
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I have always loved true crime.
00:05:50
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This harkens back to the days of watching unsolved mysteries, alone late at night, and being terrified of every sound I heard.
00:06:00
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Could that mysterious killer be outside my house right now to get me?
00:06:06
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They never did find that kid, right?
00:06:09
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I remember having the same reaction to complete fiction, though, when I read Salem's Lot.
00:06:14
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If you're listening, by the way, Stephen King, it is still the scariest book I have ever read, so kudos.
00:06:22
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I think, in a way, these young experiences with healthy fear really led to me exploring writing my fears and anxieties into stories that helped me make sense of them.
00:06:37
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Can a little fear be healthy?
00:06:38
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Internet search says yes and no.
00:06:42
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It is a natural instinct.
00:06:44
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Fear and anxiety are naturally occurring.
00:06:47
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However, too much fear and anxiety lead to other issues.
00:06:51
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Some studies, however, are showing that people enjoy the genre of horror for many reasons.
00:06:58
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And one being working out our own fears of death and dying, and it helps us work through grief.
Psychology Behind Horror Consumption
00:07:05
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And what about true crime and mysteries, even sci-fi or that crazy show Fear Factor?
00:07:12
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And all the deaths in reality, are those really ways that we work through our own crap?
00:07:17
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What about the deaths in action movies and video games?
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Do those count as well?
00:07:23
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Before I get into the psychology of horror and death, I want to go a little bit into how it all began.
00:07:32
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Picture this.
00:07:33
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Just kidding.
00:07:33
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Horror as a literature genre began in the late 1700s.
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I guess officially.
00:07:42
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And in movies, it was the early 1800s.
00:07:47
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So within like a 20 to 30 year time span, give or take, it was a genre built on a curiosity of death.
00:07:56
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At this point in history, the world was in a huge political upheaval.
00:08:02
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There was so much going on and it was revolutions aplenty.
00:08:08
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People were seeing death head on and even actively participating.
00:08:13
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They were witnessing the monarchy be publicly beheaded in France.
00:08:18
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In fact, the whole spectacle was made out of it.
00:08:21
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Like, people were celebrating.
00:08:24
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As Charles Dickens put it in his opening line of A Tale of Two Cities, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
00:08:33
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Not just France was having a revolution, so was America.
00:08:39
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The American Revolution was happening roughly around the same time, and while all that was going on within that short time span,
00:08:46
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The industrial revolution was happening and just beginning and all of America and Europe were rapidly changing.
00:08:55
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Everything about life was changing.
00:08:58
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Views on death were changing as well.
00:08:59
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And it makes sense that this is the time.
00:09:03
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horror genre began.
00:09:05
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People were trying to make sense of a rapidly changing world.
00:09:10
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Looking into the relationships and research into death and horror, I came across a few statistics.
00:09:17
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And statistically speaking, the most preferred genre is comedy.
00:09:23
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Makes sense, you gotta laugh to keep from crying, right?
00:09:26
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People who like horror tend to love it, but
00:09:30
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Everyone likes comedy.
00:09:31
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Favor of the horror as a genre though is 50-50.
00:09:34
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You love it or you hate it.
00:09:37
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Ironically enough, there is less information about people who enjoy death in media.
00:09:43
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However, I did find one study that concluded that death reminders in media reinforced materialistic tendencies.
00:09:52
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Death and money, am I right man?
00:09:54
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If grief and fear weren't a main focus around death, money is always there lurking in the shadows.
00:10:02
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The reasons people enjoy the horror genre, and with horror I will include mystery, sci-fi, and true crime, because, I don't know, to me they all kind of represent similar fears and anxieties.
00:10:15
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One of the main reasons mentioned for enjoying this genre is sensation seeking.
00:10:23
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Kind of like skydiving or doing those other things that kind of scare us and make our heart beat faster.
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We are activating that fear and anxiety response that induces anxiety and adrenaline and it's fun.
00:10:38
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It makes us feel alive, if you like that sort of thing.
