Halloween and Deceptions

I had a rather nice Halloween, dressing up as Max from "Where the Wild Things Are." Tail? Check. Ears? Complete. Paper Crown? Yes-mission accomplished. I also helped MJ do her David Bowie makeup, and I actually did ok. Pix to be posted soon. I also went to the graduate soiree, watched the costume contest to be a popularity contest, and then went to a house party? I know- that's very un-Kayleigh-like. To go to a party where a variety of substances are being used and lots of people are crazy and belligerent or euphoric. It was very odd, but much appreciated, especially since there were decent bands playing all night in the basement. And here's the clincher, at least for me. While watching the final band of the evening, I realized that I have an inexplicable attraction to people who dress up as Alex from Clockwork Orange. That's weird-I remember being totally attracted to people who dressed up as Alex in high school. It's so wrong- Alex is a character who is sexually abusive to women, violent, cruel, and possessing an usual affinity for Beethoven and cow's milk. And yet, perhaps I am attracted because the kind of person who wears that costume is not the person who has Alex's personality. The only person who would dress up as Alex is someone who has a retro affinity for Kubrick movies, who has an awareness of overt sexual imagery without it dominating his sensibilities, someone who is not afraid to wear a little guyliner, all white, and a bowler. I found this discovery to be fabulously amusing, because it's ironic to like a character who is so degrading to women. But in the end, Halloween is about being what you're not. It's the quiet people dressing up as everything that they're not, it's the guy going in drag, the gay guy going as a woman, and the geeky boy going as a Little Rascal. It's the day that you can be someone that you're not, someone that you want to be, someone that you hope to never be. And it's the fantasy and masquerade that is the allure.