So today, in my October horror-story-a-day-athon, I want to tackle one of the biggies. Ray Bradbury. There is no way no how to pick a favorite horror story from his massive body of work, so I thought I'd pick one that I personlly like, but which leaves many a reader in the lurch.
The piece is "Gotcha!", a curious story and an even curiouser episode from Ray Bradbury Theater, a staple of my viewing back in the '80s.
A lot is left to interpretation, especially in the TV version. The teleplay combines two of Bradbury's short stories: the original print tale and "The Laurel and Hardy Affair." In the television version, a couple fall into a somewhat cheesy romance after they meet at a party, each of them dressed as half of the silent screen duo. One day the man muses that their bliss must someday end. She asks why. "Because it always does," he replies.
I don't want to ruin things for those who haven't read the story or seen the show - the episode's on Amazon Prime, in the second season of the program - but suffice it to say that, after her boyfriend's suggestion that romantic enchantment cannot last, she invites him to play a game called "Gotcha" - and the tone quite suddenly shifts to one of extreme tension in the form of a surreal, possibly supernatural waiting game in a sleazy hotel room.
A lot of readers and viewers seem to be confused by this story - they seem to either love or hate it - but I think anyone who's been in a truly long-term relationship will understand. The cutesy lovey-dovey can't last forever. Eventually you get to experience all of your mate's demons, every last one of them, and you either persevere together - or you don't. And either way, the very core of your being's been forever changed by the relationship.
We might remember Bradbury for the bright nostalgia he could create so lyrically with so few, perfectly crafted words, but he was also a master at making us examine the darkest corners of ourselves, corners few of us willingly peer into.
The piece is "Gotcha!", a curious story and an even curiouser episode from Ray Bradbury Theater, a staple of my viewing back in the '80s.
A lot is left to interpretation, especially in the TV version. The teleplay combines two of Bradbury's short stories: the original print tale and "The Laurel and Hardy Affair." In the television version, a couple fall into a somewhat cheesy romance after they meet at a party, each of them dressed as half of the silent screen duo. One day the man muses that their bliss must someday end. She asks why. "Because it always does," he replies.
I don't want to ruin things for those who haven't read the story or seen the show - the episode's on Amazon Prime, in the second season of the program - but suffice it to say that, after her boyfriend's suggestion that romantic enchantment cannot last, she invites him to play a game called "Gotcha" - and the tone quite suddenly shifts to one of extreme tension in the form of a surreal, possibly supernatural waiting game in a sleazy hotel room.
A lot of readers and viewers seem to be confused by this story - they seem to either love or hate it - but I think anyone who's been in a truly long-term relationship will understand. The cutesy lovey-dovey can't last forever. Eventually you get to experience all of your mate's demons, every last one of them, and you either persevere together - or you don't. And either way, the very core of your being's been forever changed by the relationship.
We might remember Bradbury for the bright nostalgia he could create so lyrically with so few, perfectly crafted words, but he was also a master at making us examine the darkest corners of ourselves, corners few of us willingly peer into.