This artifact is a demonstration of the following 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
The Psychology of Scary Movies from FilmmakerIQ.com on Vimeo.
For this research assignment, I found an article on the psychology behind horror films. The author discusses how we are scared of horror films, yet attracted to and intrigued by them. At one point in the article the author says, “Thus, to a large extent, the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity” (279). Thus, providing one reason for our interest in horror: curiosity.
Another psychological reason for why we, as a culture, are fascinated by horror is because we recognize the events as unreal. This can be seen in the video I included. Many horror media and literacy reach beyond what occurs in our everyday lives. We recognize this, and therefore use horror as entertainment.
Although this artifact does not touch on the goal of demonstrating the unique aesthetic qualities of horror art, I covered this goal here. We analyzed the specific horror aspects in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to demonstrate our understanding of horror. We learned what qualities are typical in horror media.
In the future I hope to continue to explore the reasons for our attraction to horror. Personally, I do not watch horror movies, but it would be interesting to listen to friends talk about why they enjoy them. It would also be interesting to look deeper into why I choose not to watch them.