How Sharp Objects Captures The Terror of Rural Life
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- Опубліковано 31 жов 2020
- Rural life scares me and Sharp Objects captures this terror perfectly. Let's talk about why that is.
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As someone who's lived in both highly urban and rural environments, I'd say for the most part it's actually urban environments have harsher impacts on your mental and physical health. There's tiny things, many tiny artificial quirks of living there that all build up on each other which make you feel depressed/anxious/lonelier etc, if not corrected. Its because humans weren't designed to live in highly packed, artificially lit, sensorially relentless, continually busy environments. There's just something about nature that has a restorative effect on us that we need because we were originally built for it. There's the problem of rural areas statistically having uneducated dumb people everywhere and it may feel like you're trapped living there without many opportunities but in reality you're not, there's the internet to find friends to bond over niche interests, you can work through the internet, and you can just move out of the rural area.
As someone who was raised in an American village of less than 2,000 people, I think the trick is that there is no such thing as community in the rural environment. Like many of the comments have mentioned here, the show plays more on tropes than a lived reality of small town / rural life. However the truth is that small towns are held together mostly by poverty and lack of opportunity, and is thus not a true willing co-participation in a lifestyle based on shared goals and interests, such as more possible in an urban environment with more opportunities and a larger population. The rural person is actually, especially in the United States, much more private and isolated then any anonymous city dweller could be. This relationship is both literal and symbolic-the idea of the picket fence comes to mind-it does not stop anyone or anything, but rather represents the delimitation of private and owned space. In the USA this is why most conservative backward thinking people live in rural areas and vote down progressive ideas, regardless or monetary or political costs. Why? Because the rural mental identity is obsessed with individuality and private ownership. Part of the American heritage is taking up as much space as possible, and this idea of manifest destiny exists even in the sense of having the biggest parking lot possible For your business, or the largest possible yard separating your neighbors from you. I think one thing that this review doesn’t take into account is this self-serving aspect of the rural mentality; these people are not so much prisoners, as they are jailers of themselves. They have built a prison around them and live in it thinking it is a castle.
There is a disconnect between those who live in a rural town, or even a village, and those who live in large urban centers. Their upbringing is what they have for context and what makes a backbone for their understanding of their world. Problems arise from going to that different world and what you think should be reality doesn't make sense anymore. It's where mental issues start popping up in a lot of people, but remember that this is for the fish-out-of-water scenario individuals, and even then its just those that find it had to see the mindset of the new environment and try and become a part of it.
Human beings are fascinating creatures due to how we break our nature to create one where we decide which one we tend to live in. If such is changes out of our control, it is stressful for our psyches to adjust to something new.
Okay. You made a good analysis of life in Wind Gap. But life in small towns isn't usually like that in this series. I grew up in small towns and my experience is totally different. People here are typically much kinder, happier and healthier than those in big cities. There are fewer leisure options than in the metropolis, but there are still many, so definitely only those who want to get bored will be bored. I personally find big cities claustrophobic and toxic. All that grandeur and options are just attractions to distract the population and make them forget the reality they live in
Ive lived north of the river in Kansas city my entire life and I gotta say it's very similar to the life portrayed in sharp objects, there's a certain pain that runs thick throughout the midwest amongst us women who fall into the same issues Camille does.
This was a really interesting perspective to hear. I grew up in a small U.S. farming town of a little over 1,000 people, and I always wondered why horror movies often use rural places as their settings. For me (having had both sets of grandparents own farms with lots of land and big empty space) it didn't seem creepy in the slightest. It was just normal. Some of my fondest memories are rollerblading with my friends around town like Amma and her friends. I wouldn't dare move back though. Like the book said, there's no room for people to see you as a fully realized version of yourself when everyone remembers every mistake or rumor or embarrassment associated with you. Some of my family members stay because of that that though - the consistent stability of knowing your peers for a lifetime and doing the same things everyday. It must be comforting to them. Comfort comes in all forms, I guess. Thanks for explaining your view on it.
9:00 to 9:43 So a city writer, not knowing how *they* would entertain themselves if they lived her projects their boredom onto country people; and you don't question their cosmopolitan bias in any capacity, just accept that this horror would simply be real.
