Our good friend John Higgs – author of the acclaimed recent book Stranger Than We Can Imagine – recently chatted with comics maestro Alan Moore (who has also recently released a new, acclaimed comic series, Providence) about a shared interest – the ‘hidden threads of history’ that helped form the cloth of the 20th century, and in particular the influence of science fiction and horror on modern western culture. The 23 (ahem!) minute long video is embedded above for your enjoyment.
The discussion ranges from Lovecraft to George Lucas, but also finishes with Moore reiterating a point he’s made before – that somehow, fictional (or ‘imaginal’) elements have a habit of bleeding across into reality:
I believe that the membrane between fiction and fact is porous and semi-permeable, and I have become used to my most ridiculous ideas – whether that be coming up with V for Vendetta and then suddenly seeing a load of Guy Fawkes mask anarchists invading the world stage…or having come up with the idea related to my film project Jimmy’s End of having a sinister clown manifesting in various locations around Northampton, and returning from holiday and finding that a sinister clown had manifested in Northampton, at the end of my street, about a hundred yards from my front door. You start to get the impression that sometimes things can kind of percolate through from the realm of ideas into the realm of actuality.
Moore has also, of course, previously mentioned bumping into another of his characters, John Constantine.
Two gentlemen with fascinating insights into the the making of modern culture – recommended viewing!
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