As a member of the "haunted generation" who grew up watching weird TV and movies, I loved reading Albion's Eco-eerie. Like author Phil Smith, I can remember watching early episodes of Doctor Who and Quatermass from behind the sofa, and being scared and thrilled by films such as Night of the Demon, The Company of Wolves, and TV adaptations of MR James' spooky stories.
I've heard these and similar movies and programmes being described as contemporary occulture, as flowerings of the 1970s' Age of Dark Aquarius, and as folk horror. They show a nostalgic look at the myths and memories of the past, but also a fear of such things as well as fears for the future. This is sometimes described as hauntology, hence the subtitle of Albion's Eco-eerie: "TV and Movies of the Haunted Generations".
"Unlike most approaches to folk horror or hauntology, we are interested here in an alternative reading; one that attends to the unhuman characters, the materials and the edgeland spaces. A hobgoblinology. Albion's Eco-eerie is a fantastic exploration into culture’s obsession with ‘the other’. Dissecting some of our most regarded folk horror creations, to present us with the political and theoretical heart that beats inside. How our desire for escape through parallel worlds holds the key for a deeper future."
Phil Smith uses the term "goblin" in a positive rather than a negative sense, meaning figures from mythology that are an intrinsic part of our landscape, yet are underappreciated. He describes hobgoblinology as "an amalgam of phenomenology, folklore and auto-ethnography." But please don't get put off reading this lovely book because it uses an odd term. If, like me, you have ever cheered on the underdogs rather than the think-they-know-it-alls in charge, that's what it basically means.
As well as enjoying reading more about some of my favourite weird films and TV shows, I really like the way this book shows they have an environmental message: that blending best practices from the past with best aspects of modern science, and accepting a change of the way we live, might be necessary to save the Earth.
Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/09/altars-household-gods-assemble-for-eco.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/07/book-review-goblin-queens-and-qualia.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/03/book-extract-living-in-magical-mode-by.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/07/review-on-walking-psychogeographical.html
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