Simulation, Sublimation, and Cinema on Halloween
By Demon
Something is wrong on the streets today I almost hit a Confederate soldier with the car. I thought to myself, “only in Los Angeles,” and then I remembered it was Halloween.
Then I saw a man in a wheelchair. I thought to myself, “he sure looks like a disabled homeless veteran.” Was he in costume? I am still not sure. Then I saw two women — one in bright purple, one in bright orange — sitting at a bus stop. I can’t help but wonder, is this dress seasonal or normal?
Halloween is not about simulation, it is about sublimation. The large number of men wearing women’s clothing on Halloween is not accidental. Men dress like women for the same reason that children dress like goblins: to explore forbidden impulses, if even for a night. That and to scare the hell out of their friends, wives, and parents.
Halloween just aches with fetish. No wonder the Christians are afraid.
Halloween is America’s sexiest holiday. Women are their most erotic on Halloween. The social inhibition of looking is lifted on this day. Looking is not just allowed, it is encouraged. Women are sexy when they put on fishnet stockings and bat wings and invites themselves to be gawked at. Many will even let you take their photos. Halloween is an invitation to participate in objectification.
One is allowed to fantasy about both the beautiful and the monstrous on Halloween, and often the two are conflated. On Halloween, the ugly easily becomes the erotic. The mask not only signifies, but suggests the potential of its removal. This potential is erotic because of the mystery of what is hidden. One is allowed to fantasize from either side of the mask.
Enough of this speculative, spectatorial blather. Let’s talk about some important things…
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who do you think you are, sigmund bleeping freud? I dress like a bad girl every day of the week and it’s for one simple reason… I like sex. so kill me. And I don’t have to dress like a witch to get it (yep, I’m so hot you can grill sausages on my taut stomach). But yeah I do think you’re right about the guys wearing dresses thing. I had a boyfriend who used to wear my underwear every halloween then one year he just downright broke the homo scale. No surprise there. Halloween is cool but Christmas is better because getting new clothes beats blow pops and other brat candy any day of the week.