Facing the Slender Man
Shira Chess, Eric Newsom
Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks 2015 DOI: 10.1057/9781137491138_7 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the Slender Man is a "tulpa" brought to life by collective thought, and that as mass media appropriates the character, communities respond to the wider sharing of what they collectively created. Contends the phenomenon foreshadows future forms of storytelling. |
Abstract
Previous chapters discussed Slender Man prototypes, the original telling, the propagation of the story to new spaces, and second-level stories in the form of fan fiction; this chapter begins by following that trajectory to its next destination: the mainstream. The Slender Man is presented both literally and figuratively as a form of a “tulpa,” a creature brought to life by collective thought. As forthcoming mass media efforts appropriate the Slender Man, communities respond to a more widespread sharing of the character they collectively thought into existence. In conclusion, the openly shared, collectively created, community-contextualized Slender Man phenomenon serves as a harbinger of storytelling to come.