Urban Legends as Cultural Symbols

Urban Legends as Cultural Symbols

            Urban legends are used to act as interpellations in our society today. According to Brunvand’s essay about the urban legends, I agree to his assertion which states that urban legends are such significant elements of the cultures from which they emerge, that they may sometimes rise to the status of becoming “cultural symbols”. Urban legends play an essential part in popular culture as they offer insights to societal fears. Academics, however, argue that urban legends are too fantastic to be true because they are passed on by mouth (Whipps). They disagree that the legends lack an original source since they infer to happening to a friend of a friend. Brunvand therefore explains the important lessons they impart and how they act as indicators of happenings in a given society hence referred to as cultural symbols.

In his essay “The Boyfriend’s Death”, Brunvand explains how the urban legend is an example of a cultural symbol. A cultural symbol is a word, action or sign manifested and that which signifies a particular meaning within a culture. An urban legend is cultural symbolic if it contains the three essential elements which are; a strong basic story- appeal, a foundation in actual belief and a moral lesson. The folklores should not only be tales told of but also true. They should have meaningful messages that teach valuable lessons. The messages can either be straightforward or metaphorical. For a legend to survive, it contains factual information and is told in an attractive way with hints of larger meanings. To retain the urban legend in a culture, it should fill a genuine need of entertaining or validate some of the culture’s ideals and institutions.

According to Brunvand’s assertion about urban legends, it is true that most urban legends have been retained as symbols of their cultures.  This is because most possess specific elements of the cultures from where they emerge. For example, in his text “The Boyfriend’s Death” by an American folklorist has been retained as a cultural symbol. The urban legend conveys a true story and is most common among teenagers to provide a warning. The popular urban legend has been told far and wide in different communities. The stories become symbols when rumours are heard of violent crimes and missing persons, and the cases are related to the urban legend. Other stories are also used to connect to some bad occurrences in different communities. In this paper, I’ll discuss how some other urban legends act as cultural symbols from the cultures they emerge from.

One common urban legend among the Americans is “The Killer in the Back Seat” by folklorist Carlos Drake in 1968.

One night a woman went out for drinks with her girlfriends. She left the bar fairly late at night, got in her car and onto the deserted highway. After a few minutes, she noticed a lone pair of headlights in her rear-view mirror, approaching at a pace just slightly quicker than hers. As the car pulled up behind her she glanced and saw the turn signal on — the car was going to pass — when suddenly it swerved back behind her, pulled up dangerously close to her tailgate and the brights flashed. Now she was getting nervous. The lights dimmed for a moment and then the brights came back on and the car behind her surged forward. The frightened woman struggled to keep her eyes on the road and fought the urge to look at the car behind her. Finally, her exit approached but the car continued to follow, flashing the brights periodically. Through every stoplight and turn, it followed her until she pulled into her driveway. She figured her only hope was to make a mad dash into the house and call the police. As she flew from the car, so did the driver of the car behind her — and he screamed, “Lock the door and call the police! Call 911!”When the police arrived the horrible truth was finally revealed to the woman. The man in the car had been trying to save her. As he pulled up behind her and his headlights illuminated her car, he saw the silhouette of a man with a butcher knife rising up from the back seat to stab her, so he flashed his brights and the figure crouched back down. (Emery)

This story has become famous all over the world with its scary nature of the killer who hid in the back seat. It is conveyed to be true and has its factual foundation in a case that occurred in New York City in 1964. An escaped murderer hid in the car backseat belonging to a police detective who shot the man. Traits in the folklore are the woman, the man in the backseat, the driver in the car behind and the police rescue. The present variations include the flashing of the lights, the man in the backseat rising up with a butcher knife, the screaming of the man in the car behind, the woman trying to escape out of the car and the police rescue. This legend has shown its symbolic nature as it posses the particular elements of the culture hence proving Brunvand’s assertion. Different versions of the story have spread through rumors. Symbolically, the story shows how fearful women drivers are when subjected to a threat along the way. The story, however, is linked with realistic details about freeway exits, highway numbers and specific petrol stations. The legend gives a warning to drivers to always check their backseats before departure. They are advised to have all the car doors locked and to be conversant with their surroundings, particularly at night.

