Category: Unit 06

The article “Why Some People love Horror Movies Whiles Others Hate Them” by Margarita Tartakovsky, explained why many people influenced by the horror movies. She discussed from different aspects of horror movie, which include the excitation transfer process, different wiring, novelty, gender socialization and other reasons. I enjoy watching horror movies so I will introduce some reasons why makes people enjoy horror movies about this article. At first, she discussed that the one reason is how you feel after watching the horror movie, which she called “the excitation transfer process”, according Sparks’s research; she found that “when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases”. Then she included that viewers’ sense are heightened after they watched the movie, which makes them feel enjoyable. Another reason is because people enjoy the adrenaline rush, a hormone that strengthens your sensory reception. Then, the heightened senses will make people more interested the scenes in the horror movies even a dull movement. In the reading “Why Horror “by Noel Carroll, she presented that “the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engaged audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation” (Carroll, 279). This point of view is similar to the article by margarita, she said many people love to watch horror movies included myself because they make us to think, analyze and explore the different scenes and then hypothesize what will be happen at the end of the movie.

Another article “Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies”by Sharon Begley, She discussed that young audiences are more like to watch horror movies from the philosophical research, and many reason why people want to watch horror movies. A professor Fishoff explained that “there are people who have tremendous need for stimulation and excitement, and horror movies are the one of the better ways to get really excited “(Begley). Also, an expert John Edward Campbell said that younger audiences are more likely to look for experiences because the older people are become more sensitive to their own physiology (Begley). This is the main reason why teens seem the main target viewers for this genre. Then she introduced that despite of cathartic effect which offer peoples a chance on emotional release and escape from the real world, and a thrill –seeking feeling, the horror movies help young people learn how to manage terror, which is a useful skill when they face more than just horror situation in reality life. By the way, from Carroll points, she said 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, ratification, etc.” (Carroll 284). This is also the reason that young viewers have more interesting and curiosity, and they want to explore more the unknown world through the horror movies.

References

Begley, S.(2011, October). Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-our-brains-love-horror-movies-fear-catharsis-a-sense-of-doom.html

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

Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on November 5, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/

After watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, I found the sound effects have a great contribution on the aesthetic of horror, which also create a sense of tension for the viewer as a classic horror film.

Diegetic: at the beginning of the video, Buffy and Willow had a talk at the last few minutes of the class in her dream, and then a noise is being produces at this moment like a girl sing a song about the box, which is a dietetic sound. Also, after they pack up their backpacks, there still exists a sound within this scene. These kinds of sound build in a movie indicate that there is some horrible things will happen, and these diegetic sounds add aesthetic value of horror for this film.

Non-Diegetic: owing to there was no speaking throughout the most of episode. I remember when Buffy and her friend wake up in the morning after their voices are stolen, there is a slow and creep background music added in this scene. And also even the sound of wind was exaggerated by the director. These kinds of non-diegetic sound make viewer feel uneasy and haunted. Also the non-diegetic adds a dramatic effect in the horror movie and had a best use of aesthetic value of horror to appeal the audience’s mood.

Mise-en-scene: when the video begins at 13:32 minutes, the director created a scene that a mysterious hand slowly opens a small wooden box in a clock tower with eerie sound effects, which indicate that there is something unordinary will be happen. The mystery man does not reveal the face until after the voices were stolen. Then I was scared when the man closing the box and revealing his scary white face with deep dark eyes during this scene, which all contribute to the aesthetic of horror for the video. Also, I believe the way of vampire man use floating instead of walking and scary smile was designed very well for the horror video, which also has aesthetic value of horror.