Slender Man
The Slender Man ( dt. Slim Man ), also written Slenderman and sometimes called Slender for short , is a fictional being of Internet culture , similar to the " Kunekune " and " Hanako, the toilet ghost ". It was invented in 2009 for an internet photo competition and then appeared as a meme in photos, videos, songs, several computer games and in the movie of the same name, Slender Man (2018).
description
Appearance
The Slender Man is described as a tall, strikingly thin, humanoid figure. He usually wears a black suit, a white shirt and a black (less often red) tie, plus black (less often white) gloves and black shoes. The head is completely white and in most representations without any facial features. In other representations, on the other hand, slight bumps in the area of the nose and depressions in the area of the eye sockets can be seen, which gives the impression of weak facial features. In many animations (especially in video games) the Slenderman can stretch his limbs unnaturally long, in some newer game versions tentacles grow out of his back, which are also extremely elastic.
behavior
According to the internet myth, the Slenderman prefers to stay in dark forests or wooded parks at night. He acts silently, does not move his body or its limbs - but has the ability to teleport by leaps and bounds . He chases after his victims for a while, wearing them down and then driving them to death or catching them and then killing them. In some, supplemented variants of the myth, the victims are found impaled and gutted on trees, or they disappear without a trace.
background
history
On June 10, 2009 Eric Knudsen published two modified pictures under the pseudonym Victor Surge in the forum of the American website Something Awful for a competition in which the aim was to incorporate paranormal characters or events into pictures . Knudsen initially called the creature simply The Slender Man (Eng. "The slim man"). The two photos, showing children and a shadowy, thin figure in the background, marked the beginning of an Internet phenomenon to which numerous anonymous users contributed their own photos, stories and videos. In particular, the video series Marble Hornets , which supposedly shows real recordings with the Slenderman in the style of the Blair Witch Project , has already reached over 400,000 subscribers on YouTube .
Eric Knudsen stated that his creation should spread fear and terror without a logically comprehensible motive. In addition to the well-known horror literature and games, he was influenced by some short stories published on Something Awful , as well as Stephen King's short story The Fog , Reports on Ghosts , the Mothman , and the Mad Gasser of Mattoon .
Fictional origin
The Slenderman was first sighted in 1986 in Stirling , Scotland , a week before the Stirling library burned down. After the fire, the cause of which remained unclear, police officers confiscated two pictures showing the Slenderman. However, there are supposedly already pictures from the time of industrialization in the 19th century , where workers can be seen in front of a factory and the Slenderman in the background.
popularity
The Slenderman became known to a wider public through the free survival horror game Slender - The Eight Pages , released in June 2012 . In this game, the aim is to collect eight pages of paper in a dark wooded area with the help of a flashlight, the batteries of which run out after a while, while avoiding the Slenderman. In 2013, the paid sequel was released with the title Slender: The Arrival , which the Slenderman gained additional fame. The game drew numerous free and paid offshoots. The best known of these are the Slenderman's Shadow games ( Sanatorium, Hospice, Elementary, Mansion, Claustrophobia, 7th Street, Prison, Carnival and Christmas Special ) and the iOS-exclusive Slender Rising , which was specially designed for touchscreens .
The Slenderman appears more and more frequently in Internet videos about corresponding games such as Slender - The Eight Pages , Slender - The Arrival and Slender Mansion . Clips in which players post recordings of game sessions are particularly popular on the YouTube video portal . In addition, video recordings of private individuals who - disguised as Slenderman - play pranks on unsuspecting passers-by on the street (or in parks) are also becoming popular. So-called slideshows , in which supposedly real photos, but also fanart, are presented one after the other are also popular. The Slenderman is sometimes even the namesake of corresponding video channels, such as SlendyTube . There are also a number of fan sites that have been created on the Internet. Singer Gabriel Cyphre spins the myth further in his song The Slender Man Song by claiming that Slenderman lost his son and face in a fire and that he is now in the woods looking for his son.
In September 2018, this character got his first own movie, directed by Sylvain White .
Parodies
The indie - open world game Minecraft contains a parody of the Slenderman, the Enderman , who is 2.5 "blocks" high (1 block can be compared to one meter). Like the Slenderman, he is very thin and can teleport himself, but unlike the Slenderman, he has no suit, completely black skin and at least two purple eyes. There is an episode of the series Supernatural called Thin Man , in which the protagonists hunt a serial killer who is heavily influenced by Slenderman and whose origin and myth also come from the Internet. Also as a parody (or as Easter Egg are intended) two special game modes of Slender - The Eight Pages , where the player in daylight (rather than at night) runs through a park (so-called Daylight mode ) and a truncated version of the song "Gimme 20 Dollars ”by rapper Ron Browz sounds as soon as Slenderman appears (so-called $ 20 mode ).
Criticism, attempted killing and violent attacks
Similar to other fictional characters (including the masked Ghostface from the horror film Scream ), the character of Slenderman is regularly criticized - especially by American parents. They see many fictional characters as a dubious or threatening influence on young adolescents. In June 2014, a case in the U.S. state of Ohio fueled public debate over fictional characters after a 13-year-old girl stabbed her returning mother with a kitchen knife. According to local authorities and residents, the girl was downright obsessed with the character of Slender Man. During the attack, it is said to have worn a white Slenderman-style mask. Slenderman inventor Eric Knudsen publicly expressed his regret, but pointed out that the character of Slender Man does not consciously guide adolescents to injure or kill people, nor ever use visible violence.
In early June 2013 in the US state of Wisconsin , two girls tried to kill a classmate of the same age with 19 stab wounds to please Slender Man. The two 12-year-old perpetrators could face up to 5 years' imprisonment under youth criminal law or up to 65 years under adult criminal law. One of the girls was sentenced by a Waukesha court on December 22, 2017 to spend 25 years in a closed mental institution. The other girl was sentenced to 40 years in a closed mental institution.
literature
- Sally R. Munt, Olu Jenzen: The Ashgate Research Companion to Paranormal Cultures . Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Burlington 2014, ISBN 1472406125 .
- Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality . McFarland, Jefferson (North Carolina) 2014, ISBN 1476613214 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Sally R. Munt, Olu Jenzen: The Ashgate Research Companion to Paranormal Cultures. Pp. 97-102.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: Found Footage Horror Films. Pp. 198-201.
- ↑ Slenderman on slenderman.de (German).
- ↑ Interview with Victor Surge, posted October 20, 2011
- ↑ Slenderman on slenderman.de (German).
- ↑ 13-year-old Ohio girl stabs mother in 2nd 'Slenderman' attack , Washington Times , June 9, 2014 (English).
- ↑ Attempted murder of US teenagers: A victim for Slenderman , spiegel.de of June 5, 2014
- ↑ "Slender Man" becomes real - For horror characters: Girls almost become murderers . focus.de. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
- ↑ Slenderman attempted murder: teenagers sentenced under adult criminal law . spiegel.de. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
- ^ Attempted murder because of "Slenderman": adolescents admitted to psychiatry. In: derstandard.at . December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
- ↑ Attempted murder of a school colleague 15-year-old must have been in psychiatry for 40 years. In: 20min.ch . February 2, 2018, accessed February 2, 2018 .