Here’s a fascinating essay examining Welcome to Night Vale as “liberal horror”, as opposed to, say, The Exorcist’s “conservative horror”.
Personally, I couldn’t stand the podcast, as it reminded me unpleasantly of things like people covering up abuse and exploitation (by telling everyone loudly that you should not notice your instincts saying things are fucked-up and wrong, because that’s the way they’re supposed to be): as the essay I linked says,
Its [referring to Twin Peaks’, but also by analogy Night Vale’s] horror is subtle, creeping, awful, and predicated entirely on the idea that the worst stuff is invisible because we, as respectable human beings, want it to be invisible. Why the hell would we speak up about ghostly visions if we can’t even talk about the nice waitress at the diner whose husband beats her every night?
