Wittgenstein’s comment that what can be shown cannot be said has a special resonance with visual representations of power in both Heavy Metal andFundamentalist Christian communities. Performances at metal shows, and performances of “religious theatre”, share an emphasis on violence and destruction. For example, groups like GWAR (God What an Awful Racket)and Cannibal Corpse feature violent scenes in stage shows and album covers,scenes that depict gory results of unrestrained sexuality that are strikingly like Halloween “Hell House” show presented by neo-Conservative,Fundamentalist Christian churches in the southeastern United States’ “BibleBelt”. One group may claim to celebrate violence, the other sees violence as a tool to both encourage “moral” behavior, and to show that the Christian church is able to “speak the language” of young people who are fans of metal, gore, and horror.Explicit violence, in each case, signifies power relationships that are in transformation: Historically, medieval morality plays and morality cycles had been used as a pedagogical tool, a welcoming, inclusive, interactive,embodied sharing of religion and ideology. (McCarthy, 1998; Gottschall 2004; Baldwin 2006) In the modern-day context of fundamentalist religious education, these Hell House performances seek to exclude outsiders and solidify teen membership in the Christian community (Collins-Hughes 2006).Hell House performances are marketed to the young church members, and are seen as a way to reinvigorate conservative Fundamentalist Christianity.Women and girls routinely take part in, and often organize Hell House events. Teenage girls involved in the pro-life movement often look forward to playing a girl suffering the aftereffects of an abortion, complete with fake blood and screams worthy of metal gore shows. In the context of heavy metal, violent performances do not seek to exclude, but provide an outlet for a variety of socially unacceptable or unpopular feelings. Psychologists have argued for the therapeutic value of emotional musical performance for adolescent males experiencing social isolation (Lachmann 2006). For example, US high school shooters, such asKip Kinkel, would benefit from expression through music providing outlets for anger, such as Mahler; an important counter-argument to the common media assumption that the violent music may cause violent acts. The primary examples in the literature tend to be young men, but the notion of violent performance having potential benefits can also be applied to women. “Hard and Heavy-Gender and Power in a Heavy Metal Music Subculture” by LeighKrenske and Jim McKay (2002), an ethnographic and autobiographical analysis of a heavy metal club and its denizens, illustrates how female heavy metal fans negotiate power relationships and define themselves, asserting themselves into an atmosphere of (controlled) male aggression, and symbolic oppression of females. The most challenging situations involve women as performers, and the quest to be taken seriously as a performer.In each context there is an apparent, if not actual, empowering of women who are willing to play particular kinds of roles. The use of violence and gore has a value beyond merely shocking the audience, it is arguably away that some women find their voice, both for fundamentalist Christians and fundamentalist gore metal fans

James, Christine (2000). The Common Vernacular of Power Relations in Heavy Metal and Christian Fundamentalist Performances. 1 electronic record (PDF).