#( most of the dreams involve body horror and other gory scenarios but that? )

[endawn]

pax casually asking any traveling companions if they could find someplace with shade to rest but not pushing the issue if dismissed or not having the time is really underselling the fact that—

[hmse-research-blog]

Overwhelming & Brutal

Overwhelming (verb)

Have a strong emotional effect on

Overcome with emotion

Affected by something very strongly

Synonym to: strike, move, affect

Brutal (adjective)

Unpleasant or harsh

Direct without any attempt to disguise unpleasantness

Synonym but not limited to: violent, savage, direct

Brutal & Overwhelming

A combination of both words have a negative-leaning connotation. The experience of course, is subjective to each audience. People who loves seeing horror or action film might find these emotion exhilarating while people who hates loud noises and jump-scare might hate the emotion and feel scared. Study by Lynch and Martins (2015) shows that low empathisers have more tendency to enjoy violent and gore media and vice versa.

Horror enthusiast seeks sensation from suspense and resolve. Suspense for example, is when a character is in threat of a masked killer and resolve is when the killer is finally caught or killed in retaliation. We often feel a sense of euphoria and relieve when a threat is resolved and such logic happens behind a horror enthusiast’s mind.

Zuckerman’s model of sensation-seeking mentions four related but different factors that includes:

thrill and adventure seeking

experience seeking

disinhibition

boredom susceptibility.

Bibliography:

Lissek S., Powers A. S. (2003). Sensation seeking and startle modulation by physically threatening images. Biol. Psychol. 63, 179–197.

Lynch T., Martins N. (2015). Nothing to fear? An analysis of college students’ fear experiences with video games. J. Broadcast. Electron. Media 59, 298–317.

Zuckerman M. (1988). Sensation seeking and behavior disorders. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 45, 502–503.

Here are the examples of 11 artworks that feels brutal or overwhelming or both:

Requiem for A Dream

(viewer discretion is advised)

Requiem for a Dream (2000) is a film depicting addicts who are connected to each other. This movie often uses parallel cuts to indicate things are happening at the same time. The use of meditative music over heart-wrenching scenes creates a haunting effect. The editing choice in the final scenes successfully created tension and the continuously looping parallel shots of the characters proves to be overwhelming.

Before Your Eyes

Before Your Eyes tells a story of a boy who died very young due to an illness. This game utilises motion sensors and the game progresses every time the player blinks. Each scene is crafted with great details making the players holding their blink to elongate the scene. The first person perspective makes the audience sits in the young boy's place watching life flashing before their eyes. This game is overwhelmingly beautiful and heart-wrenching in its aspect to cherish whatever amount time we have left on earth.

Devotion

In Devotion (2019), the user plays as a father solving clues and puzzles as to what happens in his life. This game criticises the influence of cults in Taiwan. It also heavily criticises overbearing parents and the stigma of mental illness in Asia.

The use of red colour during revelation and flashback scenes and the silent jumpscare during most of the gameplays is very effective to keep the players anxious. This technique also does not over expose the players resulting in a more unpredictable jumpscares. Besides it’s graphic imagery and colour scheme, this game is brutal due to its harsh and raw depictions of cults and superstitions that affects vulnerable families in Taiwan.

Source:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20059000

https://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Taiwan/sub5_1b/entry-3814.html

Everywhere At The End of Time

This album created by The Caretaker depicts the mind of a patient with alzheimer. The 6 hour long piece involves a continuously degrading set of music. Each stage shows a deteriorated version of it’s previous stage. The album ends at static noises and ultimately long silence.

What makes this album eerie, overwhelming and brutal is the idea behind it. Exposing the audience to what dementia sounds like forces them to emphatise with the memories. The duration of the album also emphasises the slow and painful degeneration and by stage 5 the sudden void creates a horrible overwhelmingly somber aura knowing the memories are forever gone.

Ouroborindra (album)

Ouroborindra (2005) was produced by Jim Jupp under the pseudonym “Eric Zann”. Jupp stated this album was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. Similar to Lovecraft, this album has a haunting and hair-raising aesthetic. A minute listening session gives the audience a taste of Lovecraftian cosmic horror.

The static noise and continuously evolving sounds creates an overwhelming eeriness while not being painful to hear. Some parts are accompanied by pianos giving the listener’s ear some time to rest. This arrangement choice proves to be excellent as it creates a pleasant bridge and outro.

Source:

https://ghostbox.greedbag.com/buy/ouroborindra-0/

Brutalist Architecture

At a glance, this architecture looks boring and unappealing. What makes a brutalist characteristic is the blocky and chunky design.

