The Blair Witch Reaction
Jenny
jennyg@compuserve.com
Fri Aug 13 17:51:30 1999
As I said in my review, I thought the movie The Blair Witch Project was a good, interesting film -- if not a scary one.  But what I actually found more interesting than the movie itself was people's reactions to it.*p*In the film, the woods/Witch seem to draw out the fears of people who encounter it.  Oddly, the movie seemed to have that same effect on many people who encountered *it*.  Perhaps because it blurred the line between fact and fiction, BWP seemed to invite projection.  The kids in the film look into the darkness and see a variety of monsters.  Movie-goers looked at BWP and saw monsters of their own.*p*Much of the projection centered around the film's mock-umentary approach.  When I first saw the posters for this movie, I thought, "Is this for real?  Is this a true story?"  Five minutes of research on the web convinced me that no, it wasn't.  The official web-page preserved the illusion.  However I did some more research and found that the actors who appeared in it were alive and well.  The producers openly acknowledged that the story was not true, and wasn't even based on a real myth.*p*And yet there are people -- hundreds of them -- who insist this really happened.  For me, it was a perfect example of how misinformation and urban legends start.  Many people did nothing more than visit the official site, then confidantly proclaimed the movie genuine.  You ever wonder why your in-basket is always full of some helpful twit's warnings about the latest "VIRUS FROM HELL!!!!!" ?  It's because people do "research" like this.  BWP was an excellent example of how often people hear rumors and pass them on as truth.*p*Even stranger, there are a significant number of people who can NOT be convinced that BWP is a work of fiction.  Nothing you can say, no evidence you can show them, will persuade them otherwise.  (I know.  I've tried.)  I've heard people swear that this is based on a true legend -- they can't tell me what legend, or where I can find out more about it.  But it's real.  I've even heard people trot out the funkiest X-Files style conspiracy theories, on how there's an FBI cover-up.  There used to be police records of these kids' disappearances, but the US government doesn't want us to know about it.*p*The parallel to the movie was disturbing.  The kids gaze into the darkness of the night and see ghosts.  Fans look into the murk of publicity and see "proof" of serial killers, deadly cults, UFOs, and government conspiracies.*p*Another aspect of the reaction which fascinated me was people's emotional responses to finding out that this is a work of fiction.  From what I can tell, the vast majority of people seemed to react like I did:  mildly.  They thought, "Oh.  Had me going for a moment there.  Huh.  Well, it was more scary when I thought it was a true story."*p*But again, there's a significant minority that were furious and ascribed the foulest motives to the producers.  The film was a "hoax", a "fraud", a "con-job."  The producers lied to us, deceived us, and wanted us to believe that the events of the movie really happened.*p*If so, they did a lousy job.  Because in every interview I ever saw, they openly admitted that the movie was a work of fiction.  The movie does present itself as a documentary;  the producers thought that made it more scary (it does!).  But you could only be deceived by it if you let yourself be.  Anyone who asked the producers (or did five minutes of research) could find out that it wasn't true.  The BWP prodcuers weren't trying to deceive us -- they were trying to induce a suspension of disbelief, a realistic atmosphere to make their film scarier.  However when asked, they never said it was real.*p*But that's the rub:  you had to ask.  We're used to reading things in the papers and seeing them on tv, and simply accepting that they're true.  In my opinion, BWP demonstrated how often we mindlessly accept what the media feeds us (and I mean we -- it had me going for a while there, too).  The people who're angry about being deceived should be angry with themselves, not the producers.  Because BWP can't deceive you unless you let it.*p*The Pagan reaction to the film was even more interesting...*p*Jenny*br*