Here's one thing I noticed,that was a big thing when I left a city of a few million for the town I lived in for a few years (I'm back in a city now). Where are the books? . . . Where's church? . . . Where's the libraries? Where's the radio stations? You'd be surprised, even for "anti-social" people, people pass their time educating themselves so they may either move out, or entertaining themselves with large and complex stories; and this show treats these people are bored vapid people who don't bother to better themselves or entertain themselves other than doing "pointless" tasks. You'd be astonished how busy libraries and churches tend to be in such small places not just for worship or what have you, but sharing books, news, history.
The hostility again, is an element of the show to amplify the psychological horror to make you question who or what you can trust and whether or not you think this is effective is a whole other issue. Compare if you will to the Comedy "Hot Fuzz" which so to speak their toxic nature (to the point of actual murder); is not attributed to the natural state of all rural policing or all small town people; but psychological horror of this specific town. So conflating what this town in Sharp Objects acts like with other remote communities is tremendously unfair.
It sounds like you're experiencing a sort of confirmation bias here. You view rural communities in a certain light because you've never lived in one and when you see a show that reflects that angst back at you then you take that as confirmation of your previous beliefs. You have to remember that most people writing those shows are people just like you who have never lived in a small town either. People in small towns have hobbies and meet up with people of similar interests too. It's not like it's some desolate wasteland where everyone is in some kind of inescapable pit of despair.
This would be as silly as someone who has never been to a city assuming that all cities are gang-filled pits of violence that are filled with serial killers because they saw a TV show.
Just a viewer here. I just wanted to say something: Despite the disagreements in the comment sections I love the constructive criticism and respectful responses between the OP and viewers. It makes me smile. Great job guys! :)
Idk if the comments are purposely misunderstanding the video or not but you're so right about everything. As someone who has lived in the city and moved to several rural towns before moving back to the city , the claustrophobia I experienced in rural towns is like no other. Every rural town is different but somehow the same , they know your name , what you did/do , the gossip of your family or of you. It feels like you can never escape from the labels they decided fit you the best or their perception of you. Unlike in large cities , while I still experience some claustrophobia I feel like I still have the ability to escape and move around if staying in my apartment gets too much , there's so much more people and they don't care about who you are or what you did in the 8th grade. Unlike in rural towns , if I don't like someone or their company , I can just ignore or cut off contact without any issue. I don't have to put up with them for fear of the backlash I might receive from neighbors or acquaintances for cutting them off. There is no community in some of these rural towns , only people putting on a facade and enduring cause that's what they know how to do the best.
The area I grew up in was super small and what you would see is several wealthy family's ruling the town for many generations. So much so that local elections were constantly run with no competition because the position had already been decided. Sometimes they didn't even bother to have an election at all and the grandfather would simply hand his life time appointment down to a son/grandson. There wasn't much racism simply because there were less than 10 none white people of color in the entire town for the decades I lived there. But did have a high levels of class divide. The right side of town the right elementary school and so on.
I enjoyed this a lot. Very well written and structured essay, and I think you actually made it very clear that you came at this from a position of "Here's what I, as someone who has very little first-hand experience, IMAGINE what rural life might feel like to me" and not "Here's why rural life sucks. This show proves I'm right".
I appeciated that level of personal involvement and, for lack of a better way of putting this, laying bare of one's individual starting point and perspective. It's why I tend to prefer watching/reading essays to analysis that pretends to unearth the objective meaning of a piece of media or something like that.
I’m from rural australia, i get exactly what you mean.
This is the equivalent to "Hostel confirmed my fear of why i should never go to a motel"
I am not sure if you're conflating "The Terror of a Rural Show" versus "The Terror of Rural Life". Those are two different things, the former being a common film or television trope of how an isolated or remote community may not adequate address complex or dark problems; the latter being a misconception assuming all rural communities are largely the same and act in the stereotypical fashion the television or films portray it. Namely, when you discuss the notion of the support group; rather than noting this may be a toxic problem meant to amplify the psychological horror of those women; you conflate it with the nature of the townspeople.
