Alzheimer's and triggers
The Rise of Alzheimer's Horror: Interesting article on the effects of the rising number of cases of Alzheimer's on the entertainment industry.
Urbandictionary.com defines trigger as follows: "A topic, phrase or word that emotionally sets someone off."
It defines the word squick as follows:
1. Noun. The physical sense of repulsion upon encountering a concept or situation one finds disgusting.
2. Noun. A situation or concept which engenders this reaction.
Memory-loss scenarios are both a squick and a trigger for me. It comes up often in fanfiction, the typical plot line being "Person A and person B have been lovers for x number of [months/years] now. But in a [mission gone bad/accident/illness, etc.] person B can now no longer remember the last y [months/years where y>x]. Oh no! What will person A do? How can they convince person B to give them a chance? Will person B ever get their memories back?"
I have a deep-seated fear of memory loss. My self identity is so tied to my memories - what I've done, what I've experienced, what I've felt - that to me, the idea of memory loss feels like an essential loss of self. The very thought of it makes me cringe and shudder. Sadly, many fanfiction authors don't think to put this in their warnings (like issues of rape and abuse are often listed as warnings at the beginning of a fic) so there I go, enjoying something, and all the sudden - wham! One of the main characters loses their memory and I squick so hard I feel like I need to take a toothbrush to my brain.
So yeah - this article. I hadn't really thought about it that way, but I can see where Alzheimer's Horror could be really effective. It certainly is for me - I've refused to see any of the movies they mentioned in the article for that very reason.
Urbandictionary.com defines trigger as follows: "A topic, phrase or word that emotionally sets someone off."
It defines the word squick as follows:
1. Noun. The physical sense of repulsion upon encountering a concept or situation one finds disgusting.
2. Noun. A situation or concept which engenders this reaction.
Memory-loss scenarios are both a squick and a trigger for me. It comes up often in fanfiction, the typical plot line being "Person A and person B have been lovers for x number of [months/years] now. But in a [mission gone bad/accident/illness, etc.] person B can now no longer remember the last y [months/years where y>x]. Oh no! What will person A do? How can they convince person B to give them a chance? Will person B ever get their memories back?"
I have a deep-seated fear of memory loss. My self identity is so tied to my memories - what I've done, what I've experienced, what I've felt - that to me, the idea of memory loss feels like an essential loss of self. The very thought of it makes me cringe and shudder. Sadly, many fanfiction authors don't think to put this in their warnings (like issues of rape and abuse are often listed as warnings at the beginning of a fic) so there I go, enjoying something, and all the sudden - wham! One of the main characters loses their memory and I squick so hard I feel like I need to take a toothbrush to my brain.
So yeah - this article. I hadn't really thought about it that way, but I can see where Alzheimer's Horror could be really effective. It certainly is for me - I've refused to see any of the movies they mentioned in the article for that very reason.