Books I Should Have Already Read #3
ROSEMARY'S BABY
By Ira Levin
ROSEMARY'S BABYBy Ira Levin
And, no, I have not seen the 1968 movie. So we can count this as sort of a "Movies I Should Have Already Seen" as well. An early Christmas gift for all of you loyal blog readers!
Part of me wishes I had lived in the late 60's and through the 70's. I'm very happy in my post-Boomer, Generation Y bracket, but it seemed like a big heyday for horror. You would not tell at first glance, but I actually enjoy a good horror movie. Imagine young Garik wearing a smiley face t-shirt going to see Jaws, Alien, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, The Exorcist, The Omen, Dawn of the Dead, as they premiered? Without the need for caveats like "Well, you need to understand, that was really scary when it premiered..." Just old-fashioned creepiness and desire to hang out with your mom for comfort. "Nothing is wrong, mom! I just want to hang out on the terrace with you for six hours!" I like for horror movies to get under your skin and not just startle me. I'm looking at you The Ring and The Sixth Sense! I get startled when Carson Rabbit jumps out of his cage too quickly!
Chuck Palahniuk thanked Ira Levin*, author of Rosemary's Baby, in a chapter to his non-ficiton book, Stranger Than Fiction. Portrayed as a letter to Levin, Palahniuk thanks Levin for his work and how it approached national issues. The essay is also a treat to Palahniuk's fans, particularly those with dreams of becoming writers themselves. I am comforted to know that Palahniuk has heroes and writers he admires as much as his legions, myself included, do. Take it away Mr. Palahniuk....
"In Rosemary's Baby...the battle is over a woman's right to control her own body. The right to good health care. And to the right to choose an abortion. She's controlled by her religion, by her husband, by her male best fried, by her male obstetrician."
Maybe it's the thirty years between then and now, but all these 70's horror stories always seem to counter some societal trend. Dawn of the Dead attacks consumerism while The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is supposed to reflect the horrors of the Vietnam war. I hope that in thirty years, the films and books I loved are looked at in such an academic light.
More Mr. Palahniuk....
"You showed women exactly how not to be. What not to do. Do not just sit around your apartment sewing cushions...Take some responsibility. If you get date raped by the Devil, don't think twice about terminating that pregnancy. And, yes, it's silly. The Devil..."
Palahniuk then refers to some of the crazy shit that happens in Rosemary's rape scene. Jacqueline Onassis is there. So is the Pope John Paul the Second. People making love in suits of leather armor. However, Levin hides the message in what is supposed to be entertainment. Its horror. Its supposed to be freaky and weird, not necessarily thought provoking. Messages are nothing new in horror or the plain weird. Plains Indians have the "White Buffalo Woman" story, the Bogey Man scared kids straight way before Sallie Jesse Raphael and most ghost stories have some sort of warning. Be nice to folks, because, if not, they come back and haunt your ass.
As you can tell, others can better explain the messages in Rosemary's Baby. I appreciated how creepy the whole book proved. Having a girl get raped by the devil opens up some enticing imagery. A little beast comes out screaming from the drain! Rosemary opens the bathroom door and sees dead bodies stacked upon each other! Everyone's mother sucks cocks in hell! Instead we get a nice everyday creepiness where the apartment we liked is suddenly terrifying. Everyone understands the idea of a nosy neighbor. Why the hell are they so nosy anyway?! What do they want from me.!? If you think about something long enough, it begins to feel unfamiliar. This is the opposite of deja vu--jamais vu. You can do it at home! Devil-free!
Pick a word. Any word! I am going to choose "orange."
Say the word over and over again. Try to pick at it's etymology. Where did this word come from? When we say it in conversation, the word makes sense. But why does it make sense. Why do the letters 0-r-a-n-g-e describe anything? It feels weird, no? And the unfamiliar can be fascinating or terrifying, if not both. There lies the appeal of Rosemary's Baby and Levin's writing.
The final moments left me a bit unsettled. Rosemary falling in love with her little devil baby. Oh, you're claws aren't so bad! Your yellow with black eyes aren't so bad! I am going to put you in your little black carriage and push you around! WEE! Acolytes scream out "All hail Andrew!" It's a kitschy baby shower...FROM HELL! Where the Adams Family and Munsters were funny, Rosemary is perverse. Levin also has some sick touches here and there. Not to spoil all the fun, but I wanted to share my favorite.
After giving birth, Rosemary believes that her baby is dead. The cult took it away and trapped her in bed. She still produced breast milk which she need to drain by pressing a crude pump (really just a cup with some tubing) against her breasts. She hands them off to cult members in scenes like this...
"And more often than not, the pump and cup were brought to her a few minutes after the cring began; and the crying stopped a few minutes after her milk was taken away.
'What do you do with it' she asked Laura-Louise one morning, giving her back the pump and the cup and six ounces of milk.
'Why throw it away, of course, Laura-Louise said, and went out."
Cold!
Laura-Loiuse then goes on to use Rosemary's breast milk cup to dump a dirty spoon.
COLDER!
Thank you, Mr. Levin
Peace!