Some argue that brutalism is an egalitarian movement, this movement strays away from white painted walls with decorated windows typical of the time. At the time, the geometric and blocky design was considered modern. This evidence appears in futuristic movies and in spy/war movies symbolising rebellion, modernism, and revolution.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Black Mirror (2011)

Source:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10331867.2015.1032481

Shoujo Tsubaki (Camellia Girl)

(viewer discretion is advised)

Shoujo Tsubaki (1992) is a film adapted from the comic of the same title. The uncensored animation completed with voice acting added many layers of disturbance and the feeling of dread. Many people found this film very upsetting resulting to banning in several countries.

This artwork is one of the greater known titles within the ero-guro (short for erotic-grotesque) genre. The Ero-guro genre symbolises resistance and rebellion during world war 1. Some also enjoy it as escapism and sexual liberation. This film is brutal due to its depiction of grooming, abuse, and nonsensical grotesque scenes.

Source:

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1570686&dswid=8039

Sistine Chapel Church

The wall and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were painted by Michelangelo (1508-1512). It is not surprising that this work took an incredibly arduous time that Michelangelo dreads working on it. The details and paint stand the test of time and the colossus artwork will make every visitor gasps in awe. Each painting has incredible details and the colours are carefully coordinated. It only takes a single glance to feel overwhelmed by the presence of this artwork.

Source:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1464068

Japan Sinks

Japan Sinks is a Japanese animation series created by Masaaki Yuasa. The animation was an adaptation of a novel with the same title. Each depiction of death are raw and uncensored oftentimes includes close-ups. This series was a contribution to Paralympics 2020 and was set to release as a promotional campaign.

It doesn’t take the brightest bulb to notice the brutality of this series. The main characters experienced sudden deaths of their loved ones and the grief was left unprocessed until much late. Naturally, this end of the world scenario includes a multitude of body counts. Many great characters did not survive and their final scenes include close-ups and slow motion of their remnants making their sudden demise even more brutal, leaving a gaping hole in the viewer’s heart.

Judith Slaying Holofernes (Artemisia Gentileschi version)

The painting showed an “uncensored” gory scene of Judith beheading her abuser helped by another woman. It is said that Gentileschi was inspired by her master, Caravaggio. Caravaggio’s version had a different composition and the painting shows Holofernes holding his blood, resembling strings.

Judith beheading Holofernes (Caravaggio)

Unlike her master, Gentileschi did not hold back nor consider making the painting palatable for the viewer. The more brutal interpretation made the intention behind the painting even clearer. It is one of the strongest depiction of complex independent women and a strong message of feminism in baroque era.

Source:

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/urc/2018/arthistory/2/

Notre Dame Basilica (Montreal)

This gothic style cathedral is located in Quebec City, Montreal. The three-story-tall hall symbolises the church’s power and the huge size of a cathedral has been known to give psychological effects to the devoters. The blue colours represent the sky and heaven, the red colours complemented by gold accents gives a royalty and majestic look. The pillars will reverberate the sound of organs creating an effect of “heavenly sounds”, many believers are attracted to this sound resulting in higher attendance. The design of the cathedral makes the attendees feel small and overwhelmed as if the church attendees are “meeting” God.

Source:

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/9/478/htm

https://askinglot.com/why-are-gothic-cathedrals-so-tall

Final short reflection:

Each of the artworks above shows a great amount of research and thoughts poured into the small details. They each have their own unique approach creating unique and impactful results.

[gcldveins]

OK HERE IS .. headass number two, francine howards !! i rlly do love her doe <3 definitely above sully but maybe that’s partially because it’s crystal reed.. ALSO disclaimer before we get started .. these next two intros will not be as neat and extensive as sully’s because 1) they’re newer muses and also 2) i had sully’s bio ready from a roleplay a looong time ago so just a warning !! anyways, let’s get crackin’ !!!

overview

✎⌠crystal reed. cisfemale. she/her⌡❝ — well, look who’s just arrived ! if it isn’t the one and only francine howards. though, around here they’re known as the spitfire. don’t tell ‘em i said this but the thirty-five year old medical examiner kinda has a reputation of being critical and domineering. but y’know, they can be loyal and passionate too. typical leo. anyways, welcome home and stay safe frankie ! ❞ 

statistics

full name: francine marie howards

nickname(s): frankie, if you call her anything else prepare to get merked

date of birth: august 15th, 1985

hometown: mystic hollow, connecticut.

gender identity: cis gender

preferred pronouns: she/her

sexual orientation: pansexual

hogwarts house: slytherin

aesthetic: label makers, button-up shirts, the smell of freshly printed paper, blazers worn with jeans, fine jewellery, three cups of coffee before noon, colour-coded files, messy hair, black loafers, worn out books

distinguishable characteristics: almost always looks pissed dfnijsn

pinterest board: here

their song from the sigh no more album bc i love this album and it makes me Sad™: thistle and weeds

background: cancer tw

— born and raised in misty hollow, frankie grew up helping raise her two younger brothers while their mom worked long hours as a nurse at the local hospital. their dad had left them a few months after the birth of their youngest child, frankie was only seven years old but she remembers the day clearly.

