Many people don't see Halloween as evil. Sure, there are evil characters around but it's not all about evil. Also, the Santa character is in a haunted house meant for adults or for older kids who can separate fantasy from reality. He's not meant for young children.
As for sexualizing Halloween, that's not only happening with Halloween. The holiday just gives these kids a chance to play out their fantasies. I don't think that minors should be dressing like that either.
I do agree that death is hard. I think that it could be not as hard if we dealt with it though. People tend to shy away from it and the fear of Halloween is only one indication of that among many IMO.
But more and more do treat Halloween as evil and disturbing. How is hanging a dead body from a tree, not disturbing?
I am assuming that the haunted house that you speak of is a paid event, and it's not displayed outside of his house? If so, then kids wouldn't see it, but I am speaking of the symbolism of it. Why choose Santa? I'll ask my English classes on Monday, and they'll have some great answers as to why it's Santa.
The mention of the Haunted Mansion is interesting. It's certainly not gory but there are some pretty somber messages mixed in. The hanging man in the stretching room, the bride, the floating chanting head and so on might be seen as evil by some.
Yup, those are the parts that they don't like. We didn't take our eldest DD until she was older, and we asked her if she wanted to go in. She knows it's all fake, but she hides her eyes at those parts you mentioned. The baby's head is covered up the whole time, as most of it is scary for him. He doesn't get too freaked out though, as he's usually in daddy's arms.
I didn't see anything in the article that said her neighbors knew about this. If that's the case, then I think it's probably insensitive. Probably.
Yes, of course I read your whole post. I simply disagreed with it. I don't see how Halloween has been stolen from children because you personally dislike the way some people choose to decorate.
Your 3-yr-old "gets" it from his perspective, not from a global one. If you simply agreed with him, instead of telling him that not everyone seems things the same way, then I'm not sure if YOU get it. IDK... I suppose it might not be the easiest conversation to have with a 3-yr-old. But just because people enjoy the darker side of Halloween doesn't mean they are obsessed with death, aren't sensitive to other people's feelings, and that they don't know that their actions affect other people.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I do get it... My 3 year old gets the fact that people should be mindful and sensitive to those around him. He saw a friendly carved pumpkin on the same lawn that has dead bodies hanging from a tree, and was confused. Those two worlds are vastly different for him...I told him those are big people things, and he was confused. And that is why I feel Halloween has been kind of stolen from kids. It's gone from pumpkins and costumes, to dead bodies and axes in people's heads. Since when did murder and bondage become fun?
People around here really didn't decorate like this when I was younger in the 70s and 80s, as it really wasn't available. Now that the thrust of Halloween is sadistic, IMHO, people have access to very elaborate decorations and displays. I don't generalize, and would never assume that people who decorate this way are obsessed with death, but surely the symbolism is there. It's the one time of year when people can unleash their inner demons so to speak. If your neighbor regularly decorated his house in this way, I'm sure there would be some issues, but during Halloween it's allowed. What really is the purpose of decorating with dead bodies if not to scare others? As an English teacher, I'm all about symbolism, and so you can't convince me otherwise when discussing Halloween.
To me, that article seemed more like a catharsis for her. It probably helped to just get it all out. I would hope that her neighbors would be more sensitive, but I do think it is unreasonable for the world to basically stop because she is in pain. My heart goes out to her.
I agree that it seems like a catharsis, but wouldn't it be nice if more people actually did think of others before themselves? I don't think she's asking for the world to stop, but for people to put a little thought into what they display in the public world, is not too much to ask, IMHO. We do the same thing at my at-risk highschool. We have many students who have tried to kill themselves, have lost family/friends to suicide, murder or been raped; therefore, we don't show any movies, or choose texts that reflect these images. We have to be sensitive to possible tramaus that could have happened. I think this is reasonable and responsible of us, and we are glad to conduct our school in this manner.
Hope everyone has a safe Halloween, Tiger
Tiger
. This is what makes a good neighbor. Her blog is open, painful and honest and I don't think she's being too sensitive. I'm sure she realizes that the whole world won't change for her, but its good that she was able to get her perspective out there.
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