Notes are extracted from an email time stamped on Fri., 09/14/2012 at 1:46 P.M.
This text is a result of an uncompleted project I was asked to consult on by an adjunct lecturer at CSU Monterey Bay. I had recently completed my Master’s Degree in Theater Studies at San Jose State University. I was greatly inspired by my graduate seminars and undergraduate electives in Performance Studies in the Communication Department. Special Thanks to Dr. Matthew Spangler (Broadway’s The Kite Runner) and Dr. David Terry.
Themes
One of the themes of the Slenderman phenomena has to deal with isolation in spite of increased digital connectedness. Most “marked” people have documented their experiences though videos, tweets and blog posts. However, the targets often have very little ability to stop these otherworldly beings. This unique experience often leaves the main characters feeling alone and isolated.
The loss of privacy in a digital age is another theme that runs through most of the narrative. The lives of the endangered are captured on video. The Slenderman itself can be intrusive at almost any moment in any location instantaneously.
A crippling economic crisis in 2008, and the increased skepticism in corporate and government transparency has made many young people feel powerless. This is due largely in part, to being in the shadow of encompassing forces beyond individual understanding and agency. It is no surprise that the Slenderman mythos launched properly via the Marble Hornets web series in 2009.
My thoughts on the Slenderman mythos.
One of the most interesting aspects of the phenomenon of the Slenderman mythos is that its stories are often restricted to characters that are in (their late teens and) early 20s. If one notices from looking at the various videos that have created the main body of the mythos, there are no main characters (or supporting characters for that matter) that are over the age of 30. This is because the most effect is placed on those who have grown up with a type of meta-cognitive understanding of media when it comes to the digital realm.
When a young person uploads a video of themselves on YouTube or other video sharing websites, they are blurring the lines between reality and what Victor Turner calls liminal space. When a person goes to see a play, a movie or plays a video game, they are taken out of the normal everyday workings of what we perceive as reality. However, when the experiences end we are returned to a status quo or a more normal state for lack of a better term. Victor Turner, being an anthropologist, uses ritual to describe drama and vice versa. Ritual also creates a heightened experience that takes a person or a community out of the everyday. This also applies to crisis situations when the status quo is disrupted. When the conflict or issue is resolved either: a new status quo is established, or a dissolution or breaking apart and reconfiguration occurs. We as human beings experience liminality through either ritual created by society or through the process of maturation. Sports and childhood play can also serve as a liminal space. When children play pretend, or a similar type of free play, a “magic circle” is drawn around them putting them in this space. When playtime is over they return to the mundane.
One example that works on many facets is the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games originated (coinciding with theater), as a way to connect with the gods in a ritualistic manner. The Olympic Games still functions as it once did. For six weeks in 2012, those living in London experienced a common euphoria known as communitas. Communitas is the result of a “coming together” of people under a common cause or idea. However, this is a limited phenomenon. If one thinks back to the United States after September 11, 2001, we experienced a similar feeling. The natural order is for this feeling to break down into a former or new way of everyday thinking and feeling. If not, negative consequences will occur. Zealotry, inclusiveness, paranoia, and loss of individualism can happen. Communitas also takes a community out of the ordinary into a liminal space.
A prime example of this process both on the biological and sociological front is adolescence. Adolescence is an in-between state that is commonly shared by everyone but is experienced differently throughout different cultures. Rite of passages are often a large part of this process. In America, technology and consumer products often play parts in one’s transformation. For example, the privilege of driving a car is a large milestone. Oftentimes the threshold (a figurative membrane that must be breached) is passed through when one graduates from high school.
What does this have to do with the Slenderman mythos?
Based on this idea of liminal space (betwixt and between), I have imagined the context in which this story will occur. The Slenderman was created as a hoax in order to fool paranormal aficionados who wish to believe in a world beyond our five senses. This hoax eventually became an Internet meme, that became the series of videos, and a handful of computer games. The interesting aspect about the videos is that some of the video series are aware of the Slenderman’s fictional origins and yet are still plagued by the Slenderman itself. The stories engage the viewer partly due the the premise of how acutely aware the characters are about the mythos itself. This is where the backdrop of the game story begins.
