Trick or treat? The contemporary quasi-ritual play and the commemoration of Halloween. To dress up as either a slutty witch or Ghostface from Scream. Why do we submit to this tradition? Why am I here writing this while dressed as Barry Keoghan from the Midsummer party in Saltburn and why did I spend two hundred ringgit on this costume and why is my friend complaining about being dressed as Jacob Elordi when I clearly did not force him to (guilty). This is so silly but what are we if not consumerists of the gory and the wicked. 

Let us knit this idea of ‘trick’ being the production and ‘treat’ being the reward. Stay with me until the end of this article and you will get a treat for witnessing the elaborate production constructed by the four organising committees, SASS, SOS, SOMHS, and MBC, unwittingly pushing the present into the past and championing the destructive forces of creativity among Monashians. 

We’re students from Monash. There’s no such thing as attending a Halloween party on the 31st when you have a physiology final on the next Monday. Lights Out successfully bridged this gap! 

Let’s start with the haunted house. It’s the time of the season when the blood runs high, let us hurl ourselves into this tiny world created in the student lounge. Participants were dispersed into groups. In the student lounge, is a deliberately constructed world of the Purge. Solve three hints and in the maze you go where you’ll find yourself stuck in zig-zag-ish pathways pretending to know where you are going. Leave or perish! 

Did you feel rushed reading that? Of course you did. There’s no time to wait when you’re being hunted by people trying to kill you for profit or to fulfil their psychopathic desires.

Move with me to the badminton court where the imminent lights out sequence has transformed it into a ground of self indulgence for lotus-eating Monashians. We first have the signature MSDS performances to begin this night of music thumping and ground shaking. There were two performances in this lineup, ‘Ditto’ by New Jeans and ‘Dangerous Woman’ by Ariana Grande. As usual, everyone in the MSDS team performed with absolute control and maintained their stance towards the attention to detail. How now do we balance the idea of dance with spontaneity? The hosts brought three random volunteers from the crowd and made them battle. Dance, not kill. 

After all the performances, we had a short intermission. During this time, people could grab drinks or play specially curated minigames at the back of the venue. They had spider race (race a toy spider by blowing on it with a straw to reach the finish line), glow pong (a more virtuous version of beer pong), pumpkin bowling (bowl pins with a football), and witch hat toss (take glow in the dark bands and toss them onto witches’ hats). 

The allure of halloween exists more as a means to dress up and flaunt fashion than it is a pagan religious holiday. We had Joker, the red queen of hearts, Tate Langdon, Aladdin, Powerpuff Girls, and so many more interesting concoctions of film references and weird made up icons. This is what Lights Out is! Harnessing creative capability and translating it into a physical idea of fashion. The hosts had everyone who signed up for the fashion show, strut and pose for the entire audience. Finally, the audience had the opportunity to vote on their most favourite costume. Aladdin, dressed by Meekal, won first place for the individual category and ‘Cincai’, consisting of ‘APT’ won for the group category. ‘Cincai’ was a messy curation of costumes that didn’t really make sense nor did it have a consistent theme. Why did it win? It’s just weird! People like weird and creative choices that expose conformity and convention. The eclectic mix of outfits that places itself in this unorthodox idea creates a wormhole of inventiveness. 

It’s 8.30 pm and DJ Joleen is on stage. The venue has been effectively transformed into a murky and dark dancefloor for everyone to masquerade as hedonists for a day. An array of remixed tracks took over and everyone jumped in synchrony. 

Perceiving ‘partying’ and ‘clubbing’ as unethical or morally wrong will forever be a ridiculous sentiment to hold. Were we debauched? No. Should have we been debauched? Probably, depends on who you ask. Regardless, the performance of frivolity is an imperative aspect of embracing studenthood. It serves as an addition towards the collection of fantasies, memories, and anxieties that you will forever hold. 

The event ended with an awards ceremony and closing statements to finally wrap up this eventful night that definitely served as core memories to many students in Monash. It’s still 10.00 pm, the night is young. Where should we go next? 

Article by Yashven Jayabalan