Sunday, April 21, 2013

Marion Lichty: reading #5


Silent Hill is about a place called Silent Hill and the tragic event that took place.  The story was that an underground coal fire destroyed the town; however, the reason why was left out of the news.  The story starts with an adopted girl Sharon and her family.  Sharon had reoccurring nightmares.  Her mother takes her to Silent Hill to try and stop the nightmares and sleepwalking.  Sharon gets separated from her mother, and the mom must make her was through Silent Hill avoiding the creatures that lurk in the shadows.  The mother than discovers what the tragic event was.  The town’s people saw this girl Alessa as a witch and being a witch they burned her.  The burning got out of control and started the coal fire that destroyed the town. 
I came across a short article called Some facts about the Salem witch trials.  It talked about the witchcraft and the punishments for witches.  The puritans of New England believed everything was either the work of God or the work of the devil.  People would claim a person was a witch if he or she were hurting animals, or causing illness or for women unladylike behavior.  Witches were thought to be the devil’s advocate.  In Salem, the witches were hung.  However, in Europe the witches were burned. 
I thought Silent Hill did a great job portraying the puritan beliefs of the devil’s work and how to deal with witches.  The one thing I don’t think the got right was the person who was burned.  The town’s people burned Alessa, the little girl; however, the mother of Alessa was the one who had unladylike behaviors.   However, since the people burned an innocent girl, they condemned their town and the people to hell.  In the end, the town is in hell and the people must like among the creatures are there too.  Overall, this was a great movie and it covered a bunch of different theme including the witch burning.

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