In many genre movies, there is a skeptical character who is made out to be foolish, callous or even antagonistic simply because they don’t believe in something commonly held not to exist. They don’t believe in whatever otherworldly thing plagues the protagonist, be it vampire, zombie, ghost, alien or something else. Often times their disbelief descends into denial when directly confronted by incontrovertible evidence of the preternatural, at which point it’s understandable for that character to be portrayed as an idiot at best, and a hindrance our hero’s survival at worst. But before that moment, when they simply don’t accept an unsubstantiated assertion that there is a Fortean foe about? Why are they often presented as such an obnoxious nuisance then? Isn’t it reasonable for them not to believe, particularly when they’re seeking other, more conventional solutions–giving some credence to notion of the threat, if failing to understand the specific nature of it?
Homepage of horror author Johnny Compton.
