Enjoying Horror Research

In the first article, Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared, discusses the idea that people are actually not afraid but excited about a horror film. The second theory presented was that people are willing to endure terror for the sense of relief at the end of the movie. The two theories were then proved to be wrong by a study done by Eduardo Andrade and Joel Cohen. Andrade and Cohen argued that individuals are “happy to be unhappy.” They mentioned they idea that individuals can experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously. This idea of both positive and negative emotions occurring simultaneously is shown by the idea of people actually enjoying being scared and not just the relief when the threat in a horror film is removed.

The idea that individuals can experience positive and negative emotions simultaneously, I found very interesting.  Carroll mentions, “ To a large extent, the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity.” I believe that this idea of horror films being driven explicitly by curiosity fits well with the idea expressed in this article with people experiencing both positive and negative emotions. Horror films take you through an emotional rollercoaster from thinking the characters on the film will make it alive, to then doubting the idea that the characters could be caught by the monster. In a horror film there is never enough time to return back to a calming state, because soon enough something will happen that will put you to the edge of your seats.

In the second article, Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them discusses the many theories of why some people enjoy horror films while others don’t.  One theory is the excitation transfer process, the appeal of the feeling after the movie. This theory is support by the works of Glenn Sparks, Ph.D, a professor and associate head at Purdue University. Sparks’ research found that people who have finished watching a horror film had an increase in their heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.  After the film is over the physiological arousal lingers, leading to a positive experience, which will cause emotions to be intensified, but the same can occur when a bad experience occurs. Another theory is gender socialization, that more males enjoy scary movies. This could be in part to the idea that men are socialized to be more brave and enjoy more threatening things, or that men derive social gratification for not letting a scary film get to them.  In one study it was found that men liked to watch a scary movie with a female who was scared and vice versa for females, who preferred to watch a scary film with a male who wasn’t scared.

These two articles both discuss the many reasons why individuals like to watch horror films.  The common thread between the two articles is the emotional rush individuals get when they watch a horror film.  Carroll supports this idea as well, “ The artistic presentation of normally aversive events and objects can give rise to pleasure or can compel our interests.”  (Carroll 276) This provides the idea that horror films spark some type of interest that intrigues an audience to follow the plot of a horror film. In other words as an audience we are curious as to the ways a horror film will try and scare their audience. Another idea is that the audience likes to follow the storyline of a horror film, as the first article mentioned people endure a horror film for the sense of relief at the end. As Carroll mentioned “Horror stories are often protracted series of discoveries: first the reader learns of the monster’s existence, then some characters do, then some more characters do and so on; the drama of iterated disclosure.” (Carroll 279)  As the plot continues on a horror film, the more suspenseful the film becomes and regardless of hoe scary the “monsters” may be the idea of knowing what could occur next in the film is sometimes a reassuring aspect. The more you get captured into the plot of a movie the more involved you are to any moment in the film that may cause some emotion during it. The film doesn’t even have to be a horror film to cause you to jump in the middle of the film. An example of this is last night my friends and I went and watched, The Life of Walter Mitty, at first we didn’t know what to expect from the movie, but it did a good job at grabbing the attention of the audience. There was one point in the film that Walter is in the ocean and is being screamed by some workers from a boat that help is on the way and to be careful because there are sharks.  We as an audience we warned about a shark making an appearance, but we all jumped in fear when all you saw were the sharp teeth of the shark going after Walter. That small moment in the film was enough to raise of heartbeat, but it didn’t take away from the film in any way. Though certain points in a film scare an individual whether they see it coming or not the idea of it not being real causes a sense of relief, but also allows for an imaginary escape when watching a film that may scare you.

University of Chicago Press Journals. (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 13, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 14, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/