User:Snubnose John/Creepypasta
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Cultural impact[edit]
Numerous short films, games, feature length films and merchandise have been produced based off creepypastas, such as Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story, Slender Man (film) and Beware the Slender man. In addition to merchandise and film adaptations, numerous amounts of fan content and independent settings/mythos have been established from creepypastas, such as with the SCP Foundation, the Backrooms and The Mandela Catalogue, with the prior serving as an example of the creepypasta descendant subgenre, analog horror.
Due to its online prevalence, a portion of creepypastas has been archived by American Folklife Center and added to their digital culture web archive under their initiative to document the development of web culture[1][2]. Some folklorist view creepypastas as the digital age manifestation of legend[2][3], while others view the majority of creepypastas as anti-legends[4]. Anti-legends are similar to legends except that they seek to purposely subvert the legends of the era by challenging the audience's exceptions of what constitutes a contemporary legend[5][6].
Sub-genres of creepypasta[edit]
Lost episode creepypasta[edit]
Lost episode creepypasta describes supposed television episodes, typically kids' shows, that were either never aired or removed from syndication due to their violent and grotesque content. These supposedly lost episodes often focus on suicide or imply the viewer will suffer great harm. Some lost episode creepypastas focus on local public access shows rather than nationally syndicated shows. Notable examples include Squidward's Suicide, Suicidemouse.avi, Dead Bart, and Max and Ruby 0004. There are, however, actual instances of cartoon episodes being pulled off or banned from broadcast due to the episode's content being inappropriate for kids; for example, a Dexter's Laboratory episode, titled "Rude Removal", was never aired due to the episode featuring severe swearing.[7] Another example is the original version of the Teletubbies episode "The Bear and the Lion", which was pulled off from further broadcast due to criticism for its unsettling cinematography, character design, and music. A SpongeBob SquarePants episode, titled "SpongeBob in RandomLand", had to re-edit a scene that referred to the Squidward's Suicide creepypasta.[8][9][3]
Video games[edit]
Video game creepypasta focuses on video games containing grotesque or violent content; this content may spill over into the real world and cause the player to harm themselves or others. Many video game creepypastas reveal the conflict to be caused by malevolent entities such as ghosts or artificial intelligence.[7][9][3]
Psychotic killers / slashers[edit]
These creepypastas tell of people, usually a teenager, becoming a psychopath or killer, often involving a trademark disfigurement due to the effects of a bad childhood, accident, bullying, experiment gone wrong, or supernatural menace.[9] Similar in content to slasher films and splatter films.
Supernatural monsters[edit]
These creepypastas involve either supernatural beings or actual legendary, mythical, and folkloristic monsters.[9]
Rituals and rites[edit]
These creepypastas typically contain instructions on how to perform various entity-summoning rituals, including their do's and don'ts. The main aim of these rituals is to have the ritual doer's wishes realized upon successful completion. Other types of rituals which do not have the effect of granting wishes are often performed for recreation.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ "About this Collection | Web Cultures Web Archive | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
- ^ a b Saylor, Nicole (2014-09-26). "Creepypastas, Memes, Lolspeak & Boards: The Scope of a Digital Culture Web Archive | Folklife Today". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
- ^ a b c d Ramirez, Makayla (2022). The Case for Creepypasta: Defining the Genre and Finding the Horror (Report). Arizona State University.
- ^ Koven, Mikel J. (2015-12-31). "Slender Man: A Dissenting View". Contemporary Legend. 5: 105–111. ISSN 0963-8334.
- ^ Jolles, André; Schwartz, Peter J. (2013). "Legend: From "Einfache Formen" ("Simple Forms")". PMLA. 128 (3): 728–743. ISSN 0030-8129.
- ^ Mould, Tom (2022-10-01). "Counter Memes and Anti-Legends in Online Welfare Discourse". Journal of American Folklore. 135 (538): 441–465. doi:10.5406/15351882.135.538.03. ISSN 0021-8715.
- ^ a b Grippo, p. 176.
- ^ William Hughes (September 21, 2019). "Yep, SpongeBob just directly referenced a classic creepypasta about Squidward killing himself". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "What is a Creepypasta?". Tales by Travel. 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2023-10-18.