Anyone Got a Moment for Our Dark Lord and Savior Cthulhu?

 

 

All ages fun.

         I feel that most people, at least in my generation, have heard of the fictional mythical creature known as Cthulhu is, at least in passing. He’s that weird, squid dude who is apparently supposed to be scary, but is usually just used as part of tired internet memes. The origins of Cthulhu are actually from the American Author H.P. Lovecraft, considered by some to be the father of the modern horror genre, starting with his short story The Call of Cthulhu. Obviously, the point of the character is to be spooky as possible, Lovecraft was trying to sell stories, but as I have stated before nobody really finds it scary anymore. Unfortunately this is not because people have grown out of their fear of what goes bump in the night but rather out of ignorance of what Cthulhu actually is.

He's just misunderstood...Probably

            Cthulhu is not supposed to be scary like other monsters. It is not some creature from the black lagoon knockoff who plays off your fear of drowning. It is not like modern urban legend Slenderman, who plays off the human fear of being alone in the dark. It most certainly is not like all the various movie monsters that are only scary because they can kill you in really gory ways. Cthulhu is not scary because of anything it can do to you, and it is not supposed to be. The real fear Cthulhu is supposed to inspire comes from what it represents. Cthulhu is scary because it is unstoppable. In a world where mankind stands as the top of the food chain we are not even dust before Cthulhu. Nothing we could ever possibly do can ever hope to stop it, and the worst part is that it doesn’t even hate us, it kills simply because that is what it does. In the face of the existence of a something so terribly beyond humanity’s grasp of power, that cannot be reasoned with, stopped, or even comprehended what other alternative is their but to be driven insane?

How long has it been there?

            I am completely aware that everything I just said was not in the least bit actually scary, because at the end of the day Cthulhu is still just some imaginary squid guy. What I want you to do now is take every time I said the word, “Cthulhu”, in the previous paragraph and now substitute it with the word death. That is why Cthulhu is actually frightening, because it appeals to the fundamental human fear of death. I am not referring to the act of dying, very few people are afraid of the act of dying, but rather the fear of knowing that death exists. There is always a chance at any moment we could die. Nobody knows exactly how they are going to end up dying. It could happen on the way to the bus stop next Tuesday, in a home robbery that that you were not supposed to be there for, or maybe one night we all will simply not wake up. Death comes to all equally and without prejudice. Young or old, rich or poor death is beyond caring about what something as insignificant as a human life has to offer before it snatches someone up. Living with the constant realization that at any moment our stories might suddenly end would be maddening, so in order to cope we force death out of our minds. We trivialize it into some far off event that all life must eventually experience, something that is not to be feared but to be accepted graciously. Cthulhu is the concept of death that cannot be ignored. It is death right in front of you in all its weird, squidy glory, so real and intense that it cannot be rationalized away or ignored. Cthulhu is scary because it is the dilemma of accepting the unacceptable which can only lead to madness, well that and squids are in fact just plain spooky.



The Horror!



Not Found



Add caption

         For some people researching their own “E-Identity” is potentially a very lengthy process. In my lifetime, there have been thousands of new ideas, companies, and services that have appeared online and a lot of people of all ages take part in these conveniences, so I can imagine trying to find every trace of oneself would be arduous. I, however, have had a very easy time looking for traces of myself online. I do not have any presence in the more obvious locations on the internet. I’ve never used any kind of social media site, and while my close friends in high school used social media they were not very into it either, so I don’t appear in any of their posts except for prom photos. Googling myself turned up nothing for the twenty pages of results that I checked, as expected, although there is a Ryan Mueller who is apparently playing pretty good football for the Kansas State Wildcats.

            As far as the internet, at least in the scope of this prompt, is concerned I basically don’t exist. I’m sure that people with better understanding of how to locate information online could find traces of me around the internet, but I doubt that anything that says anything meaningful about my character or personality could be found. I am completely fine with this. I have never really felt like I have been missing anything by my lack of an online presence. It’s not really on purpose; for example, it’s not like I constantly repress myself whenever I go on YouTube so I don’t leave a comment. I just in general don’t feel a need to comment even if I liked what I watched. I am not against putting myself out there online, I just don’t have any reason to want to do it either, this blog being the obvious exception. If anyone wanted to get to know me, then they should just find me and talk to me in person instead of trying to piece together an "identity quilt" from various online sources.

  

 

 

Super What Now?

          

           Look up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s some random guy in a costume with powers beyond the understanding of mortal men. In layman’s terms it’s a super hero. I am a pretty big fan of super hero comics. I have read my fair share of both classic and modern age comics, and in general I like them both. While I prefer to think of most things in a relatively neutral way, anything can have a negative side if you are looking hard enough, super hero comic books are something that I can say have definitely been an unintentionally oppressive force, even if only a minor one.

            Super heroes did not really begin to appear until the 1930s, specifically 1938 with the first issue of superman. This time period coincides with the ending of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II. This era is often times called the “Golden Age” of comic books. Most of the big name characters in the Marvel and D.C. comics’ lineups, like Batman Superman Captain America, as well as the classic incarnations of some lesser known heroes, like Green Lantern and the Flash, first debuted in this time period. The comics of the time were very nationalistic, especially after World War Two started. Comics were basically American propaganda for kids, acting as cheap short stories where the obviously good American superhero would triumph over villainous caricatures of the Axis Powers’ soldiers. The number of times Hitler got punched in the jaw by some hero was pretty ridiculous.

 Super heroes at the time weren’t really heroes at all. Yes, they did fight against tyranny and injustice, but it was only the kinds of tyranny and injustice that was defined by the socio-political norms of American society at the time. I think we all can recognize that while the Axis powers governments did some really horrible stuff, the Allies weren’t angels themselves they just happened to be on the side of the angels that time. Superman’s original tagline was a big speech about being faster than a speeding bullet and etcetera, but after comes the more important part where it says that Superman fights for truth justice and the American way, the “and” sticks out to me now. The comics at the time were just so biased and more than a little racist that they’re hard for me to read with a straight face.

            Considering the time period, it’s not really that much of a surprise that super heroes were at the time just extensions if the American national propaganda engine, even the Looney Toons were part of it. It’s just sort of disappointing to find out that something I think is pretty cool originated from using larger than life characters to create an image that America was the most perfect place in the world in the minds of children. This is why I generally prefer to start with silver age comics, like this guy.                                                                      

At this point super heroes stood for truth and justice without getting so caught up in the American Way.