That time has come, the end of October is here, bring along with it my most dreaded holiday. Suddenly, the beautiful fall air is filled with a chill, a spookiness that I could certainly live without. People across the nation shed their everyday clothing and identities, becoming for one night, or in the case of college live, one whole weekend, a new persona. Candy corn, fake spiders, and horror movies flood the scene. Its Halloween time.
In my experience I have found that Halloween is a beloved holiday, especially with kids and young adults. As a child, it was an excuse to dress up in a fun, and most likely overpriced, costume, and trick or treat for pounds of free candy. As an adult, the fun of the candy is gone, replaced with parties that often involve ridiculous, sometimes inappropriate costumes or trips to haunted houses designed to scare the life out of you. For some people it’s the best time of year, but I find it to be one of my least favorite holidays for several reasons.
Firstly, I hate all that is spooky, and that is what most of Halloween encompasses. People dress up in creepy costumes, or create haunted houses, or play terrifying movies. Some people enjoy being scared, but I am not one of them. Things that jump out at me, or go bump in the night only increase my anxiety and make me lose sleep. Trust me; it is not fun to be afraid to leave your bed in the middle of the night because you are afraid the creature from that Halloween movie will get you. Also, it doesn’t help that many horror movies have exploited mental illness as a symbol and method of scaring people, which does not help with the stereotypes already plaguing those who are mentally ill.
Second, I don’t like dressing up. I always struggle to find an easy inexpensive costume to wear that I feel comfortable in. I often find costumes uncomfortable, and to be honest I don’t really like pretending to be something I’m not, even for a night. I already struggle to love myself as I am, why should I try to be something that I’m not (although I will admit, I do wish I was a Jedi or a wizard sometimes). Also, Halloween also becomes an excuse for people to be subtly racist or sexist through costumes that they wear, trying to be funny. The costumes that companies make for women also tend to be completely objectifying- many turn ordinary characters into “slutty” or “sexy” versions of the original, which is just reinforcing the idea that women should be this way, even just for a night.
Now, I will go out and buy candy for the trick or treating children. And I will make myself and inexpensive costume to celebrate and spend time with my friends, all of whom are big fans of the holiday. However, I do think that Halloween is a highly overrated and flawed holiday. I will just keep counting the days until Thanksgiving.
