Everyone has one. One episode of “Are You Afraid Of The Dark?” that completely fucked you up. Straight up ruined your childhood. One episode that to this day has stuck with you and still gives you the chills when you think about it. I repeat, everyone has one.
I know mine. Oh boy do I know mine. I’m not going to go looking for it online to find a video. Not sure I can handle that right now. Don’t even know the name of the episode. I think my brain has blocked it out to protect me. But I’ll do my best to describe the plot.
Basically, there’s these two siblings and throughout the episode they slowly start forgetting things. At first, it starts out small with them just forgetting how to do simple tasks. But then it really picks up. They can’t remember their parents’ names. They can’t remember their own names. And then, their entire existence is , well, non-existent.
This ruined me. It wasn’t monsters or ghosts. It felt real. It was the first time I watched something scary and thought “yo that could happen. This is a thing that happens to real people. Oh shit. What if it happens to me?” Chills.
So why bring this up now? What am I some kind of sicko? Well, “Are You Afraid Of The Dark?” came up at work and the recent college graduates in the room didn’t know what it was. I know, scary. Not “Are You Afraid Of The Dark?” scary but still. The generational gap shocked me. So it got me thinking. Is there anything comparable for a younger generation? Or are they completely shielded from anything that can scar them?
Now I promise you that I am not going to bash the younger generation. There is nothing more tired than ragging on younger people for being younger and having different stuff. BUT… I do think that they are missing out on something truly valuable: a traumatizing TV experience.
“Are You Afraid Of The Dark?” was truly horrible for young kids. But it was completely necessary. It was the first taste of real life. That episode I described above was rough and I just had to live with that shit. That just sat with me. K cool I guess this is life now, moving on. IT HARDENED ME! PREPARED ME FOR THE COLD REALITY OF THE WORLD!
But also like, I’m still afraid of the dark.