Another urban legend that supports Brunvand’s assertion is “The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs”. This story has its adaptations linked to when a stranger calls.

A young couple living in a large isolated house had gone out to a dinner party one evening and left the babysitter in charge of their two children. The children had been put to bed, and the babysitter was watching the television when the phone rang. She answered but all she heard was a man laughing hysterically and then a voice saying, “I’m upstairs with the children, you’d better come up.” Thinking it was “one of those phone calls” or a practical joke she slammed down the receiver and turned the television sound up. A short time later the phone rang again and, as she picked it up, the unmistakable hysterical laughter came down the line and the voice once again said “I’m upstairs with the children, you’d better come up.”Getting rather frightened she called the operator and was advised they would notify the police and, should he phone again, could she keep him talking in order to give them time to trace the call and have him arrested. Minutes after she replaced the receiver the phone rang again and, when the voice said, “I’m upstairs with the children, you’d better come up,” she tried to keep him talking. However, he must have guessed what she was trying to do and he put the phone down. Only seconds later the phone rang again, this time it was the operator who said, “Get out of the house straight away, the man is on the extension.” The babysitter put down the phone and just then heard someone coming down the stairs. She fled from the house and ran straight into the arms of the police. They burst into the house and found a man brandishing a large butcher’s knife. He had entered the house through an upstairs window, murdered both the children and was just about to do the same to the poor babysitter. (Mikkelson)

From the excerpt above, specific elements of culture are evident. The story is not only a tale to frighten but aris based on a true story on the unresolved murder case in 1950, which is its actual foundation (Emery). Traits in the story include the babysitter, the children, the man upstairs and the police. There are variations like the man in the phone laughing hysterically, the babysitter running out of the house without seeing the killer and the number of children murdered. The American folklore has been prevalent in different communities with slightly different versions but conveying the same message. The symbolic nature in the story is related to how irresponsible people are. This is shown by the babysitter who concentrated on watching and failed to check on the children. It also depicts the intense anxieties by mothers who leave their children under the care of babysitters. Children’s fear of strangers is also a symbol in the legend. The story, therefore, serves as a moral guide to teenagers and especially girls to conform to their gender expected roles. In the unresolved case, the moral passed is that girls should conform to their gender-based roles and are warned about the increasing costs of pursuing independence.

From the folklores above, urban legends can rise to cultural symbols. The validation of cultural ideas and institutions in an urban legend makes it a symbol of the culture from which it emerges. In support of Brunvand’s assertion, both” the babysitter and the man upstairs” and “the killer in the back seat” are culturally symbolic because they have a basic story apparel with a factual foundation. They also have a moral message therefore having all the necessary elements of cultural symbol. The stories are passed to generations and they serve the genuine need of entertaining as well as educating. These urban legends acting as cultural symbols are therefore used to explain some unusual happenings in the world today. They show that the contemporary scene is capable of producing shocking or amazing occurrences which may actually have happened to friends or to near-acquaintances but which are nevertheless explainable in some reasonably logical term.

Works cited

Emery, David. “Always Check Your Backseat To Make Sure There Are No Killers.” LiveAbout. N.p., 2018.

Web. 19 Feb. 2020.

.Emery, David. “The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs.” LiveAbout. N.p., 2018. Web. 19 Feb. 2020.

Mikkelson, David. “FACT CHECK: The Killer In The Backseat.” Snopes.com. N.p., 2000. Web. 19 Feb.

2020.

Mikkelson, David. “The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs.” Snopes.com. N.p., 1999. Web. 19 Feb. 2020

Whipps, Heather. “Urban Legends: How They Start And Why They Persist.” livescience.com. N.p., 2006.

Web. 19 Feb. 2020.