SHERLOCK HOLMES Vs. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

Comparisons and Contrasts:
Sherlock Holmes Vs. Paranormal Activity.

By Ian Berrocal Azofeifa.

Superstition and magic have always got the attention of all the audiences. Magic is as old as human beings are. It has been always been present in all kind of civilizations, but sometimes magic can be presented in a positive or negative way. In the movies: Sherlock Holmes and Paranormal Activity, the producers tell to the audiences about a story related to black magic. These two movies show differences but also some interesting similarities. This essay has the purpose to describe both, comparisons and contrasts of different aspects; for instance, the gender and some particular situations.

In first place, I am going to mention the differences between the two movies. Whereas the movie Sherlock Holmes is developed in the old Scotland of the last century, the movie Paranormal Activity is developed in the United States of America in recent times. This difference shows us how the magic has been present in all times. In addition, while the gender of the movie Sherlock Holms is action and suspense, the gender of the movie Paranormal activity is terror. In the first case, the producers tell a story where black magic is part of the action and this makes the movie more exciting, but people do not get scared with that; instead of that, in Paranormal Activity, magic is related with the devil, and this movie creates an intense psychological perception of horror. In fact, the movie Sherlock Holmes does not show demon possession, but the film Paranormal Activity does.

Clearly, the sense of horror and terror is stronger in the second movie described. It does not happen in the first one, where magic is only an ingredient to create more intensity in the story. On the other hand, there are some interesting similarities between these movies. The first, and the most clearly is the use of the magic. In the next paragraph, I am going to describe some of these comparisons.
In both, Sherlock Holmes and Paranormal Activity, the producers tell a love story. In the first case, Sherlock Holmes felt in love of a young and pretty woman, but he does not trust on her because she belongs to the bad guys. In the other case, the story is about a couple who buys a new house and there is where all the story takes place. Also, in both movies, there are dead people. In Sherlock Holmes the bad guy dies at the end of the film, and in Paranormal Activity, Micah, who is one of the principal characters, is killed by the devil at the end of the film too. Furthermore, in both cases there are researches. In the first case, Sherlock Holmes makes an investigation about the use of black magic by some people in the city, and in Paranormal Activity, Micah makes an investigation related with demos. Certainly, both stories go around magic.

In summary, these two movies tell exciting stories if you are interesting on magic. The common point between them is the continue war between the good and the evil forces. In my own opinion, the topic is not fiction, it belongs to our reality and people can get some information about these fights reading the newspapers. Also, I think that we all have part of good and bad, it is the nature of human beings. We can create beautiful things, but also destroy them and produce a lot of pain and suffering to others. In short, both movies have differences and similarities, but the common point between them is the presence of magic.