The above link goes to an in-depth exploration of Slenderman, alternating treating him like some kind of real-life urban myth and the fictional character that he is. I thought I got enough of this claptrap after the stabbing, but here it is again, presumably because of the stabbing.
People of the news media, once and for all, can we all agree that…
“creepypasta” is not a genre/movement/whatever. It is the name of a website that hosts short horror fiction.
We do not need to speculate about teenage kids “worshipping” Slenderman. They are clearly mentally ill.
Slenderman is not an “Internet demon.” Yes, his origins are on the Internet, but he has since spiller over into games, short films, an actual theatrical film (still uncompleted), and a ton of fiction both online and in print.
There’s probably more, but this is just getting irritating. And I don’t even follow Slenderman all that closely.
AFAIK, the website got its name from the stories, a subset of the horror genre short enough to copy/paste (copypasta) around the internet. Name change is similar to the way “source?” became “sauce?”
It is a site but that came later, it’s generally what everyone calls those types of stories, wherever they’re posted. It’s a derivative of copy pasta.
I always thought Slenderman was kinda silly and was perplexed at the LPers who get freaked out playing that lame game of his. Those kids should’ve blamed Lavender Town syndrome!
That doesn’t seem like an important distinction. The character came from the internet and I think that’s where the best-known Slendy works are. But maybe you’re getting the sense that news coverage is emphasizing the internet angle because it makes the character seem more sinister, somehow- like Slenderman and these sites and even the 'net itself are the new heavy metal/Dungeons and Dragons. I think you may be right about that, and it’s really stupid.
It’s just this kind of attitude that has allowed the Joker to run free even after all of the horrendous crimes he has committed. I keep calling law enforcement agencies and telling them they need to put this criminal behind bars but they keep making excuses about how he’s only a fictional character. “So what?” I respond “Should he be allowed to get away with murder just because he’s fictional?”
I thought the article was really good, but one spot just goes off the rails.
WTF? How is that even a sane interpretation of anything Victor Surge said? That is in no way what he meant. If anything Slendy’s original incarnation was far more directly evil than any of the successor stories. The implication was always that he abducted children (playing on fears of kidnapping and pedophilia) and burned down schools (again, provokes the fear of harm coming to children). Nothing in probably the first 6 months to a year of his creation had anything to do with worship.
None of that came up until the proxy nonsense several copycats of Marble Hornets down the line. Sure, in MH there are some hints that Alex may have been pseudo-worshipping The Operator (MH’s name for Slendy), but those didn’t come until a year or two ago.
Even so, even among all the proxy nonsense, the running theme is more that he induces paranoia. Nobody kills to please him, in fact, most series only barely mention him directly. He basically never directly communicates. Any killing that happens as a result of him has more to do with the fact that by killing everyone involved they can make the torment end – not because it will please him, but because he’s more like a disease that spreads between people who are haunted by him to friends and family. In fact, usually the plan is “kill everyone, then kill myself.” That or garden variety insanity. Hell, most killings in the major series aren’t even directly related to the big ol’ stick in the mud.
Of course, I haven’t read every one of the hundreds of crappy spinoff blogs, or watched the dozens of spinoff video series, but AFAIK there are only a few with “slendy cults” and in those series they tend to work out about as well Cthulhu cults. I’m not saying the girls didn’t get the idea from somewhere, but to imply it’s a core part of the character is a gross misinterpretation of the general tenor of the stories surrounding him.
And I just spent way too many words clarifying stuff about an internet horror creature I only like at most two stories about.
I don’t know. I’ll have to keep reading comic books to see if that works. If the Joker stays in prison, I’ll drop my complaints. But if I see him out loose threatening Gotham again, I’ll be right back on the phone.
