Movies:
Hellraiser (Horror): It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to compare the Cenobites as the true Fey, odd creatures without a sense of morality or empathy. . .but locked into rules that make sense only to them. I believe this movie is a must for all players of the Changeling: The Lost.
Mirrormask (Fantasy): A modern day Faerie Tale in its right, human girl Helena finds herself transported into a world with very little concept of physics or reality. There are many themes from Changeling: The Lost explored, including the desperate desire to get home. . .as well a look into such Changeling principles as fetches, contracts, vows, and True Faerie in the attitude of the Dark Queen.
Meet the Robinsons (Animated): Based off one of my favorite books, “A Day with Wilber Robinson” this movie may be lighthearted but illustrates the web of lies that a Changeling must spin to his mortal friends as well as the many weird and quirky characters that might be found in a freehold.
Labyrinth (Fantasy): All of Jim Henson’s work is brilliant and at least somewhat Changeling inspired, but this movie is very straightforward Changeling: kidnapping, goblin princes, hobgoblins, vows, and tokens. When I ask people what the first movie they think of when they think Changeling, this is normally the first movie they think of.
Halloween (Horror): I’m not a fan of remakes, but the Rob Zombie film just felt so Changeling. We watch someone lose their Clarity more and more until they literally become an inhuman looking and acting monster with no sense of right and wrong.
Audition (Japanese Horror): Not a straightforward horror film, but very disturbing. You watch a man literally get seduced from his normal life into a strange surreal world where his entire sense of morality is thrown upside down. For those who have not seen it, I will not spoil it.
Stendahl Syndrome (Italian Horror): The story of a woman who has a difficult time returning to reality after leaving a horrific and surreal world. The colors are bright and inhuman. For the benefit of those who have not seen it, I will not spoil it. . .simply warn you that this is an extreme movie.
Freeway (Action): This modern day retelling of the Faerie Tale “Little Red Riding Hood” can give you a better idea how ancient tales can still fit in the modern world.
X-Men (Action): Even more than the comic series, this movie explains the isolation and suspicion that Changelings feel and their almost irrational desire to mix together, just to feel like your less alone.
Books: Harry Potter series: There is so many Changeling moments in this series. It’s hard to narrow any down. Read the books, or at least see the movies.
Anything by Clive Barker: Mixing fantasy, horror, erotica, and pansexual themes, Clive Barker creates the kind of world that the Changeling’s exist in.
Anything by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: Not half as well known as she should be, she is one of the great masters of modern fantasy mixing magic and monsters seamlessly into the modern world.
Anything by Neil Gaiman: Whether he’s writing movies, comics, short stories, or novels, he always has a heightened sense of dark reality that is similar to where Changeling: The Lost takes place.
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue: In interlocking chapters of scintillating prose, Donohue tells the tale of Henry Day and the two people he becomes after being snatched at age seven by changelings. One of them takes his human life, convincing almost everyone that he is the real Henry; meanwhile, the boy becomes one of the changelings, dubbed Aniday and initiated into their magical twilight world.
TV: Torchwood (BBC): A tale of a man out of time and space trying to get back into reality as well as a team of supernatural hunters who must keep their work secret. . .and the consequences of having to keep these secrets. This movie has heavy homosexual themes and is more violent and sexual than American television.
Tin Man (Sci-Fi Channel): This odd retelling of “The Wizard of Oz” has no singing or dancing, but does have a very surrealistic look. There is a great example of every seeming in the characters of this mini-series.
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (Cartoon Network): Most, if not all cartoons, have a little bit of Changeling in them. . .but this look into a world of hobgoblins and changelings is more overt than most. Not to mention, it’s funny and entertaining.
Comic Books: X-Factor: I might not have a lot of positive things to say about Marvel Comics this day, but this comics is still brilliant. There is an example of every seeming in this comic.
Booster Gold: Booster is one of the coolest superheroes in my humble opinion. He has to do a number of good deeds and take absolutely no credit for it.
Fables: An adult oriented story about the modern life of faerie tale characters. ‘Nuff said.
Current Play list:
The Cruxshadows: “Annabel Lee”
Static-X “Machine”
Lullacry “Pitch Black Emotions”
Lake of Tears “Return of Ravens”
Paradise Lost “Mystify”
The Shroud “Roses”
Darling Violetta “A Smaller God”
Ill Nino “Red Rain”
Mushroomhead “One More Day”
Beseech “Innerlane”
Gothminister “Monsters”
Asrai “Restless”
Depeche Mode “Black Celebration”
Otep “Autopsy Song”
Flyleaf “Something I Can Never Have”
Zeromancer “Feed You With a Kiss”
Henry Rollins “I Know You”
Voltaire “Almost Human”
