Artifact #5 The Aesthetics of Horror
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.
Before reading this artifact that I have provided I would like to first like to show you a youtube clip that provides a good introduction into the my discussion. The following is of a movie theatre that is showing paranormal activity 2.
Original Post:
The first article that I found was a really interesting article that dealt simply with the topic of why certain people enjoy horror movies and while other people hate them. Tartakovsky refers to the research that Ph.D professor Glen Sparks in examination of the horror genre. He explained that there were numerous reasons why people enjoy horror films. A few of these are the excitation transfer process, gender socialization as well as other reasons.
In reference to the excitation transfer process he explains that when people see a horror movie their heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration increase. This means that after the film ends the excitement and mental arousal that the movie brought lingers well after the movie is finished. So if you were having a good time with friends then the positive emotions that you had are intensified rather than the fright of the movie, ultimately making it a positive experience for you. This positive experience cancels out the scariness of the movie and makes you want to go see others. However, this goes the same when your emotions are on the opposite side as well. If you’re not having a good time before or during the time you watched the movie then those emotions are the ones that are heightened, ultimately making the movie worse off.
In reference to gender socialization he suggests simply that men enjoy scary movies more than girls. He states that, “men are socialized to be brave and enjoy threatening things…men derive social gratification from not letting a scary film bother them.” As a guy I can relate to this because there have been numerous instances where my friends and I choose the scariest movie currently out and try and conquer it as a group to kind of show how manly we are. I also choose to go and see these types of movies with girls because it heightens the “manhood effect”. We want to show women how tough we are and by showing that we’re not scared during a scary movie while they themselves are terrified. This leads to the “cuddling effect” as Stark calls is it where girls cling to the guy because he is the source of comfort due to the fact that he’s not scared of the current situation.
Lastly the author states that some people like scary movies simply because they enjoy the adrenaline rush while knowing that they can’t get hurt in the process. Simply stated, some people like to go see horror movies because it’s a safe and unusual way to take their mind of their own current problems.
In conclusion it is really hard to narrow down exactly why certain people enjoy horror movies because there is so many potential options. However, there is one thing that we all seek when we go to see these horror films, and that is the graphic images/scenes that occur. Carroll has a really good quote in her article that states, “many of us seek out horror fictions of this sort despite the fact that they provoke disgust, because that disgust is required for the pleasure involved in engaging our curiosity in the unknown and drawing it into the processes of revelation” (284). This disgust that Carroll refers to is the key draw of these films. It is this underlying pleasure that we seek and receive every time we see one of these movies.
Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 13, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/
The second article that I found is another interesting article dealing again with the issue of why we go and see horror movies. Why would we want to pay money to watch people get murdered in the most horrendous way and then not sleep for days afterward? Lucy O’Brian states that, “we want to see things we wouldn’t’ usually see in our daily lives. Curiosity is a powerful emotion.” We have been taught our whole lives that the content in these movies is wrong and we shouldn’t be watching them. So, like porn and alcohol, we are naturally curious as to why these things have been labeled bad and we want to discover more.
Another great point that O’Brian refers to is the draw of demystifying the unknown. We as humans know that what we are seeing in a horror film isn’t real and therefore we don’t look at it in a negative light. However, O’Brian states that, “a 1994 study was done where hardcore horror fanatics were exposed to a series of live clips of animals being slaughtered and explicit surgery and 90% of them turned the video off before it reached its end.” This relates to one of the issues that Carroll mentioned in her article when she quotes Hume as saying “the passion, though perhaps naturally, and when excited by the simple appearance of a real object, it may be painful; yet is so smoothed and softened, and mollified, when realized by the finer arts that it affords the highest entertainment” (277). The key word in this quote is entertainment. We go into these movies knowing that they are for entertainment purposes. However, when the people watching the video saw what was happening was real life they immediately felt compassion and disgust as this was happening to a real person or animal. I believe that this is one of the biggest factors as to why some people are so immune to the nastiness of some of these horror movies. They know that they are not real. When we can separate fake from real, pleasure is induced rather than disgust. But when the reverse affect happens we all of a sudden can’t stomach it.
Overall I believe this article gives some really great insight into why we are so fascinated with horror films and why they don’t disgust some of us as they are supposed to. We know that they are not real which lowers our level of “affection” that is felt when watching the movies. This in addition to the issues mentioned above in the first article are the ultimate key factors as to why some of us can handle and prefer these types of movies over other film genres.
