The "Weird" Response


I read Flesh and the Mirror this week, and I did not understand anything. I think she’s having a dream? She wakes up at home at the end of the story, so I would have to assume it was about a dream. By the title I was misled. I thought this story was going to involve a mirror world of some kind like Alice Through the Looking Glass, Doctor Strange, or Inception. But no, it was a normal story that just went right over my head.

What isn’t confusing is Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. The original animated film I mean. I like the live action movies but I don’t want to talk about them. That movie (and original story) is weird, but it’s a good weird. It’s nonsensical and cartoony. It’s a fun story in a kooky world with even kookier characters. I know I can’t speak for everyone but I enjoy that kind of weird, not the mature, confusing kind of weird.

I think people like the weird for the same reason people like cartoons: real life is boring and dull. And the weird, in whatever shape it comes in, is different and interesting. Stranger Things is popular because of how weird its story is (I wouldn’t be the expert on that since I’ve never seen the series). Many TV shows and movies are popular because of how different it is to real life. We could even say superheroes are weird because they’re different from the norm, and those are for sure popular.

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