Why do we obsess over Slender Man so much?
- Thread starter Saviordd1
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Actually SlenderMan is based off a German folklore (Der Großmann) a demi god that was able to take people's lives before they died. He is actually a good deity as its said he took the lives of people that were destined to die a painful death, before escorting them through the underworld.
Thats why SlenderMan doesn't scare me because I know the myth he is based off is actually a creature that is trying to save you from something much worse.
Thats why SlenderMan doesn't scare me because I know the myth he is based off is actually a creature that is trying to save you from something much worse.
The thing about slenderman is that since he's just a tall guy with no face, film makers have to use other. more subtle tactics to build the scares, like video distortion, Blink and you miss him moments and Massive Ramping of atmosphere. as such i feel he works best as a youtube/inde game entity, as big screen/aaa games lack the time required to build the dread of such a entity.
by that i mean macking you fear something that has never actualy done anything, pyramid head was scary from the get go cause he did something freaky, slendy just looks at you..
by that i mean macking you fear something that has never actualy done anything, pyramid head was scary from the get go cause he did something freaky, slendy just looks at you..
I think the stories are one pied piper-esque kidnapping of children, which the kids snap out of and say it was kinda creepy... then there is the one with him standing near a tree with kids looking up at him, which leads to a library burning to the ground... then there is the one Marble Hornet stuff which implies murders... then there is the story of police going missing after fidning a bunch of bodies impaled on branches in a forest. I think, other than the German origin story, those are all of the stories.Saviordd1 said:
I don't think I really know enought about Slender man to really be bothered by him in the slightest. The SCP Foundation has more scary things that I actually know about that get me, particularly SCP-145, SCP-507 and several others I forgot the numbers for right now.
I just know it was made into a boring game that only gets fun when you nearly die, than you shit your pants and cry 
I am not too creeped out by him. The simple reason been Knife beat's freaky demon fella every time and I have two knives beside my bead, come at me brah. People are always obsessed with this kind of paranormal unexplainable stuff. Fear of the unknown and unbeatable is natural.
Just a minor subversion of expectations along some fairly evocative storytelling, is all. Honestly, I'm more scared of the nonsense things my imagination comes up with.
Because he's a really good blend of several scary tropes.
He looks human, but not quite human, so there's your Uncanny Valley. He doesn't have a face, but he wears a human business suit. His shape is definitely human-like, but his proportions are all fucked up. He walks sometimes, but something isn't quite right with the way he moves. His favorite pose is standing still in an uncomfortable position, and this scares you. Also, in some early stories he lets out small quiet chuckles for no reason, AND HOLY SHIT IS THAT SCARY.
He is also the ultimate example of urban folklore: there's no definite canon, so you never know what's outright bullshit and what's God's honest truth. Even more importantly, you have no idea what he wants. He seldom kills people, he never speaks, he never... does much of anything, in fact. It's almost like he's only fucking with you if he decides to haunt you -- but then again, what could he possibly gain from scaring the shit out of you every other day? In short, he's completely unpredictable, he has blue and orange morality, we know absolutely nothing about him. Same reason the Joker in The Dark Knight was scary.
Lastly, people prefer to think of their houses as their fortresses. There's a reason little children duck under their blankets when scared: it offers no protection, but it's theirs. But Slender Man doesn't give a rat's ass about your strong locks and barred windows -- he can teleport sraight to your bedroom whenever he damn pleases. He can stand in a dark corner of it all day and you'll have no idea. In fact, he might be standing just outside of your field of vision right now.
EDIT: Forgot a major part. The consensus among some is that Slender Man is basically a meme come to life: our thinking about him gives him strength and justifies his existence in our realm. And he also targets the ones who dig too deep into him; you find out about him, you think "oh, this is a cool urban legend, I'll read some blogs and watch some youtube channels" -- and after a while you realize that you probably know more about him than any of the protagonists of those stories, so you can easily become the next target.
He looks human, but not quite human, so there's your Uncanny Valley. He doesn't have a face, but he wears a human business suit. His shape is definitely human-like, but his proportions are all fucked up. He walks sometimes, but something isn't quite right with the way he moves. His favorite pose is standing still in an uncomfortable position, and this scares you. Also, in some early stories he lets out small quiet chuckles for no reason, AND HOLY SHIT IS THAT SCARY.
He is also the ultimate example of urban folklore: there's no definite canon, so you never know what's outright bullshit and what's God's honest truth. Even more importantly, you have no idea what he wants. He seldom kills people, he never speaks, he never... does much of anything, in fact. It's almost like he's only fucking with you if he decides to haunt you -- but then again, what could he possibly gain from scaring the shit out of you every other day? In short, he's completely unpredictable, he has blue and orange morality, we know absolutely nothing about him. Same reason the Joker in The Dark Knight was scary.
Lastly, people prefer to think of their houses as their fortresses. There's a reason little children duck under their blankets when scared: it offers no protection, but it's theirs. But Slender Man doesn't give a rat's ass about your strong locks and barred windows -- he can teleport sraight to your bedroom whenever he damn pleases. He can stand in a dark corner of it all day and you'll have no idea. In fact, he might be standing just outside of your field of vision right now.
EDIT: Forgot a major part. The consensus among some is that Slender Man is basically a meme come to life: our thinking about him gives him strength and justifies his existence in our realm. And he also targets the ones who dig too deep into him; you find out about him, you think "oh, this is a cool urban legend, I'll read some blogs and watch some youtube channels" -- and after a while you realize that you probably know more about him than any of the protagonists of those stories, so you can easily become the next target.
About a year ago my friend was terrified of Slender Man, and I laughed at him for it.
A year later, the tables kinda turned X_X
I dunno... I guess it's just the fact that he easily blends in with whatever environment he's in and can be anywhere and is... PROBABLY WATCHING YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!
Also there's his uncanny valley appearance, with his ability to stretch his arms and whatnot.
Also, people really ought to check out the little indie game called Slender: http://slendergame.com/
It's freaky as HELL man. And it's weird too; Slender Man's character model is actually really cheaply made and stupid looking, but this game could still make you shit your pants.
A year later, the tables kinda turned X_X
I dunno... I guess it's just the fact that he easily blends in with whatever environment he's in and can be anywhere and is... PROBABLY WATCHING YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!
Also there's his uncanny valley appearance, with his ability to stretch his arms and whatnot.
Also, people really ought to check out the little indie game called Slender: http://slendergame.com/
It's freaky as HELL man. And it's weird too; Slender Man's character model is actually really cheaply made and stupid looking, but this game could still make you shit your pants.
I think it's that fear-of-the-unknown sort of thing. Who exactly is he? Where did he come from? What are his goals? What can he do to me? Because we're not given all that much information, our imaginations fill the gaps with whatever horrible things we can come up with. At least, that's why *I* found him scary, or used to at least.
I stoppedbeing scared of him when my friends and I came up with a joke, didn't think something like that would work but oddly enough it did. We said "Think of him as an escaped mannequin from Men's Wearhouse. I'm a big p*ssy so this humorous aspect gave me some relief.
If we don't laugh, we'll cry, huh?
I stoppedbeing scared of him when my friends and I came up with a joke, didn't think something like that would work but oddly enough it did. We said "Think of him as an escaped mannequin from Men's Wearhouse. I'm a big p*ssy so this humorous aspect gave me some relief.
If we don't laugh, we'll cry, huh?
Pshht, I don't find any character scary that I know alot about. Whenever I have a nigthmare, that which I'm scared of is the unkown, sure can be some monster or whatnot, but it's never some "established" horror character. So yeah, while I think this whole phenomenon about Slender Man is cool, I personally don't fear him
