FilmFlicking

JohnG · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:18 am Post subject: Arachnophobia

This is something I wrote a couple of years ago, I've never really let anybody read it and would be grateful of criticism/opinion etc.

ARACHNOPHOBIA

Imagine the scenario: You and your family are cornered. Every vent, letterbox, keyhole and window is being invaded by a foe who is intent on infesting you; smothering you; and then, eventually, killing you. This foe, however, does not come in the guise of a single, uniformed entity. It is a deluge of a thousand individual harbingers of death. Spiders!
You clamp your loved ones as close to your body as you can, watching helplessly, as these unwanted guests spread across the walls with the fluidity of a fast flowing river.
Desperate, you make a break for a door that looks clear. The lock is jammed. Sheer frustration coupled with the fight/flight response turns you into a cornered animal.
Your focus is shattered by a scream that almost pierces your heart… your daughter!
Her eyes are wide with unspeakable terror. You follow her gaze. From the ceiling, hundreds more spiders descend, abseiling like crack SAS troops onto their quarry. Hitting the floor you scramble on hands and knees towards those who you must protect. A hand is outstretched towards you. Fingertips touch.
The last visions of your world are glimpsed through fast, scurrying legs. Screams of panic dampened by the ever-increasing sounds of scratching…

I do hope you are all still with me?
For many people, that introduction is a nightmare scenario to surpass all others. Perhaps some will not have been able to finish reading it. It is, of course, a complete work of fiction. One half of it concocted by me, the other half a description – as best as I remember it – of one of the final scenes in the 1990 thriller Arachnophobia.
I recall being unable to watch that scene when I first saw the film. It was unbearable. It made my head itch and my skin crawl.
I was, myself, arachnophobic at that point in my life. I was known to scream like a little girl if one of the wee beasties galloped across the hearthrug towards me, no matter how small it was.
These days, however, I am much more restrained when I am in their company. I say ‘in their company’ as I share my house with five of the biggest species of spider in the world. The tarantulas. They are beautiful, graceful, dignified. I could sit and watch them for hours. One of them, ‘Baby’, as I call her, would even allow me to handle her without issue (this is something that I do not do very often as it can cause her to become stressed). The other four are a little more skittish and aggressive, but this instils, within me, a sense of respect for them rather than fear.
So. Why the change in my attitude? And why the fear in the first place?
A phobia is defined as an intense, abnormal and irrational fear of a given situation, object or organism. Flying, for example, is statistically one of the safest forms of travel, yet the sense of panic that wells up within me as I ascend the steps of a plane is nowhere to be seen when I climb into my car, which is – statistically – a potential death trap (in all honesty, it’s not the flying that frightens me, it’s the stopping flying and plummeting that does it).
So, what about the phobia of spiders? Irrational?
It is widely thought that the origin of arachnophobia is an evolutionary one. The fear of something that can put us in mortal danger, rooted deep within our genetic makeup, passed down through generations of our descendants as an ancient survival tip.
That doesn’t sound irrational, does it? Sounds quite reasonable, really.
But how much danger can our little eight-legged Araneae chums cause us? And how mortal would that danger be? It was therein that lay the hub of my realisation and acceptance. They ‘aint so bad!
I decided to study them, to learn more about them and to understand them; we tend to be fearful of the dark because we do not know what lurks there.
What I found was a much-maligned animal. A creature that is tarred with an undeserved reputation as a nocturnal ne’er do well. But contrary to popular belief, the majority of spider species are harmless to humans.
At the last count, there was thirty four thousand described species of spider in the world. Out of those, twenty-seven species are considered dangerous. That’s 0.08%. A fraction. So, who are the usual suspects?
For a start we can remove the tarantulas from the equation. There are eight hundred plus species of tarantula and, while some are more venomous and aggressive than others, their venom is relatively harmless to humans, often compared to a bee sting. Furthermore, tarantula bites are rare as they are reluctant biters, resorting to other forms of defence such as flicking irritating hairs from their abdomen, threat displays or simply running away.
The widow spiders have the most notoriety. Black widows, red backs, katipos, shoe button spiders etc are the culprits of the outdoor toilet horror stories of bitten buttocks. The widows’ venom is neurotoxic. It causes a massive release of neurotransmitters in the body that causes some unpleasant effects (intense pain, muscle cramping, sweating, vomiting, hypertension etc), but death, in a healthy individual, is rare. Of all the reported widow spider bites just five percent were fatal. Widows are also very timid spiders that bite only as a last defence.
Other spiders with ‘medically significant’ bites are the brown recluse spiders. The venom of this spider is necrotic; flesh eating. Its bite can vary from unremarkable to potentially life threatening, but bites are rare; death is even rarer.
The accolade of ‘most dangerous’ can be awarded to two particular species, the Australian funnel web spider and the Brazilian wandering spider.
Funnel webs can bite with little provocation and symptoms can manifest within minutes. Death, if it does occur, can be within hours depending on the age and health of the victim. Symptoms include hyper-salivation, muscle twitches, nausea, agitation, confusion and coma. In the last hundred years there have been thirteen recorded fatalities from funnel web bites in Australia. Interestingly enough, although extremely toxic to humans, funnel web venom is relatively harmless to cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens.
The Brazilian wandering spider is widely considered to be the most dangerous spider in the world, although this has been suggested to be a moot point and possibly requires more research (any volunteers?). It does, however, have extremely potent neurotoxic venom and the most excruciatingly painful bite of all the spiders. A reported symptom of a wandering spider’s bite is priapism – prolonged and painful erections – and scientists are currently studying its toxins so as to create a remedy for male sexual health problems.
So does this small motley crew of arachnids warrant vilification of an entire order of animal?
Or is it something else?
I have a theory. It may not be original and it may not be true. It’s all to do with recognition.
We are visual animals. Our sight is probably our finest sense. Upon introduction to another individual, our first impression of them is what their face tells us. An obscured face, whether partially of fully, deprives us of a great deal of information about that person and, to begin with, may be slightly off-putting. Newborn babies have an inborn interest in faces and are drawn to face-like stimuli. Even to look upon a dog, a rabbit, a gorilla, an elephant or a humpback whale, we recognise a ‘face’ and establish a connection, feeling little or no sense of revulsion, but what about the spider, where is the recognition? The connection? The ‘face’?
She is alien to us; a million worlds away. Offering us nothing that we can empathise with. Couple this with an aeon of stories, myth and superstition and what do you have? A monster! A fiendish embodiment of fear itself, a convenient demon for the silver screen. When in reality this is a fellow animal whose only crime is to dare to adapt to our burgeoning society. We build our homes on her territory and then treat her as an unwelcome guest.
Spiders are fascinating creatures and I urge anybody who has a phobia for them to look beyond the perceived faceless horror that lurks in every dark crevice, waiting for the perfect moment to ambush an unsuspecting visitor to her lair and see the beautiful silk weaver, devoted parent and balletic octopede who means us no harm. And, let’s face it, as us men get older, we may be in dire need of her assistance.

