This weeks topic was one that I found great interest in learning about because to start, I hate most horror movies. Some of them (specifically any having to do with spirituality and witchcraft) actually terrify me to the point that I can hardly sleep at night after watching one. Even the smallest creak in the floor or rush of wind outside and I am wide awake, sweating and covering every bit of me with my blanket like its some sort of magical shield that will protect me from the “thing” thats out to get me. But, what’s funny is that I am the biggest fan of American Horror Story (all seasons) and Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk Empire is not scary in any sense, but it does give you that tense feeling at times before watching someone get brutally murdered by a gun to the face or slashing of the neck. So why is it that I feel this sense of excitement and interest in such shows like Boardwalk Empire and American Horror Story where they take creepiness and murder to an all new level, but hate every other kind of horror?

In the first article I read called “Horror Movies: Why People Love Them,” by Leslie Fink she discusses three reasons for having the desire to watch these horrific films and TV shows. I want to focus mostly on the first  reason that she explained which was desired effect. She spoke with social scientist for the Oxford University press, Jeffery Goldstein, whom suggested that “we watch [horror] for different reasons, which include enjoying the adrenaline rush, being distracted from mundane life, vicariously thumbing our noses at social norms, and enjoying a voyeuristic glimpse of the horrific from a safe distance.” Then going back to the article by Noël Carroll I remembered how he mentioned that “the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engages its audience by being involved in process of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis and confirmation”(279). To me it seems that both Carroll and Goldstein are suggesting the same thing about horror here: that curiosity may have killed the cat, but it has yet to kill any of us who find enjoyment in watching horror. Adrenaline rush, distraction from life, a glimpse of horror from a safe distance, all a means or reaction to being curious.

The second article that I read was called “The Psychology of Scary Movies” from the website filmmakeriq.com. In this article the authors talked about 8 different theories based around our attraction to horror. They included Carroll’s theory about how we are attracted to horror because of curiosity and fascination, but also included theories like: psychoanalytic, philosophical (through a process called catharsis), Excitation Transfer, Dispositional Alignment, Sensation Seeking Scale, Gender Socialization theory, and finally societal fears. I think the theory that I found most interesting in all of these, in comparison to the theory of curiosity and fascination that Carroll put forth is the idea of societal fears. David J. Skal came up with this idea and bases it around the history of horror films and how in the time period they were created there was a type of societal fear, most likely political as well, that cause this kind of horror film to be extracted into the community. The kind of examples he gives of this are how in the 50s there was a rise in mutant monster films, most likely based around the type of nuclear testing and warfare that was being threatened in the late 40s and majority of the 50s. In the 60s there was an increase in zombie horror films, which could be associated with the Vietnam war and the types of gorilla warfare people were seeing then. And in the 70s when movies like Nightmare on Elm Street were created it could be in association with the mistrust in authority after incidents like the Watergate scandals. It is not a theory that I believe is fully complete, but in some cases makes much sense. Like in recent years with movies like 2012 and I Am Legend. I think that in a lot of places in the world we have this fear of apocalypse or the world ending, and although this is not a fear of murder, or ghosts, or demons etc. it is still an idea that causes us to be fearful. In turn these movies were created and even high remarks by critics. It seems to me that these two theories could work together as one. As humans we are curious to the types of horrors that we feel we will never experience, but also ones that seem entirely possible due to current societal fears.

Sources:

Fink, L. (2009, November 6). Horror Movies: Why People Love Them. Retrieved November 9, 2014, from http://www.livescience.com/7949-horror-movies-people-love.html

The Psychology of Scary Movies. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2014, from http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/the-psychology-of-scary-movies/