— so because of this, frankie had to grow up a lot faster than she needed to, taking on household and familial responsibilities that most children shouldn’t need to. which is why she became known as a sort of stickler throughout her childhood.

— she became your typical over-achiever in high school, always wanting to make her mother proud as well as, deep down, wanting to make her dad regret ever leaving them — even though he was no longer in their lives. as a kid frankie would dream about the day he came back, begging for them to take him back. kinda .. fucked up, i know.

— anyways, frankie never took her eye off the prize. competitive and conscientious, she graduated high school as the class president, valedictorian, as well as the captain of their rugby team. she had left zero time for friends, whatever free time she had left was put towards volunteering at the hospital where her mom worked at.

— she got accepted into harvard for a bachelor’s in honours biology, she went into this program thinking she wanted to become a surgeon but changed her mind half-way through. frankie just didn’t enjoy the idea of working with .. live people all day. but she still really enjoyed the subject of biology and so she decided that becoming a medical examiner might be a better fit.

— so after her bachelor’s degree she went the whole nine yards, she stayed at harvard for their medical school and then went to john hopkins for he residency. after she earned her fellowship, she moved to new york for a job opening and has stayed there up until recently ( maybe a few months to a year ago )

— frankie’s mom was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer so she came back to take care of her. while frankie’s not ecstatic about it — she was the type in high school to have that mindset of “ i’m gonna get the hell out of here and never come back ” — she would do anything for her family. 

— on the bright side ! misty hollow’s own medical examiner just retired, so she’s still able to do what she loves, kind of. not as exciting as the stuff she sees in new york, but it’s better than nothing.

personality

— she is... a little bit on the freaky side, not gonna lie. she’s really passionate about her job and loves her work, a total workaholic, but seeing as her work involves hanging around dead bodies all day, that can come across a bit weird to some people.

— it doesn’t help that she’s also really into gory, horror films and sits there at the worst parts with a fascinated grin. and if you try to open up to her she’ll probably hit you with a Fun Science Fact.

— has a zero tolerance for bullshit, very frank ( ha.. h a... ) and tells things how it is. if you need an honest opinion, frankie’s definitely got your back. maybe a little too well.

— a little aggressive and rough around the edges. she grew up around brothers so she always had to fight for her spot at the dinner table. but frankie is also used to bossing them around too so .. that side of her shows up pretty often.

— kind of a control freak, always thinks she’s right.. and unfortunately she usually is so that just kind of reinforces that behaviour.. but yeah, she’s very opinionated and isn’t afraid to speak up for what she believes in

— anddd frankie’s still kind of a new muse, so this is all i really have so far rip

wanted connections

someday.. i will submit this to the main but ! atm, if anyone’s interested, frankie does have two younger brothers !!

enemies pls .. just someone she totally clashes with and whenever these two are in a room together, it’s like cats and dogs. 

people that she works with possibly ? either in the medical or law enforcement field !

close friends ! once you’ve wiggled your way past frankie’s walls, she’s a very loyal and protective friend. will definitely mother you — asking you if you’ve eaten yet, drank water, etc. 

messy exes !! like a high school sweetheart or whatever else. frankie’s not good with this sort of stuff so she could’ve been the one at fault.

a close friend that’s the complete opposite of her ! someone that’s just a lot softer and friendlier and overall nicer gknskdn and these two just click somehow. honestly like grace and frankie but in this scenario she’s grace ksdfsk

drinking buddies ! this could even be the type of friend that tries to get frankie out of her comfort zone to do more fun things, since she’s really more of a homebody.

casual relationships ! hateships ! these are always so fun as well. frankie is the type of woman that knows what she wants and goes after it. she knows she doesn’t do well in relationships so she would probably .. have a few of these

people from her past that are also from misty hollow ! we can discuss the details of this thru plotting <3

i’m honestly down for anything, so if you have any ideas feel free to send them my way. but again, if we can’t figure out a plot between the two of them, we can just do throw them at each other in a random thread and see what happens !!