Starting a conversation about such concepts as a stalker, it is categorically incorrect to try to determine the exact date, year, month and day, when this word came into everyday use and ceased to be outlandish. The reason for this is very simple - in contrast to scientific terms, such as a thermometer, microbe, electron, etc., the concept of “stalker” as a kind of activity originated many centuries ago. In fact, such a person must secretly, secretly penetrate any object (strategic, industrial, private) for various purposes: from ordinary observations to robberies and even murders. Of course, at present, the concept of “stalkers” (who we are, we will consider in the article) has acquired a more peaceful character. This is solely the satisfaction of one's research interest. Centuries earlier, it was of a rather gloomy character; such people were called murderers, saboteurs, etc. The passage of time gradually distinguished between a simple researcher and scout.
The appearance of the term
Attempts to determine the exact date the term “stalker” came into being as a kind of activity are useless and doomed to failure - this is a fact. However, if we consider the time of origin of the word itself, then we can already set an approximate framework. In the ears of Soviet people, this term appeared in the period from 1970 to 1980. This is due to the release of the Strugatsky brothers' novel “Roadside Picnic”, as well as the subsequent release of the science fiction film “Stalker”.
Profession - adventurers or troubles
What does it mean to be a stalker by the nature of your activity? A short answer was given above, it remains to clarify everything in detail. To consider more ancient occupations of people who are suitable for the description of the topic of this article does not make sense because of irrelevance for contemporaries. Stalking of the present time, as was noted earlier, is based on penetration, both legal and illegal, and the study of abandoned, abandoned by people buildings and territories. And also on getting into quite active industrial facilities: factories, enterprises or protected areas (well-known Exclusion Zone). A stalker is also a spy in a narrow perception.
Also, this “profession” consists not only in penetrating any objects in order to prove “I can” and get a shot of adrenaline, but also for purely aesthetic impressions. For example, to observe the city from its outskirts. These goals are mainly pursued by people of creative impulses looking for inspiration in unusual places and things. This is what the stalker of today means.
Types and terminology
Developing and gaining more and more popularity in the world, various branches from the usual stalking became natural. There are at least five such currents:
- Stalking is where the birth of this culture began. It consists in visiting houses abandoned by people for various reasons, entire areas and ghost towns (the notorious Pripyat). On such "walks" are sent, mainly, stalker photographers. Who it is, everyone understands: those who want to capture buildings that have not been used by humans for a long time.
- Infiltration - the essence is also penetration into any territory, only such trips are more dangerous. Since the object of the study is a protected area, the location of a person at which is associated with varying degrees of risk to health and life (different plants, boiler houses, substations, etc.). It is a very dangerous occupation, which, however, only spurs many seekers for fresh portions of adrenaline.
Roofing, the purpose of which is to climb the roofs of buildings, often in megacities, in order to see the city from above. Also, for example, for street art or for photographing attractive landscapes (sunrises and sunsets, which, of course, look more beautiful from tall buildings, where nothing prevents).
You can also distinguish the commercial types of this activity: industrial tourism (official tour of the plant, to be more precise), diggerism (research of the metro, tunnels and collectors), post-pilgrimage, urbanism, etc.
The heyday of extreme tourism
Stalking as a youth movement, in other words, as another subculture, was developed in Russia in the 70s with the publication in 1972 of the Strugatsky brothers' science fiction novel "Roadside Picnic". In it, the following definition is attributed to this term: a person who illegally got into the restricted area and is engaged in the search and subsequent sale of “artifacts”. In the book, the main emphasis is on the illegality of penetration into the territory, and not on the property of the stalker to play the role of a kind of conductor, finding the safest way to the goal.
The answer to the question "Stalkers - who is it?" can be found in the cinema. With the release of the science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1979, the meaning of the term has acquired the final version that is currently used. In the film, this is the man who became the conductor for the group between the most dangerous anomalies, which makes him indispensable in difficult trips to unknown places.
From book to life
An outstanding image with a unique ability - what else is needed to introduce this character to various works? As it was repeatedly mentioned earlier, this image was used for the first time in the novel “Roadside Picnic”, and then was successfully transferred to the movie screens thanks to the tape “Stalker”. This name has become a household name for everyone who can go where stuck or another will not pass. And that’s how they called the armored reconnaissance and sabotage vehicle in the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian SUV.
The history of the stalker as a concept did not end with movies and cars. In the period from 2007 to 2009, a series of computer games STALKER was released, again arousing interest in this trend, as well as attracting thousands of people to its ranks. The plot of the game was partially borrowed from the novel of the Strugatsky brothers, as well as from the film of the same name, but, basically, this is a separate story proposed by GSC Game World. Actions took place on the territory of the Exclusion Zone - within the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Here, stalkers were any persons who illegally entered the territory. Conductors, on the other hand, constituted a separate group of people. Although they often looked for a way through anomalies themselves.
