Category Archives: Unit 06

Horror Research

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Article 1:

In the reading, the author’s question why we would seek horror in art and fiction, while it is something that we would, “ordinarily seek to avert,” (Carroll, 276). The first article I found is an article from the website Medical Daily, which gave a psychological answer to this question. This article gives two reasons for the desire to watch horror movies. First, the author, Rivas, states that, “we put ourselves in situations to be scared because we want to understand what our population fears as a whole,” (Rivas). For example, people will go to haunted houses seeking the trauma that people in movies endure. In addition, this reasoning means that horror films tend to evolve over time, developing various themes as the fears of the population change. Rivas describes that,

“post-9/11 films were largely centered on the theme of torture-as-terror, which could have been a way for people to comprehend the tragedy. Zombie films may have become popular due to the outbreaks of influenza and the threat of biological warfare, all of which threaten whole populations,” (Rivas).

This reasoning is based on peoples’ desires to relate to the masses and understand their fears. The second reason provided in Rivas’ article is that “people enjoy excitement, even if it’s from a negative source,” (Rivas). The article describes a study where people were shown clips from horror movies and then had to describe their emotions. This study found that  “all participants expressed similar levels of fear at the end of the clips, [but] those who reported being horror movie lovers expressed more happiness than those who were horror movie haters,” (Rivas). The reasoning behind the varying levels of happiness is that people who have a higher sensitivity to the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is released in reward situations, tend to enjoy the horror films more. These people also tend to be sensation-seekers and enjoy the physical response or arousal their body has to the fear brought on by the movies.

The reasons provided in this article for the desire to partake in horror-art, have both similarities and differences to the reasons provided in the assigned reading by Carroll this week. Carroll states, “to a large extent, the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engages its audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation,” (Carroll, 279). The first explanation provided in Rivas’ article fits with this description. Rivas explained that people want to understand the fears of their society, which fits with Carroll’s belief that people are driven to horror by curiosity. People are curious about the fears of their society so they seek the horror movies, thus finding the confirmation and proof that they need to understand and relate to their society. The second explanation provided by Rivas in this article is much more related to the bodily response to fear experienced in horror and is not related to Carroll’s reasoning. Carroll does not focus on the psychological responses to fear in her analysis, and only focuses on the fascination felt by people when they view art-horror.

Article 2:

The second article I found that gave reasons for why people enjoy scary movies was similar to the first article I discussed, however it does provide additional reasons. This article, by Margarita Tartakovsky, first describes the “Excitation Transfer Process,” which is similar to Rivas’ description of people enjoying the physiological response that their body goes through during and after watching a horror film or going to a haunted house. Second, Tartakovsky states that some people are “simply wired to enjoy high levels of physiological arousal,” (Tartakovsky) which is also in alignment with Rivas’ explanations. Next, she describes that people may decide to watch horror films because of the novelty. She explains that, “all of us are wired to pay attention to anomalies in our environment…Since danger disrupts routine, curiosity about change is important for survival,” (Tartakovsky). This explanation is new and adds more dimensions to the shared ideas of the two articles. The final reason given in this article is that gender socialization allows men to “derive social gratification from not letting a scary film bother them…It’s the idea of mastering something threatening,” (Tartakovsky). This idea is also new and provides a broader explanation of the desire to watch horror films.

This final explanation given by Tartakovsky actually fits with a brief analysis found in Carroll’s article. Carroll states,

“that audiences for horror fictions are often adolescent males, some of whom may be using the fictions as macho rites of passage. For them, horror fictions may be endurance tests. Undoubtedly, this is not the brightest aspect of the horror genre…However, one must admit that the phenomenon exists, and that…an integrationist account…may be necessary,” (Carroll, 291).

I found it interesting that both articles mentioned the masculine desire to prove themselves by watching a horror film and not letting it upset them. I had never thought of this as a real reason to watch a horror film, but I believe it is a viable and intriguing explanation.

Another interesting explanation by Tartakovsky was that we are all wired to pay attention to novelties in our environment. I found that this fit with Carroll’s idea that people are interested in the outcome of a situation. If a situation is novel, it will be cause the person to be interested in what will happen next. Carroll explains,

“The interest that we take in the deaths of Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, et al. is not sadistic, but is an interest that the plot has engendered in how certain forces, once put in motion, will work themselves out. Pleasure derives from having our interest in the outcome of such questions satisfied,” (Carroll, 276).

I found this article supplemented Carroll’s explanations fairly well. I was intrigued by the psychological explanations that I found online and was surprised that these types of articles were the majority of what I found. I had never thought about the reasons that people enjoy art-horror prior to this assignment and it was enlightening and interesting to learn about this subject.

Citations:

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.

Rivas A. (2013, Oct 22). Why do we Watch Horror Films? Some Want to Understand Archetypal Fears While Others Crave the Psychological Ride. Retrieved from http://www.medicaldaily.com/why-do-we-watch-horror-films-some-want-understand-archetypal-fears-while-others-crave-psychological

Tartakovsky, M. (2013) Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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Non-diagetic Sound:
An example of non-diagetic sound occurs when the creepy, skeleton-looking man opens the small box and the dark and ominous music starts to play. The music continues as the white smoke-like things come out of each person’s mouth that the camera pans onto and then immediately stops when the smoke is collected into the small box. This music adds to the drama of the scene and implies that something bad is happening. This music clearly comes from outside the story space and is solely for dramatic effect. This scene is also an example of an improbably sequence of events, is relatable because the people are sleeping and unknowing about the world around them, it is dark and ominous, and the scary skeleton-looking man at the end is unexpected and frightening.

Diagetic Sound:
An example of diagetic sound in this Buffy the Vampire Episode is when the young girl is singing during Buffy’s dream. This sound is off-screen, yet we know that it is made by something in the story because Buffy reacts to the sound. She asks the man with her whether he hears the sound and follows the sound until she finds a young girl singing. This diagetic sound began as an offscreen sound and then became an onscreen sound when Buffy followed the voice into the hallway, where she found another character, the young girl. I chose this specific scene because I found the voice of the young girl singing to be purposefully creepy. In addition, she was found alone in a hallway staring straight ahead, which added to the spooky feeling. This scene fit perfectly with the common elements of horror. Buffy was having a normal day in class, when she is called up front to kiss a boy in front of the class, suddenly the class disappears, and the room goes dark, then a spooky young girl’s voice begins to sing. This scene demonstrates an improbable sequence of events, is relatable to the average college student because of a normal day in class with other students, the scene becomes dark and ominous, and the young girl singing is unexpected and frightening.

Mise-en-scene:
An example of mise-en-scene occurs during the part of the show where everyone loses their voices.

–       Production Design: The set is very dreary looking as Buffy and her friend walk through the town. People are crying and stores are closed. Then, they buy white boards to write messages to each other. These props are used to exemplify just how difficult it is for the people to talk.

–       Color: The mood is set using darker brown and gray colors in order to show what is going on in the town with people unable to talk. It show that the whole town is breaking down with the difficulty of living without voices.

–       Lighting: The lighting is darker and casts the scene as very somber. The lighting looks almost brown.

–       Actors’ Performance: The actors show their emotions very clearly through the expressions on their faces of shock and concern. Once Buffy and her friend get to Giles’ house, they look exasperated.

All of these things contributed to being able to easily discern what was happening in the scene. The people’s emotions were clear, as was the desperation of trying to fix the problem. This shows that without talking, movies and TV shows can still be followed quite easily. This contributed to horror because it was a very unlikely scenario to happen to an entire town. The mood was downcast and you couldn’t tell what was going to happen next.