Horror
Objective
– Explore the psychological and emotional curiosity for and impact of horror art on individuals and society
– Analyze the unique aesthetic qualities of horror art
Original Post
The article “The curious appeal of horror movies” talks about why people pay money and sit in dark area to watch scary movie. The author uses some examples to explain and answer the question. In the article, the author depicts that the horror is a rollercoaster. Like a rollercoaster, horror movie create a sense of catharsis and people expect a thrill by watching it. Whether the horror movie reaches to the happy endings or not, people who experience fear or anger finally get positive emotion as the film leads. Moreover, people want to indirectly experience a strong tension which does not happen in normal life. Obviously, people seek to take a journey that makes people feel dangerous but is in fact safe. Due to the fact, people try to watch horror movie.
The article does not directly explain the elements which add a scary mood. It generally explains why people watch horror movie. However, it is somewhat related to in-class reading in an aspect of attraction of horror. In the class reading, the author states that “that of explaining the way in which the artistic presentation of normally aversive events and objects can give rise to pleasure or can compel our interests” The horror movie obviously attract people to experience aversive events and to find interest on it. It is well explained in Lucy’s article that “We want to see things we wouldn’t usually see in our daily lives, of course. Curiosity is a powerful emotion”. The curiosity absolutely leads our interests and these emotions can be created by artistic approaches. The elements in a horror movie drive people to feel the emotions. Carroll states that “that once a tragic, unsettling event is housed in an aesthetic context, with a momentum of its own, the predominant feeling response, in terms of pleasure and interest, attaches to the presentation as a function of the overall, narrative structure” and “the power of the objects of art-horror to command curiosity”. The mise-en-scene, non-diagetic and diagetic sounds are ostensibly stated in the movie and evoke audiences’ interests by feeling unusual events. These skills add on the story lines and get audiences to experience the horror. That is why people watch horror movies.
The second article that I want to bring is “The Elements of The Modern Horror Film” by Matt Carlin. He explains that the horror movies should create fear aspects. In today’s movie, special effects take a huge role to elaborate the storyline and to show themes. In old films, special effects were not important but the success of a film was depended on good acting skills. Whether or not the film is old, horror movies have taken an aspect of fear. The audiences’ vivid imaginations on the movie used to be created by good acting skills. However, recently, poor acting skills can be unnoticed as audiences can follow the plot according to special effects such as blood, sounds or narratives. Moreover, the creation of atmosphere in horror movie has been a key issue to evoke audiences to anticipate what will happen. Through the audiences’ imagination, we can judge which horror movie is good.
The article deals with the importance of effects in horror movie. In-class reading also depicts the artistic effects which can lead audiences to experience fear. The actors acting, sounds presented in scenes and non-diagetic sounds to add mood create fears and special effects on blood or camera angles lead audiences to experience unusual atmosphere and events. Carroll states that “It engages its audiences by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation. Adding sounds on plot and effects of camera angles triggers audiences to discover or make assumptions what will be appeared. In addition to that, mise-en-scene makes audience to confirm a fear. In Matt’s article, he gives an example of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. He states that “the seemingly tranquil, peaceful, deep blud colors of the sea are very impressive, but underneath, the camera takes the audiences to a world of danger. […]the infamous round of notes in the background, which gradually get louder and louder, that the Shark is getting closer and closer; the danger getting nearer.” By adding non-diagetic sounds, audiences can recognize the danger is at its peak. Without the music in the film, audiences will not get fear and the plot of horror movie might be somewhat boring. Thus, those effects on horror movie would be a key driver to attract more audiences.
From the two articles and class reading, people want to experience a fear which does not happen in normal life. By inserting their emotions on the plot, they want to get a pleasure. In order to get that, horror movie should include some special effects such as good acting skills, sounds and camera techniques. Those effects should be well organized to allure audience to get thrilled.
Reflection
Horror movies are popular in summer period because audiences are shrinking by unexpected scary scene. When I watched horror art in movie theaters or amusement, there was a common factor that enhances scary atmosphere. That is a sound which absolutely creates emotional and psychological curiosity. The sounds absolutely make people expect something to come up. By watching more and more horror movies, people in a society require more powerful and amazing horror experiences. As they cannot easily experience those emotions, they pay money to enjoy watching horror arts to fulfill their curiosity. I also love to experience something that never happens to me. If I have those experiences in reality, I might not try to find any horror art. In this perspective, the horror is a good genre to evoke audiences’ curiosity. In the readings, and by analyzing horror clip, I also learned many skills used in horror art. Not only sounds but also actors’ movement or camera angles unconsciously lead audiences to be ready for scary scene. Although the scary scene is not actually presented, those skills create a sense of anxiety psychologically. Even in horror art in museum, the art is hung under a special light that create a mood for audiences to feel curiosity. According to the reading, Carroll states that “the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engages audience by being involved in process of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation.” Likewise, audiences have a conflict in their mind between to discover what is coming and to be scared by disclosure of scary objects. Horror genre absolutely lures audiences psychologically.
Through the analysis of the artifact that I did during the term, I strongly believe that horror is a form of art. It absolutely creates emotions for audiences. No matter what forms the horror art takes, audience’s curiosity is deeply touched by horror techniques. I think that is the unique quality that horror genre has because I have never experienced to have an unstable mental during enjoying arts in any other genre. In order to hugely impact on audiences, a lot of supporting factors are presented that decorates overall themes so that audiences easily create reactions. Its structural components absolutely raise the quality of horror arts.
Future
In the future, I think I will be scared again when I face with some horror arts. Although I know what factors influence me to feel scary emotion, the overall plots or composition of several factors to evoke emotional reactions will hugely impact on me. However, the information that I learned over this term will be very useful to enjoy more horror arts.
Reference
Lucy O, (2003) THE CURIOUS APPEAL OF HORROR MOVIES from http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/the-curious-appeal-of-horror-movies
Matt C (1998) The Elements of The Modern Horror Film from http://www.pitofhorror.com/newdesign/articles/element.htm