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I love the depiction of cursed media especially music in media. In one of my favorite anime Hunter x Hunter, a character is searching for the Sonata of Darkness to destroy it. It is said that the Sonata was written by the devil himself and when her friend played just the flute solo of the Sonata, she was horribly disfigured and that friend died gruesomely. She's a small character but I found her portrayal absolutely fascinating.

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I’ll have to watch it!! and I agree it’s such a fascinating sub genre & there is so much to be done with it

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It’s criminally under-utilized in fiction (at least a lot of the popular fiction I come across lol)

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exactly !! I had to go digging for a few of the examples in here. I wish there was more out there

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Fellow Hunter X Hunter enjoyer, rise up <3

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Hannah, what a treat to return to Substack after a mini hiatus to find your insights in my inbox. I really love this one - specifically the idea that the context surrounding a piece of art can inadvertently create a "curse" in the form of the emotions attached to it. I've never thought about it that way, but now I'm thinking about so many of my favorite pieces of media through the lens of art as a kind of "spell." Such a cool concept I'd love to explore further!

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ahh eli thank you!! I am so glad you enjoyed!! it was hard to find resources about it (except for the essay linked at the end) to incorporate but it is such a fascinating concept

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Oct 27Liked by Hannah

Another cursed media book is Lullaby, by Chuck Palahniuk.

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hm I haven’t heard of that one before I’ll have to check it out !

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The podcast of Archive 81 is absolutely da bomb, albeit unfinished:)

I think the great thing about cursed media is that it updates horror for the modern age. I was struck with how The Ring is about making you scared of your TV, a thoroughly modern object. Far cry from haunted castles etc, which are far from an experience of an average person. I'm sure we will soon see a movie about cursed AI or some such:)

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I’ve been meaning to get to it! for some reason I don’t love podcasts but that’s one I do want to listen to. I love that perspective, I hadn’t really thought about it as being afraid of advancing technology and such

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Definitely recommend it:)

Thank you very much..happy to bring what I can to these posts :)I think watching The Ring at a reasonably young age made me feel that...had a slightly uncomfortable feeling seeing the TV for a bit of time afterwards. Before that, after I finished watching something, I could find comfort in the environment being different to what I watched:)

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i love this!!! I've never thought about it this deeply but it is a theme I find super interesting. I started reading Paul Tremblay's Horror Movie in hopes it would be a strong version of cursed media but I am struggling to get through it.

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hmm I haven’t read that one but I didn’t love tremblay’s other books so not too surprising. have you read silver nitrate? if not I’d highly recommend in the book realm of cursed media!!

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