00:10:42
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I do.
00:10:43
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I actually have a terrifying self-installed zipline in my woods that very few have been brave enough to try.
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For those that have, it is definitely a terrifying experience.
00:10:55
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The other big reason is psychological.
00:10:59
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It is a way for us to process our traumas, grief, anxieties, and fears.
00:11:04
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Just the way I did through writing, people do it through watching these movies and reading these stories.
00:11:10
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It helps us confront and understand grief.
Reflecting on Horror's Deeper Themes
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I will say though that a lot of media doesn't really portray the outcomes of death.
00:11:19
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I think it's starting to more in recent times, but it hasn't always been that way.
00:11:26
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You see a death and then no aftermath, no grief, no funeral.
00:11:32
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Don't get me started on this though, because just like what you see on social media is not always real.
00:11:38
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Portrayals of birth, death, infidelity, war, and grief.
00:11:44
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are not always portrayed accurately instead.
00:11:47
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It's portrayed for plot movement and drama or just for laughs.
00:11:54
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Which, the way birthing is portrayed on TV and in movies is definitely laughable.
00:12:01
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Nobody has a baby that quick.
00:12:03
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But this genre is good for us to explore our own feelings on death, dying, and grief.
00:12:09
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It's easier to comprehend when it's not us.
00:12:13
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When it is not our situation, when it is not our loved one in the coffin.
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When it's not our loved one, you know, being smashed by Hulk as he runs through the streets trying to save the world, right?
00:12:25
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We run through these scenarios and imagine what we would do.
00:12:29
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Some themes in horror start at a funeral or a cemetery.
00:12:33
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Some horror in literature makes you think deeply about things, like Salem's Lot.
00:12:39
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One thing about the horror genre is that it's not always who you think that is the monster.
00:12:46
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It helps us to examine the monsters inside of us.
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What are our own issues?
00:12:52
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I'm not going to go into every horror theme there is because that would be a whole show in and of itself.
00:12:59
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But I want to touch on some of the main themes and explore what we are really analyzing and thinking about while watching or reading them.
00:13:09
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And I may be wrong, if you got comments on this, like, let me know.
00:13:13
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Like, if you have something different, like, I'm welcome to it.
00:13:16
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So I spoke of zombies in last week's episode and I'm going to touch on it again because go zombies.
00:13:23
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Zombies are a fear of undeath, of coming back and no afterlife.
00:13:29
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It's a fear of what you would do if your loved one came back or changed.
00:13:33
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It's a fear of that change because zombies definitely represent change in people.
00:13:40
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and our fear of people changing.
00:13:42
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It shows our grief at letting go of those we have lost.
00:13:47
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But what about vampires, though?
00:13:49
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Because vampires are different than zombies.
00:13:52
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they're undead but in a different aspect.
00:13:55
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I think that's a fear of living forever.
00:13:58
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Losing everything we love.
00:14:00
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The darkness in the night and the unknown and blood.
00:14:03
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Lots of blood.
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Vampires definitely represent a fear of blood.
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A creature of the night that drinks blood.
00:14:10
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It's the fear of people hiding among us and blending in.
00:14:15
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I think that's what true crime is about as well.
00:14:19
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Horror monsters, which I'm going to say not Frankenstein, but Frankenstein's monster, but in a way, Frankenstein the Doctor as well.
00:14:28
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Werewolves, swamp creatures, aliens, those are all the monsters inside of us.
00:14:34
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I'm definitely oversimplifying this, and if you want, I could do whole episodes on what different horrors represent, but for now, just my unscientific analysis.
00:14:46
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After all, I write horror.
00:14:48
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I know when I set out to write it, generally starts with a theme I'm exploring.
00:14:53
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Like, I wrote a lot of stories during that crazy mush stage.
00:14:58
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Most were exploring loss and grief.
00:15:01
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It was literally the central theme hidden among words about zombies or vampires or ghosts.
00:15:07
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Some themes I wrote were outright, with no pretext of make-believe monsters.