Catnapper · Site Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 8898

That's an excellent piece of writing John, very descriptive and informative

I like the way you refer to the film Arachnophobia, which is fiction and intersperse it with your former real life phobia of spiders.

The way you overcame your phobia by learning all you could about spiders was inspirational. The experts always say the way to get over any phobia is to get exposure to the thing you fear (albeit a little at a time) so it's good you've conquered your arachnophobia and you even have spiders as pets now!

Have you thought of submitting your article for publication? Would you want to write a novel someday?

Emperor Morphetine · Screen Legend Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 3564

Nice work!
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The Dark Side is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be..unnatural.

JohnG · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:39 am Post subject:

I love writing and would love to actually get something published. I have a short story that is being published in an online journal soon. I would love to post it here, but it's about 6 pages long. Would you all mind?

Lucifer_666 · Site Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 12791

Great stuff John

I love to get into writing myself but getting myself to do it and set time for it is the problem.

....you should get talking to Rodd that be's on here he has had a few books published and a load of us have bought his books here.... they are exellent!!! (he posts a good bit in the Lucy's Highland Hoose area)

Oh and fire away and add your published work bud..Brill

..we'll enjoy reading it...

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Catnapper · Site Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 8898

You should try contacting magazines John....they're usually on the lookout for articles and stories. Or collect a few of your articles/stories together, get an agent and see about getting them published!

Some of us have bought Rod's books so I hope we get to buy yours too one day