The Slenderman is a projection of liminal space which is taken form based on the collective beliefs of: (at first) paranormal aficionados, the creators of the mythos, and lastly the consumers of this phenomena. The reason why children were the first and primary victims of the Slenderman is because they most of all, live in the liminal space; play is how they learn how to understand the world. So the membrane between the liminal space created by children and the projection of the Slenderman is so thin that the Slenderman can bring the children in permanently. The victims are neither alive nor dead. They are stuck in an in-between place where they can never truly return to our perception of reality. In addition, they can never truly change or achieve the stasis that humans need.
The reason why so many people in their teens and 20s are kidnapped is because they have grown up in a digital world (especially when it comes to social media, and video sharing) where the line between reality and liminal space is blurred. When one engages in the ritual, play, or communitas for too long, negative consequences happen to the mind and body. They open themselves to the Slenderman, and remain in this in-between space. This would explain the condition known as “slender-sickness”. Coughing, insomnia, paranoia, and lack of focus are common symptoms. This usually happens to those who have been in close proximity or seen the Slenderman. These people are often marked for abduction.
Sample Game Environment: The Administration Office
The admin office is a mix of chaos and order. Some parts of the office are untouched, however some parts have been molested or altered in some way.
The office will have a large cork board on the wall with various announcements. However there will be key components on the wall. Some left by other victims, some by the hostage, some by unknown entities.
There will be several “Have You Seen Me?” notices on the board. All of them are students of Northern Creek High. The faces on the notices have been scribbled out by marker. On one of them, the words “have you seen me” have been scratched out with marker and words “HE HAS” written on them.
On another wall of the office, a panoramic photo of the NCHS Class of 2012.In the photo, the Slenderman has been crudely drawn in with (or behind ) the graduating class.
The secretary’s desk has a pull-out writing board (with a piece of paper taped to it.) with the list Media Center/Library’s monthly passwords written on it. the words double and pencil scribbled out. The last item on the list says, “FATTENING”
At one of the desks is the PA system used to make the morning announcements. Next to the old desk microphone is an old dictation tape recorder and a piece of paper. When the “PLAY” button on the tape recorder is pressed, The following message can be heard.
“Good morning Fightin’ Lumberjacks! This is Jake “The Rake” Carpenter with today’s announcements! Remember, Thursday is the last day to buy tickets to the homecoming dance. Speaking of homecoming, you can see me and the rest of the team rough up Eureka at six o’clock Friday night right here at the “Sawmill”. It will be sixty-two degrees today and–surprise!–foggy. Today’s lunch special will be Mmmmm…chicken fried steak.”
Throughout the message, the audio gets convoluted due to Slendy’s presence around the school. The password could be “steak”; as it is in the secretary’ s view, “fattening”. It’s not the plot of the computer game, but this is what I thought about in the last couple of hours. This should give us a nice springboard for creating the narrative of the game.
Final Thoughts
The interest in would would be known as “liminal spaces” seemed to have taken off around the turn of the 21st Century with the nascent coverage of dead, or dying malls. With the advent of Web 2.0 social media coverage, what used to be regional phenomenon, spread into the greater world. This seemed to have splintered off into the interest in liminal spaces around 2019. Some would credit this interest to The Backrooms post on the web forum 4Chan in May, 2019. VFX and YouTube creator Kane Pixels would take this concept and turn it into a viral series of videos. By the early 2020s, the interest in liminal spaces had garnered enough attention to be examined in greater depth.
Looking back, if I further pursued this line of inquiry and mode of expression, I possibly would have been at the vanguard, or at least following near the head of the academic or creative peloton in this matter.
Unfortunately, I was dropped from the uncompleted project and my investment in the project waned.
Oh well. I did have to make money and support my family in the real world. That does eat up the time.
-PB