00:15:13
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I challenge you next time you watch a horror movie or read a scary story to read between the lines and what other feelings are invoked.
00:15:22
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Not just the excited scary feelings, but what deeper messages are you getting from it?
00:15:29
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Start thinking more as you peruse the horror genre.
What to Do When Someone Dies
00:16:07
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For this week's question of the week, the question is, who do you call when someone dies?
00:16:14
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The answer is not the Ghostbusters.
00:16:17
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I am personally still waiting for when that is the answer.
00:16:22
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But until then, who do you call if not them?
00:16:25
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I'm going to go into this topic a bit next week, but the answer for this is totally dependent on how the person has passed.
00:16:33
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I recently saw this movie, and it was so poignant.
00:16:37
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I may reference it again in another episode.
00:16:40
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It's called His Three Daughters, and it is on Netflix right now.
00:16:44
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Very good watch if you want to watch it.
00:16:46
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In the movie, the father is nearing passing and is with hospice at one point, well, many points in the movie.
00:16:55
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The eldest daughter is freaking out, this time about a DNR and who to call when her father passes.
00:17:02
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When I get into further topics, I'll discuss the motivations of this daughter and her grieving process, but for now, that moment struck me as so real.
Practical Advice on Post-Death Procedures
00:17:13
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I get calls all the time in a funeral home sense about a loved one passing, and oftentimes they end up giving me information, only to then be required to have someone else call me, from a more official manner, such as a nurse or a hospice.
00:17:28
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This will undoubtedly cause you more stress in that moment.
00:17:32
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So to clear it up, here is who your first call should be.
00:17:38
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If the death is unexpected and in a home, you will generally call for EMS or police first.
00:17:45
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They will then ask you what funeral home you would like to use and the funeral home or crematory should be your very next call, especially if you do not have one chosen.
00:17:55
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Sometimes they will tell you to call for removal and sometimes you give them information and they call.
00:18:01
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Sometimes more investigation is needed and you'll have more time to find a funeral home because your loved one will be taken for an autopsy.
00:18:09
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If more answers are needed or they need to look into things a little more for cause of death.
00:18:14
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If the death is with a hospice company, or it's more expected, you can call them first.
00:18:21
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At this point, you have probably already picked a funeral home and they will call them.
00:18:26
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And if it's, you know, someone who's elderly or sick, generally you can call, their primary doctor calls it.
00:18:32
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The majority of the time with hospice, there is no need to call paramedics or police.
00:18:37
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If your loved one passed at a hospital or a facility, don't worry.
00:18:41
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They usually ask which funeral home you're using and will call them for you.
00:18:45
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They generally are the ones notifying you of the passing.
00:18:49
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There are more complicated situations, but generally a passing will fall into one of these categories.
00:18:56
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And with that, our quote for this week is, I hope it's true that a man can die and yet not only live in others.
00:19:08
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but give them life, and not only life, but that great consciousness of life.
00:19:13
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And that is by Jack Kerouac.
Closing and Listener Engagement
00:19:50
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Thank you for listening to this episode of Passing Perspective.
00:19:54
Speaker
I hope you enjoyed exploring death and horror and are leaving this episode thinking about the deeper concepts behind your favorite horror stories and what parts of yourself you are working through while you watch them or read them.
00:20:10
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I would love to hear your take on it or any questions, stories, or comments.
00:20:18
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You can find me and share them on www.passingperspective.com or on my Facebook at Passing Perspectives and on Instagram at Passing Perspectives Podcast.
00:20:34
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I might even share it on the show.
00:20:36
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Until next time, dearly departed, goodbye from your guide to death, Death's Apprentice.
00:20:57
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episode of Passing Perspective with Des Apprentice.
00:21:03
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All episodes are written, hosted, and produced by Des Apprentice.
00:21:08
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Music is A Calm Hellfire by The Wayward Hearts.
00:21:13
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Licensing by Upbeat.
00:21:16
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Tune in for next week.
00:21:18
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See you then.
00:22:15
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you