O’Brian, Lucy. “The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies.” IGN.com. IGN AU, 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/the-curious-appeal-of-horror-movies
Reflection:
These two articles that I read for the assignment gave me some really good insight into why some people are so enthralled with horror films. However, for the sake of space I’m only going to talk about one of them. The first article titled “The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies” provided with me a look into the psychological and emotional curiosity that horror films have on our culture. For example, I learned of something that is called the excitation transfer theory. Now at a basic level this theory states that viewers who experience fear at the monster/villain in the film receive what is called an adrenaline rush. These rush’s very for different people but the underlying cause is still the same. When seeing a horror film all the way through people feel as if they just survived something extremely dangerous, like that which one receives when going on a roller coaster. The ups and downs scare the hell out of you but in the back of your mind you know your perfectly safe. This is where the all of the curiosity comes from. These movies show things that we would not normally see in everyday life therefore we are intrigued by them in all phases. Carroll gives a good quote in her article Why Horror when she states that, “in short, there appears to be something paradoxical about the horror genre. It obviously attracts consumers; but it seems to do so by means of the expressly repulsive” (275). This expressly repulsive effect that Carroll refers to is part of the excitation transfer process that I mentioned earlier and is ultimately one of the main underlying reasons why people are so curious and enthralled with horror films.
Now in reference to the last to objectives I feel that our discussion of the Buffy the Vampire clip proves to be the best representation of the basic principles and aesthetic qualities of horror art. In this discussion we were tasked with finding examples of non-diagetic and diegetic sound as well as an example of mise-en-scene and how they all contributed to the idea of horror within the film. After going through the video and finding my examples I now believe that non diegetic sound and diegetic sound are the two most important aspects when dealing with the aesthetics of horror. This is not to say that mise-en-scene is not as important because it absolutely is, but for me personally this is what I thought. The non-diegetic sound is what set the eeriness of the scene while the diegetic sound allowed you to figure out what was going on and ultimately laid the foundation for the non-diegetic sound to come in and provide that uneasiness. Now as for the mise-en-scene my example was the camera angle. I didn’t know this at first but the camera angle is extremely important in providing the audience with horror because it is what keeps the audience engaged and on the edge of their seat. Carroll has a quote in her article Why Horror? that says, “It maintains that the pleasures derived from art-horror are a function of fascination, which fascination compensates for the negative emotions engendered by fiction” (291). I believe that this holds true with the camera angle. If you have the wrong camera angle and potentially show too much at a certain time then it steals the audience of this fascination and instead provides them with the truth way before they were supposed to see it.
Now I am my no means a horror film fan but this discussion allowed me to see how certain sounds, camera angles, and videoing techniques can provide the audience with that feeling of fascination. The perfect mixture of these things allows the audience to walk that fine line between fascination and repulsion. Between the two articles I read and the discussion that we had about the video clip, I was successfully able to achieve all of the learning objectives.
Future Goals:
Over the course of this discussion I have learned a huge amount about the fascination that people have with horror. Now as I stated above I’m still not a horror film fan but I now have an appreciation for it as I know its underlying purpose. In the future I would like to do some experiments and see for myself what people experience when they go to see a horror film in the theater. I plan on going to see the very next horror film that comes out and paying close attention to the audience’s reactions to the scenes. I’ll pay attention to the camera angles and all of the sounds and dissect how each adds or detracts from the horror. And finally I want to see which groups of people go to see these films. Are there a clan of guys that go to “conquer” the movie or is it a guy and girl who want to experience the “cuddle effect”. Either way I’m looking forward to my future endeavors with horror films.
Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 13, 2014, fromhttp://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/
O’Brian, Lucy. “The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies.” IGN.com. IGN AU, 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/the-curious-appeal-of-horror-movies
Table of Contents
Artifact #1: Lindsey Vonn Out for the Olympics
Artifact#2: Life Values Assessment
Artifact#3: Food As Art
Artifact#4: Personal Adornment Discussion
Artifact #5: The Aesthetics of Horror
Artifact #6: Creative Spirituality Discussion
Artifact #7: Art, Games, and Technology Discussion
Artifact #8: Remixing Google Image Search