What horror films teach us about ourselves and being human | Dr. Steven Schlozman | TEDxNashville

Wow

A standing ovation

I haven't done anything yet.

Don't hardly feel right as they say.

Okay.

Sorry this is the last thing.

That behind you

that's a mirror.

That's a mirror of all of you.

Not trying to be insulting it's just true.

And it's a mirror of me

its a mirror of pretty much

anybody who looks at it

except that guy in the picture

'cus we know he shouldn't show up in film

but it's okay that that's the mirror

'cos if it were more pristine

more kind of accurate

I think it'd be hard to look at

this is what I'm going to try

and tell you about horror,

it teaches us about ourselves

it actually entertains us

and helps us to love each other more

and I know that sounds like a cliche

but you're gonna have to

bear with me a little bit

and you're going to have to bear with me

as I tell you some stories.

That's me with as just bangs

makes the difference.

When I was eleven years old

with bangs

I saw a vampire,

I- I- did,

he was someone's brother this vampire, and

he was hovering outside a second story window

through which he was trying to gain access

and his nails they'd grown

unnaturally long throughout the night,

he was staring at me with kind of these

kind of lifeless glowing yellow

bile filled eyes

and you know what?

I let that vampire into the house.

I've been thinking about that vampire

for a long long time.

He was scratching at the window

and he was smiling.

So,

if I could play you this scene,

which we can't because of copyright reasons

that's good because the music alone

would scare the hell out of me again

and I'd be back at that time

when I had bangs, So, rather than

to do that, what I'd like to do for you

is paint the picture.

Right, I'd like to take you back.

I was eleven years old.

It's 1978

you need to picture wood panelled basement

okay, and I'm home all alone

it's just me and my my trusty dog Patches

this mongrel this white mongrel animal

whose white fur kind of blended seamlessly

with the white shack carpet.

My parents were out for the evening.

My sister is having a sleepover

at someone's house.

And I've eaten all but the last piece

of one of those God given Totino's

Frozen Pizza. Those are like the greatest

gift ever to frozen food.

And I was watching on one of those 70s

plastic translucent cups which you've seen

-which you've probably seen - have

in your basement

- clutching a classic Dr. Pepper