The Outsider’s genius lies in Stephen King’s ability to use amalgamations of myths and legends like Bogeyman
A detective thriller in looks, HBO’s Stephen King adaptation, ‘The Outsider’ has been alluding to a supernatural sphere since the first episode. One of the things that makes this southern gothic horror show one of the better ones in the genre (or even horror overall) in a long, long time is its subtle uses of myths.
It spotlighted the mystery of the island of Roanoke. It even referred to the legends of doppelgängers -- the German word “double goer” that refers to a wraith or apparition that casts no shadows and is a replica or double of a living person.
In the story, Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) was accused of the murder of an 11-year-old child called Frankie Peterson. Despite evidence of Terry’s DNA and fingerprints at the murder site and on the body, there was overwhelming proof to support that Terry was in a different city at the time of the murder. This was true for two other similar murder cases in two different cities -- Dayton and New York.
The occasional mentions and glimpses of a seemingly faceless man, especially at the parking lot where the “murder” van was last seen in Dayton is a big indication that there is something otherworldly at play.
But that myth, combined with another is what makes ‘The Outsider’ a masterful effort in storytelling. Episode 4, called ‘Que Viene El Coco’, refers to a famous painting of the same name by the Spanish romantic painter Francisco Goya. The painting depicts a cloaked, menacing figure that pertains to the legend of “Coco”, a shape-shifting monster whose origins lie in Portugal and Spanish Galicia. Often used as a myth to scare misbehaving children, Coco is said to hunt for naughty children.
This again falls in line with the story. After all, only children seem to be the target (or even the point of contact) for this being. This brings us to the mythology of such creatures.
In the episode, an old Cuban lady tells Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo) that the dark truth is always sugar-coated when told through fairy tales -- “All the old cultures have the bad habit of turning truth into fairytales. When we tell our children El Cuco, we say, if you misbehave, it will take you away and eat you. What we should tell them is: it doesn't matter either way; it takes what it wants. It can look like a person if it needs to be, but it's not. In this day and age, we find it so difficult to believe in anything that we can't explain.”
El Cuco, El Coco, Baba Yaga, and many more names come to mind at the thought of myths like these. Baba Yaga (etymologically related to the more modern word “bogeyman”) refers to a Slavic legend of a skinny woman who cooks and eats humans. Much like the folklore of ‘Hansel and Gretel’.
Whatever these legends and myths are, they are often older than human memory. And that is what makes them scarier. It’s the kind of Stephen King move that anyone would expect and yet misses till it hits them. Borrowing from legends and creating an amalgamation is genius in its own rite. It somehow solidifies them and makes them even more esoteric at the same time. And that’s what works for ‘The Outsider’.
Yes, Pennywise the clown from Stephen King’s ‘IT’ could also take the forms of others. But the legend of a shape-shifting bogeyman from childhood lullabies will always be scarier than clowns, a fear more perpetuated by popular culture than any real myth. You fear what you cannot imagine. You also fear what has been fed to you. Be it Baba Yaga or El Cuco, this fear works perfectly in ‘The Outsider’.
‘The Outsider’ airs Sundays, 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST) on HBO.
