I don’t really likes the Horror research. I am not the person like to watch the horror movie, but it is interesting to discover and discuss why some people take watching horror movie as an enjoyment. I know some of my friends like to watch different country’s horror movie. They even can laugh at the ghost. Also, they would create the eerie mood and shut off the light as well as wear a headphone so that they can listen the sound carefully. Why these people like horror?

In an article from wise geek, Why Do People Like to Watch Scary Movies, the author explain that horror film use some reality factors, like cautionary tales, to resonate the audience. Also, threaten from the horror film would not actually hurt the people and the producers can show pleasure through their creation of horror.

The author mention that “(horror film) represent the decay of society, show the value of staying within social norms, and allow people to feel fear within a controlled setting” The screenwriter sometime would use the bad thing which happened in reality as a theme to create a plot of horror film. So, this can arouse people’s interesting and it looks like “real”. The author also claims that: “since the “scares” pose no real threat, they can be processed, laughed about, and enjoyed. Real fear, which humans must face every day, is much more terrifying since it can’t necessarily be controlled, but the catharsis of watching a horror film may be a manner in which people deal with real and not imagined fear.” And “the reason people like watching horror films is that they are a way to experience both positive and negative emotions simultaneously.” There is lot of film category, like comedy. However, we all know that there are a lot of bad thing we need to go through in a life. People can experience the negative emotion from the horror movie, but its plot is imaginary. Viewer can satisfy their visual and psychological need. People seek the excitement from watching the horror film. That can be also explain why people like to ride roller coasters.

Noel Carroll states, “Monsters, are the natural subjects of curiosity” and “ that of explanation the way in which the artistic presentation of normally aversive events and objects can give rise to pleasure or can compel our interests.” (p. 276) This point is match to the article that I find online. The object, like monster or ghost, in the film shows created the object the down side of the society and it can give a sense of reality to audience. Horror film creates a controllable threat to arouse audience’s interesting. Audience can get a relaxation and wonder attitude to watch the film. Also, the people are lured in by their curiosity to how the monster or ghost looks like. Therefore, we can conclude that the curiosity and excitement are the biggest reason why people like to watch horror movie.

In the psychologist article, Christian Jarrett wrote a report about how the facts or statistics around us affect people’s mind. The report covers a lot of information to discuss the effect of horror. Some example is very interesting. This article study the reason how the horror is scare for people.

Carroll state “monsters, as well, are obviously a perfect vehicle for engendering this kind of curiosity and for supporting the drama of proof, because monsters are (physically, though generally not logically) impossible beings” (279) the object was created by creator’s mind and it is not real. Christian Jarrett use Fischoff’s claim that ‘‘Movie monsters provide us with the opportunity to see and learn strategies of coping with real-life monsters should we run into them, despite all probabilities to the contrary,” and “that’s where horror can teach us something truly valuable.” Sometimes, horror film can let us think about the situation when we get threat and how can we deal with it. We can assume we are the protagonists in the film and what should we do when we face the problem. Also, the horror film is not only having the scary plot, but it also has the suspense plot. Carroll also claims that people’s interest and pleasure are due to the narrative structure but not the monster’s feature. The suspense plot attracts audience’s curiosity and interesting. People would like to analyze and guess what happened next.

Jarrett mention that “Traditionally, horror fiction has been interpreted in cultural and metaphorical terms, often with a psychoanalytic bent. By this account, the vampire’s blood lust can be seen as representing repressed sexual desires, and the threat of daylight as the disapproval of society. Werewolves symbolize the beast within us all, our perennial battle to constrain the insatiable Id.” Nowadays, vampire become a more and more noble image and is not stills a horror image. The image in a film is changing and people’s mind is constantly changing. People’s attitude toward nightlife is change and night is not longer just represent dark. People prettify the vampire image to reflect the nightlife pursing. A sexy, handsome vampire image is popular right now.

In the recently hit drama, the walking dead represent the law of jungle in a society. The zombie, call walker in the drama, was affect by a germ, and when they turn, they can eat a live people. In the reality, the weak would suffer the pain, and the last man stand up. Carroll states we all have a horror gene. The ability of our creation can produce various scene images. The theme comes from the reality. That’s may be the reason some people not afraid the horror film and even like it.

work cite:

Christian Jarrett (2011). The Lure of Horror. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm?volumeID=24&editionID=207&ArticleID=1942. [Last Accessed 4 November 2012].

Gopnik, B. (2009, September 23). The Big Debate: Can Food Be Serious Art? The Washington Post [On-line Newspaper]. Retrieved October 21, 2012 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092203137.html

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge.from http://blogs.uoregon.edu/aad250shuette/files/2010/09/5-carroll.pdf

Personal speaking, I like horror film but I cannot watch alone. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an old horror drama. I can pick some sample from this drama to explain non-diagetic sound, diagetic sound, and mise-en-scene. Non-diagetic mean “Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: narrator’s commentary sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect”. Non-diagetic is simply background sound. In a scene in drama, the girl siting on the chair and watching the cell phone. A lyric and beautiful melody sang by a woman is background music. The song can reflect the girl’s complex mind and make a warm mood. This non-diagetic effect can drive the story line and let people forget the horror plot for a while. Digetic Sound means “ Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film’s voices of characters, sounds made by objects in the story, etc.” That is the real sound by what we can see from film. Like the girl open a door and then hit an ugly guy. The real sound company with what we see and it is not like watching a silent films. The Digetic Sound can give viewer an actual feel. Like a monster open a big mouth and make a weird sound. That image and sound can scare people or get people’s attention. Mise-en-scene means “an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means “visual theme” or “telling a story”—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction. Mise-en-scène has been called film criticism’s “grand undefined term”(Wikipedia) It can be concluded as a stage environment, lighting effect and environment design, etc. like one scene in the buffy drama, the vampire always suddenly come out from a dark place. May be this moment is peace and the next scene the monster is in the dark. In a no lighting mood, it can make people upset. Mise-en-scene is an overall effect of a film. A scene change and setting a very important and can let people know the background information.