"Weird" - A Weird Genre to Talk About

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The genre of “weird” is an interesting sub-genre to discuss among fans of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, since it’s as ambiguous as the monsters it describes. Most weird fiction, I find, deals with the inhuman, creatures beyond the human experience that we can never truly describe. It’s a genre that truly captures the fear of the unknown and what we cannot understand. Because this, the genre tends to be much more image-focused, which makes sense, seeing as our physical senses are what allows us to perceive the world. H.P. Lovecraft, whose work I read for this post, is a master at harnessing that fear in his work. Since the rest of his writing is rather (appropriately) lacking in an understanding of human emotion and interaction, his writing is often considered the foundation for the weird genre. Because of this lack of social understand, reading his work to me often felt like one of those monster trying to understand how humans interact. Perhaps more appropriately, it’s a rich white man trying to understand anyone else. One of Lovecraft’s short stories, “The Unnameable”, I think is a perfect microcosm of his work. The story is about two men discussing their belief in the supernatural and a force in the house that can only be described as “unnameable”. The atmosphere of the story is well-crafted, but since much of the story is two men having a conversation, it’s a little bit of a drag to get through. It highlights Lovecraft’s lack of understanding of people. However, once the story gets to the climax and the unnameable force reveals itself, the writing takes on a much stronger tone, creepily describing the force and its effect on the two characters.

Modern weird fiction still carries the elements of humans not being able to fully comprehending the universe it lives in. The idea of the uncanny is explored more - where something appears so human but it’s just a little bit off. It’s much more direct, and explore the idea about what is considered normal or not. Appropriately, it reflects the time that we are in, as great sci-fi and horror does. The unknown the Lovecraft feared in the old weird genre was rather large, considering he was anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic, and terrified of women. His definition of normal was rather small: a rich white man in the 1930s. However, in modern times, we are overhauling the definition of normal, thanks to our identity movement. We now explore what is socially constructed and what that hides beneath the surface, such as in films like Get Out. New weird is a genre still in its infancy, and it’s exciting to see what it takes from old weird and adapts it to a new, and still terrifying modern time.

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