American Horrors

Every once in a while everyone enjoys a good horror story, especially Americans. Whether it is a campfire horror story or a TV show, the "occult" has no way of vanishing. The supernatural is something many people are intrigued with, whether based on a true story or completely made up. The occult never fails to entertain or better yet, horrify. Literature, film, and a TV show are just a few ways we can see the occult.

A good American film that we all know is Paranormal Activity. Paranormal Activity uses the supernatural world and engages in some religious aspects. The movie touches on supernatural happenings such as people being possessed and one of the characters being engaged in some sort of which trials. This American story is very well known to connect the supernatural world and religion.










Besides movies, the occult comes in literature. Occult books tend to have an eerie atmosphere which makes the book even more interesting.  The Exorcist is an interesting novel by William Peter Blatty. This book also touches on religion and possession. When young Regan MacNeil is demonically possessed, her parents send out a Jesuit psychiatrist priest to aid her. This dark, twisted novel is one of the many literature examples of an American horror story.

Many other resources also have the same characteristics of and American story. The supernatural and religion are just two of the few aspects that American stories tend to bring and connect with. It's the many cultures and beliefs that truly make up an American story.

Anti-Hero

I'm pretty sure we all know or at least heard of Shrek. The big, green ogre that lives in the swamp? He is depicted as a loner since he has no friends or anyone close to one. He lives all by himself in his swamp, happily showering in nothing but mud. We probably all know that deep down inside Shrek is actually loving and caring despite what he shows. An antihero that shows similar traits to Shrek is no one other than Ichabod Crane.

Both Ichabod Crane and Shrek are greedy. Shrek cares about no one but himself. He shows no affection for anyone and thinks about no one else but himself. He seems to take advantage of his physical features to get what he wants. Ichabod Crane is no different than he is. When courting Katarina he is only focused on getting rich. Nothing else matters to him but her money, and maybe her beauty. Both Ichabod and Shrek are greedy and put themselves first before anyone else. 

Carelessness is another characteristic that Shrek and Ichabod share. Shrek does not care about hurting anyone else's feelings. In the movie when Donkey tries to befriend him, Shrek shows no mercy in turning him down. Even after Donkey follows him around, Shrek shows no feelings towards him and doesn't sugar coat anything. Like Shrek, Ichabod is as careless as it gets. Ichabod doesn't care about anyone. He just cares about the wealth he would receive if he were to marry the beautiful Katarina Van Tassel.  So in this case, Shrek and Crane are careless and selfish men. 

Last but not least, both Shrek and Ichabod both share a sense of pride. Despite his living conditions, Shrek never thought worse of himself. He felt he had it all, that he was living the dream. Either he didn't want to admit that in reality he had very little to boast about or he really did think he had it all. He is confident in all he does and doesn't think bad of it despite being made fun of. But both characters are filled with too much pride to realize anything that's wrong with them. 

Sure, Ichabod and Shrek may seem like harmless characters with simple personalities. But in reality there's more than meets they eye with these two. Greedy, careless, and full of excessive pride are just some of the few characteristics these anti-heroes have.