In the article, “Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared,” it quotes, “the authors argue that horror movie viewers are happy to be unhappy. This novel approach to emotion reveals that people experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously — people may actually enjoy being scared, not just relief when the threat is removed. As the authors put it, “the most pleasant moments of a particular event may also be the most fearful.” I found this quote to be similar to Carroll’s analysis that horror movies are about narrative of the story. Carroll shows that “horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engages the audience by being involved in the process of disclosure, explanation… and confirmation (Carroll 279).” I found the connection between disclosure and curiosity in both articles when it mentioned how uncomfortable the audience gets but then again at the same time is enjoying the suspense. Carroll’s article connected with the other article on how the audience needs that explanation and then confirmation to what is happening in the film. I do believe that many people don’t like scary movies because they are scared and clueless but then once they have that reassurance they are able to go back to enjoying the film.
Carroll describes that distress and fascination bounded with curiosity arouse at the same time. What I found interesting from the University of Chicago Press article was drawing on the question that why people would voluntarily immerse themselves in almost two hours of fear, disgust and terror. I never thought about the idea that the article brings up to why people pay for this and how it is enjoyable? The audience is experiencing positive feelings while still experiencing fearfulness. It connects with the Carroll reading when she states, “we are attracted to, 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.” (Carroll p. 284) I draw a personal connection to these articles because I do myself hate scary movies but still watch them with my eyes shut the whole time!
Many people have a love and hate feeling for scary movies because of the fear and excitement that comes from it. People pay attention to horror movies because the unique and unexpected scenes. They like unreal things that keep them on the edge of their seat. People enjoy watching movies that are unreal and cause this on edge feeling. In Carroll’s reading, “This fascination can be savored, because the distress in question is not behaviorally pressing; it is a response to the thought of a monster, not to the actual presence of a disgusting or fearsome thing.” (p. 288) Carroll talks about how the source of attraction in the genre too remote from the identifying emotion in the genre. In the article, “Why Some People Love Horror Movies, While Others Hate Them,” by Margarita Tartakovsky she mentions how some people can’t get enough of scary movies because the audience gets this sense of emotion that keeps them coming back. Tartakobsky mentions in her article, “According to Glenn Sparks, Ph.D, a professor and associate head of the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie. This is called the excitation transfer process. Sparks’s research found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases.”
Tartakobsky also mentions in her article that some people may like scary movies because they enjoy the adrenaline rush of being scared while being safe. I never thought of people enjoying scary movies with this idea of being scared but also knowing that it is just a film. No one wants to encounter scary things that happen in these horror films but there is this relief that this is a film and none of it is true. I thought this was a great argument to make to why people enjoy these types of films and why they would pay for this kind of enjoyment. Carroll brings up the question,” Why are horror audiences attracted by what, typically in everyday life should and would repel them?” I think that Tartakobky’s view on the safety idea is a good way to bring that connection and answer Carroll’s question.
Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 7, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/
University of Chicago Press Journals. (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 7, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm
Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge.