Objectives

• Explore the psychological and emotional curiosity for and impact of horror art on individuals and society
• Analyze the unique aesthetic qualities of horror art.
• Understand and utilize some basic principles of film and television analysis.

Original Post

“Slender Man Stabbings: Why Are We so Fascinated by Horror? ( Video).”The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2014/0604/Slender-Man-stabbings-Why-are-we-so-fascinated-by-horror-video>.

This article is about how some 12 year old girls became infatuated with an online game called slender man. After meticulously planning, they killed one of their friends by stabbing them 19 times. The article brings up the topic and question, “Why do horror myths, cringe-inducing images of violence, and stories such as the Slender Man fascinate people so much, especially the young?” (Slender Man Stabbings). This was a very interesting article because it brings up very interesting topic of horror and how if can be such a strong piece, that can have people do things because of it. It directly relates to the article that we read, is the question about horror. The article said,” Why are horror audiences attracted by what, typically (in everyday life), should (and would) repel them? or how can horror audiences find pleasure in what by nature is distressful and unpleasant?”(Carroll,1). This was almost exactly the sam in the two articles. I am also very curious about this topic, because I find most horror to be unsightly to watch as well as to even think about in most cases.

“Digication E-Portfolio :: Chase Pools WRD104 Portfolio :: Americas Fascination with Horror Movies.” Digication E-Portfolio :: Chase Pools WRD104 Portfolio :: Americas Fascination with Horror Movies. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. .

This article was about death and how it is related to modern culture as well. It talks about just death in general, and how it is becoming so normal in our culture. It talks about how popular t.v. shows now have common themes of death, and it has become something that is very normal for television. People now enjoy the feelings of fear and suspense and because of this they are becoming more and more popular in the things that we watch. We are going out of our way to see these kinds of things and it is something that we fear. There is something about it that we are drawn to, ” That is, encountering things such as ghosts or Desdemona’s massacre in “real life” would be rather upsetting rather than entertaining. And, of course what is disgusting on-screen or on the page is genuinely disgusting. It is something that we would ordinarily seek to avert”(Carroll,2). It is odd how our culture has changed to drastically and the article talks about that and how some of the most popular shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead now focus on death and a horror aspect in them. This has changed the way that people perceive horror, and is almost desensitizing them to actual horrors in the world. I still become very afraid by zombies and some fictional horrors, but the aspect of death in any kind of sense does not have the same effect that it should. Watching people get shot or sliced in half in movies is not ‘scary’, but has become something I would call, ‘cool’.

Reflection

While exploring horror we looked deeper into the curiosity people have with it as well as the impact is has on people, and what people see in horror. Through looking at different articles online I found examples of how horror effected people, as well as why people enjoy watching it. Through my first article I saw how because of a horror game some children went out and re-in acted the game and killed a friend. Although horror is meant to in a sense give us the thoughts and sights that are disturbing, it should keep us at bay rather than lead us towards performing such acts. When someone see’s a horror movie is is okay that they might be seeing lots of people die, because it is just a movie, but if someone saw it in real life it would be an incredibly traumatizing event.

Through research into this topic and my own understandings I have come up with some ideas as to the interest and desire to watch horror. Although for many it gets the blood rushing and can cause nightmares, this sense of insecurity is one not easily found in todays normal day. By participating in horror we can release these endorphins and get this feeling that is so rare. For some seeing horror doesn’t bring as much of a shock, and the benefits of watching horror outweighs the cost, so they partake in horror more often. But for others like in many cases little kids horror can give then fears and nightmares for years so there is no enjoyment factor from it.

For myself personally I tend to get rather scared from horror movies, and because of that I rarely will watch them because they don’t make me feel good in any way. Just the other day I watched a movie called, “Oculus” and it scared me a lot. Not only was the movie well made, making it scary to me, but there was a door in my house opening and closing and we thought there was someone in our house scaring us. This is the kind of fear that can come with horror, irrational fears that appear from normal everyday things. The film used a lot of the classic horror film techniques to become real horror to me, like flashing images, low lighting, and in my opinion music can lead to the most tension and horror build up.

Future

Although I am not a huge fan or horror I still will watch it from time to time. I know a lot of the main techniques to make a movie scary to me, but even though I may know when the most frightening scenes are coming they still always get me. Since I have realized that sound is one that gets me the worst I have tried just plugging my ears while watching and it has helped me get past some horror scenes. I will continue to watch horror tv shows and movies in the future, and hope to learn more from them in how they make us act the way they do, and why we believe they are scary.

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