Halloween is fast approaching, and to make this year a bit more special, a new Michael Myers movie has come out! It negates all of the sequels (which unfortunately includes "Halloween II," thus retconning the fact that Michael and Laurie are siblings). So the story starts fresh as if the only "Halloween" events that took place were those of the first film in the series, 1978's "Halloween." Go ahead and take a shot every time the word Halloween comes up. Just make sure the drink is festive!
Personally, I'm not really a fan of the movies. I don't find them all that scary. But I always found it odd that Michael only seemed to kill those who just had, or were having sex. So that made me think; is Halloween just a public service announcement about underage sex? Or unprotected sex, thus the spread of STD's (i.e., Michael, who really acts like the film's version of herpes).
I know I'm not the first person to consider this. Do a quick Google search, and you'll see others have talked about it before. Michael Myers is the ultimate cock-block.
Is he just a prude? Or did Trojan act as a silent producer in this film, to give their sales to jump?
But then I came across this article "Trick And Treats: Re-Viewing Sexuality in 'Halloween.'" Quickly in the article, Bellmore points out that the person doing all of the killings is one reeling in zero itchy na-na. The conclusion drawn is that sexual repression acts as a cause for Michael's violence. Which makes sense, think about how angry you get when it's been a while?
Maybe Michael just needs a quick handy? I think every guy can attest that the last thing on their mind is murder when they're tugging on their kitchen knife.
All jokes and euphemisms aside, the movie does have a connection to, and a viewpoint on sex. Maybe it was just the start of the virgin trope, as mentioned in "Scream."
Scream (1996) - How to Survive a Horror Movie Scene (8/12) | Movieclips www.youtube.com
The article goes deeper, examining the fact that Michael seemed to have an infatuation with his sister (not necessarily in the vein of incest), which was clearly not returned. Thus he gets jealous when she is "affectionate" with her boyfriend and kills her. It can later be supported when looked at how he is seemingly obsessed with Laurie (revealed to be his sister in "Halloween II"). Or maybe it is incest. But regardless of specific role sex plays for Michael Myers and the film as a whole, its presence is always there and is one associated with violence.
It can be metaphorical for dominance, (the knife does play as a phallic symbol). Or maybe there is more to it. This next sentence will seem like a joke but bear with me. The old adage is "don't think with your dick." The knife, serving as a phallic metaphor, means what? Michael is thinking with his dick. If the film is a PSA about unprotected sex (thus the spread of potentially deadly STD's)... then, thinking with one's winkie leads to death. Sure that's a stretch, but ignore the jokes, there could be some truth to it.
A Question Of Lust www.youtube.com
Perhaps Depeche Mode said it best. Maybe what Bellmore was saying is true in regards to Michael as a young boy. He cared for his sister, but she didn't for him. So he becomes jealous of her boyfriend, mistaking sex for affection. And like the Depeche Mode song, there's more to sex than simply sex.
For Micheal, it's about being accepted and cared for. Whenever he kills the various victims, he's reminded as to how he has been shunned or stationed as an outcast by his family. When he returns to his home 15 years later, he sees Laurie with Tommy. It becomes a flashback, with her serving as his sister, Judy, and Tommy is a mirror image of himself as a boy.
Jumping back to the beginning of the film, Michael kills his sister once the mask is on. When it is removed, he seems distraught, almost unaware of his actions. I could go on and say how the mask is a euphemism for condoms and really hit my point home. But like anything, the mask separates him from something that should be normal. We see his perspective as he goes to kill Judy. The eye holes skew the vision for the view. Thus, what we see is not the entire thing, and we get a blurred vision of what we really should see.
In other words, Michael becomes tunneled vision, and his thoughts on sex and affection all become skewed. When his mask is removed towards the climax of the film (aside from looking scary) he looks lost and confused, almost like he doesn't know what is happening, or how to perceive things without his mask. His skewed view is all he knows.
