My posting for today is also a comment back to another comment on a previous posting.

I appreciate your comments Eric, and totally understand not being into horror movies.  I am not a big fan either.  I think what I was trying to say about being off balance during the scene where the non-diegetic music had the most impact on me, was that it lulled me into relaxing.  I knew the creepy/monster part was not yet over and still I let down my guard as the music and action moved from intense to romantic. I think this is a fairly common practice in horror films as noted in Horror History reading.  The scary and weird scenes are contrasted with, “… the minutiae of daily life …”. (AAD 250 slide 3) We can relate to the characters as they interact normally but also experience the intended the roller coaster ride of emotion that occurs during this kind of film.

I thought Carroll’s piece was interesting as well although I think he used way too many words to express his theories.  I found it very repetitive.  That said, as I understand his point of view, Carroll is saying that people actually do find pleasure in the genre of horror specifically because of the repulsion or disgust that inevitably accompanies these kinds of movies.  It does seem counterintuitive but he offers several theories to account for this reaction including, “… the pleasure derived from the horror fiction and the source of our interest in it resides, first and foremost, in the processes of discovery, proof, and confirmation that horror fictions often employ.  The disclosure of the existence of the horrific being and of its properties is the central source of pleasure in the genre …”(282) By saying this, I think Carroll is offering that it does in fact make sense that people actually enjoy scary movies.

Given all his theories, I also appreciated Carroll’s acknowledgment that there is a set of folks who like horror movies simply because it’s disgusting!