I will simply note; for a substantial number of people, this is not the case. Sadly I would argue the conceptions you have come from lack of experience or not taking time to note that there are different kinds of rural communities. The Black communities of a small town like those who live near Fort Bragg, North Carolina; will be different from the German rural communities in Fredericksburg, Texas; but neither are horrifying in the manner you seem to combine with rural life in general.
I grew up at a small old town where my family once had power and my narcissistic abusive mother resented its loss. The city felt like a living creature, with her own quirks, energy and personality, but back then I didn't notice. When I turned 17, I moved to the Capital. 1.5 million people. Still rural, for most of us came from small cattle-raising cities and from poor families. But everyone here tries to live accordingly to the US culture, even poor people, as much as we can, although my new town is located in the center of Brazil. Anyways, I avoid obsessively to come back to my mother's town, not only because of her, but because of the way I feel. Everyone knows each other. Your grandparents knew their grandparents, either as friends or employer-subordinate, and that's worse. It's as hot as Wind Gap and the gossip scares me now that I'm not accustomed to it anymore. I mean, I no longer have many friends there, but my mother's friends sometimes reach me in order to talk about people I don't even know. Aside from that, you're expected to behave in a certain manner, according to what you were labelled with. I was labelled as a good, intelligent child, so anyone who knew me as a teen or younger will assume, in our conversations, that I am now well-succeeded, religious, a good girl. I no longer accept this label, mind you. It's impressively similar to what Camille feels like at Wind Gap. As a matter of fact, sometimes, when I'm forced to go back, I post Windgap's banner on my instagram stories and the series's main team (tumbling lights). No one cares or gets it, but I do.
This got to my recomended again and now I can add depends of what your mind considers to much and to little . For some heavy metal is music for others just noice. Some may dream with a quiet life others with ciberpunk (with low crime). I was born and raise in a capital city and i can tell depends of genetics(i think), my brain needs to leave from time to time and i come back 10 times better. When there is only silence around me i can truly think , usualy i just play a musical intrument , cook and walk around and i have never being happier. I envy you I wish could enjoy city life so much to fear a lack of things happening around me.
I love the sincerity of this video and open my eyes to someone that love the city .
I would gess hass has nothing to do that is a small town, the issue is toxic people in a small comunity. when smaller group of people have to spend alot of time together the bad and good maximize, is the fact that you cant truly hide what you do and people dont forget you. I seen this in cities too people that live in places that there is alot of stuff to do but still have the existencial crisis you say and because for some reason have to see each other alot and his issues feed each other. Just grab people with meaningless lifes and put them to work together in a 10 h work. hell on earth.
Some of the stuff you said here actually hit hard for me, because I’ve lived in a rural area for most of my life and I’m a few years older than you :( It also has less life than the area this show seems to be located in. But that’s just the way Ireland is. I’ve been to Frankfurt once, and it was a very different world. I don’t think I’d want to live somewhere like that, though. I don’t like constant noise, which is likely to be the case in big cities. I do often wonder how different my life would have been if I lived in city areas growing up, though. I don’t know if it would have made me more of a social person or less.
For most of human history that's how things were, small tribes of 150 people that had very little to do because finding food in the wild is deceptively easy. Most hunter gatherers need to work less than 4h a day to feed themselves. Mostly people bored all the time, all there was to do was sex / orgies and getting high. It seems weird but that's what we evolved and were optimized for.
The main issue here is, the way we see the world clouds our perception and reaffirms our beliefs. If you think people suck and are selfish, that's what your experience will be, no matter where you go.
You do realize that most of human history had negligible amount of free time, aside from gathering food and having kids for the majority of the population and for the privileged killing other people.
Yeah.
Urban brain rot
I was expecting an analysis of how Wind Gap's rural landscape is more 'repressed' or seems 'frozen in time', not a rant about how terrifying and boring it must be to live in a rural town like. it isn't a death sentence to play in the forest, that's fun as hell. grab bugs and stuff. get your leg broken.
yes, first like!
Yeah, the country is pretty trash, a lot of my ancestors are from there, and I even go to the country occasionally. It will only ever be occasionally because there is just nothing there unless you have a very particular attachment to that particular area for whatever reason.
so, you suggest the "urban" women are different? ;-)