*Ira Levin recently passed away and in reading his obituaries I learned that he only wrote seven novels and about nine plays. Most have become stage or screen icons like Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, and The Boys from Brazil. Amazing, but wish he could have written more for us later comers.
*** SPOILER ALERT***
Part of me wishes I had lived in the late 60's and through the 70's. I'm very happy in my post-Boomer, Generation Y bracket, but it seemed like a big heyday for horror. You would not tell at first glance, but I actually enjoy a good horror movie. Imagine young Garik wearing a smiley face t-shirt going to see Jaws, Alien, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, The Exorcist, The Omen, Dawn of the Dead, as they premiered? Without the need for caveats like "Well, you need to understand, that was really scary when it premiered..." Just old-fashioned creepiness and desire to hang out with your mom for comfort. "Nothing is wrong, mom! I just want to hang out on the terrace with you for six hours!" I like for horror movies to get under your skin and not just startle me. I'm looking at you The Ring and The Sixth Sense! I get startled when Carson Rabbit jumps out of his cage too quickly!
Chuck Palahniuk thanked Ira Levin*, author of Rosemary's Baby, in a chapter to his non-ficiton book, Stranger Than Fiction. Portrayed as a letter to Levin, Palahniuk thanks Levin for his work and how it approached national issues. The essay is also a treat to Palahniuk's fans, particularly those with dreams of becoming writers themselves. I am comforted to know that Palahniuk has heroes and writers he admires as much as his legions, myself included, do. Take it away Mr. Palahniuk....
"In Rosemary's Baby...the battle is over a woman's right to control her own body. The right to good health care. And to the right to choose an abortion. She's controlled by her religion, by her husband, by her male best fried, by her male obstetrician."
Maybe it's the thirty years between then and now, but all these 70's horror stories always seem to counter some societal trend. Dawn of the Dead attacks consumerism while The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is supposed to reflect the horrors of the Vietnam war. I hope that in thirty years, the films and books I loved are looked at in such an academic light.
More Mr. Palahniuk....
"You showed women exactly how not to be. What not to do. Do not just sit around your apartment sewing cushions...Take some responsibility. If you get date raped by the Devil, don't think twice about terminating that pregnancy. And, yes, it's silly. The Devil..."
Palahniuk then refers to some of the crazy shit that happens in Rosemary's rape scene. Jacqueline Onassis is there. So is the Pope John Paul the Second. People making love in suits of leather armor. However, Levin hides the message in what is supposed to be entertainment. Its horror. Its supposed to be freaky and weird, not necessarily thought provoking. Messages are nothing new in horror or the plain weird. Plains Indians have the "White Buffalo Woman" story, the Bogey Man scared kids straight way before Sallie Jesse Raphael and most ghost stories have some sort of warning. Be nice to folks, because, if not, they come back and haunt your ass.
As you can tell, others can better explain the messages in Rosemary's Baby. I appreciated how creepy the whole book proved. Having a girl get raped by the devil opens up some enticing imagery. A little beast comes out screaming from the drain! Rosemary opens the bathroom door and sees dead bodies stacked upon each other! Everyone's mother sucks cocks in hell! Instead we get a nice everyday creepiness where the apartment we liked is suddenly terrifying. Everyone understands the idea of a nosy neighbor. Why the hell are they so nosy anyway?! What do they want from me.!? If you think about something long enough, it begins to feel unfamiliar. This is the opposite of deja vu--jamais vu. You can do it at home! Devil-free!
Pick a word. Any word! I am going to choose "orange."
Say the word over and over again. Try to pick at it's etymology. Where did this word come from? When we say it in conversation, the word makes sense. But why does it make sense. Why do the letters 0-r-a-n-g-e describe anything? It feels weird, no? And the unfamiliar can be fascinating or terrifying, if not both. There lies the appeal of Rosemary's Baby and Levin's writing.
The final moments left me a bit unsettled. Rosemary falling in love with her little devil baby. Oh, you're claws aren't so bad! Your yellow with black eyes aren't so bad! I am going to put you in your little black carriage and push you around! WEE! Acolytes scream out "All hail Andrew!" It's a kitschy baby shower...FROM HELL! Where the Adams Family and Munsters were funny, Rosemary is perverse. Levin also has some sick touches here and there. Not to spoil all the fun, but I wanted to share my favorite.
After giving birth, Rosemary believes that her baby is dead. The cult took it away and trapped her in bed. She still produced breast milk which she need to drain by pressing a crude pump (really just a cup with some tubing) against her breasts. She hands them off to cult members in scenes like this...
"And more often than not, the pump and cup were brought to her a few minutes after the cring began; and the crying stopped a few minutes after her milk was taken away.
'What do you do with it' she asked Laura-Louise one morning, giving her back the pump and the cup and six ounces of milk.
'Why throw it away, of course, Laura-Louise said, and went out."
Cold!
Laura-Loiuse then goes on to use Rosemary's breast milk cup to dump a dirty spoon.
COLDER!
Thank you, Mr. Levin
Peace!
*Ira Levin recently passed away and in reading his obituaries I learned that he only wrote seven novels and about nine plays. Most have become stage or screen icons like Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, and The Boys from Brazil. Amazing, but wish he could have written more for us later comers.
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