The word outsider is being used to an extreme degree at this point. More and more works seem to invoke this specific word. Most of, if not all of these works are about, you guessed it, people feeling like outsiders in one way or another. However, I have reached my limit in how much I can stomach this word. The word is being overused by both great and terrible works.
The word outsider is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a person who is not accepted as a member of a society, group, etc.” Oxford has two more definitions, but neither of them is satisfactory.
The true meaning of the word in this context is more of “feeling” like someone who doesn’t belong.
The oldest and most influential work is “the outsider” written by H.P. Lovecraft back in 1926. (I am sure there are older stories called the outsider, but this is where I start.The book is also very influential so it makes sense to start here). Lovecraft was himself always an outsider never really feeling comfortable with himself or others. He used his own fear as fuel to create some truly spectacular stories.
The book itself is about a man trapped in a castle with no knowledge of the outside world, the only knowledge he has is from books. He breaks free from the castle and goes to a nearby village. He sees a horrific Lovecraftian monster and in his horror he decides to flee only to realize he looked at a mirror.
In the book, the main character is an outsider since he is not part of society. He is locked up in a castle away from everybody.
He is also an outsider since, you know, he is a monster. His appearance is so different from the other people in the village, who look at him with horror. He can never be a part of the community, society, or anything else for that matter as a monster.
Now, the story is about being a monster, but to me, it is about feeling like a monster. The book taps into the feeling of loneliness and it gives a feeling like you don’t fit in anywhere, like no matter where you go everyone is looking at you funny, like you don’t fit in, like an outsider.
A person who has been greatly influenced by Mr. Lovecraft is Stephen King.. King has also written a book called The Outsider.
The story is about a little league baseball coach accused of brutally molesting and killing a child. The man’s name is Terry and all evidence points to the fact that he did it. His DNA was found on the child, there are a lot of eyewitnesses who saw him right before it happened. However, Terry was also not home when the murder happened, and a lot of evidence points to him being in two places at once.
Does the question then become
Who killed the child?
Well, the outsider, of course, someone who looks like you, but is alien and foreign in every other aspect.
The novel is pretty much an investigation novel where they try to find out what happened and how they try to find the outsider.
What the novel does exceptionally well is exploring the fear of a community and the uncertainty that brings. Imagine sending your child to play sports, and later finding out the coach who you are friendly with and who has the responsibility for the kids, turned out to be a monster, killer, and child molester.
The idea of the monster wearing the face of someone you trust is truly terrifying.
If you want to see a story about a community turning on a person, I highly recommend the Danish film “The Hunt”.
The two stories mentioned above both have some great uses of the word outsider. The concept adds to the theme and the dynamics of the story itself.
Now, let’s look at a lazy use of the word, the film “the outsider” from 2018 starring Jared Leto.
In the film, Jared Leto plays someone who joins the Japanese mafia (the Yakuza). Well, it turns out Jared is not actually Japanese. I know it’s shocking, but if you look closely at him you can see it. So, he is an outsider. See how lazy this concept suddenly becomes. The story is more about not looking like everyone else and feeling out of place.
The film itself is horrible, by far the worst original Netflix film I have seen (and that is saying something). It is overly muddy, slow, and boring. The colors are muted to this shitty-looking grey thing. The romance is terrible, and Jared’s character sucks.
The last work I am going to talk about is “the stranger” by Albert Camus. The novella was published “the outsider” in English.
The novella is philosophical work about a man who loses his mother and doesn’t really conform to the emotional state others want him to be in.
The novella also has the greatest first line in literature history:
“Mother died today or maybe it was yesterday I can’t remember”
This opening line perfectly introduces the character. The main character named Meursault is so detached from the world emotionally that he doesn’t even remember when his own mother died. He is not sad about his mothers passing at all, this comes back to bite him in the ass at the end. The whole point of the story is to show how Meursault is not feeling what everyone else wants him to feel and thus he becomes……… AN OUTSIDER!
At this point, the word outsider has been used up. It started out as something profound with a deeper meaning. Now it is used lazily and with no real point. I do not think any piece of work from this day forward should be named “ The Outsider”. At this point, it is an instant turn-off.