Show Notes
Recorded live at the 2017 Mount Aloysius Charity Comic Con, Danny is joined by Wayne Wise for a discussion about the history, ethics, and thrills of children in horror. Focusing on the recent remake of Stephen King’s It and Stranger Things, the conversation covers the many ways that children have inspired and consumed horror films. How do children defy rationality? What does Capitalism have to do with this? Why the current rabid nostalgia for the 1980s? All this and much more.
Introducing Wayne Wise
History of children in horror
Children possessing special knowledge that adults don’t have
Mythology, fairy tales, and horror
Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew, too
The horrors of the 1970’s
The 1980’s as an adventure-filled wonderland
It and the search for community
The problem of depicting violence against children
Stranger Things unexpected success
Conspiracy Theory’s hold over our imaginations
1980s nostalgia
The sanitization of contemporary children’s entertainment
Wayne’s book, King of Summer
The enduring allure of King Arthur
Danny’s theory of the “pre-modern”
The moral function of violence
Questions from the audience:
Satanic Panic?
Reagan?
Adam Walsh and America’s Most Wanted?
Stand By Me?
Taboo and subliminal fear of women?
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