Objective:
- Explore the psychological and emotional curiosity for and impact of horror art on individuals and society
- Analyze the unique aesthetic qualities of horror art.
- Understand and utilize some basic principles of film and television analysis.
Post:
As a person who has never seen the enjoyment of being scared by movies, shows, or even haunted houses or the ominous Tower of Terror at Disneyland, I found this subject very interesting. I found two articles that talk about the ideas played out in Noel Carroll’s article, “Why Horror”. I focused on the idea of how horror seems to be so interested and exciting to people because horror portrays ideas of the unknowable, like monsters and violence, that people will never actually witness in real life.
Sharon Begley’s article discusses the sensation horror films evoked when viewers watch them and how the viewer find that enjoyable. The first idea brought up is that “if we have a relatively calm, uneventful lifestyle, we seek out something that’s going to be exciting for us, because our nervous system requires periodic revving, just like a good muscular engine.” This quote shows that people who adventure seekers and looking for new experiences will enjoy horror films because watching one makes them feel like they did something dangerous. They create a sense that you just went through something and came out the other side just fine. It is an intense experience to watch a horror film because even though you think you can handle what is about to happen, it will probably still surprise you.
This leads to the next point made about how horror movies can act as a “cathartic effect, offering you emotional release and escape from the real world of bills and mortgages and the economy and relationships.” It takes your mind away from the outside world completely and after the movie ends there is a sense of release that everything is okay and your problems do not seem as bad.
It is also talked about how people enjoy horror because it feels like you are training to be able to handle anything, like if you can make it through the scariest film or haunted house or whatever it may be, then you can handle anything in the real world. It is also suggested that “horror films are popular because they speak to the basic human condition of existential fear, the knowledge that we are all doomed.” That there is going to be an end to it all and so horror is a way of dealing with the idea.
The other article I read was also by Noel Carroll called, “The Nature of Horror” in which he discusses similar ideas and takes apart the ideas of why people are so obsessed with horror and the effects of the genre. Carroll discusses what he calls “art-horror” and how there is an artistic validity to types of horror. He talks about how it is necessary for there to be two conditions in order to experience art-horror. The two being “the physical sensation of revulsion or disgust, coupled with the sense of being threatened.” He explains that art-horror evokes a physical and emotional response to the situations happening that make it seem so scary and are not the idea of “natural”.
There is also this idea that the viewer have characteristics that are relatable to the characters in the art-horror. Carrol uses examples of monsters like Frankenstein or Dracula and then explains that “the responses of characters often seem to cue the emotional responses of the audience.” It is the idea that art-horror intertwines social and cultural attitudes so that the viewers can somehow relate to what is happening in the scene even if everything about it seem unnatural.
Reflection:
It was interesting to think about why people enjoy horror because for me it is something to be avoided at all costs. I do understand that it could take people’s mind off the stress of their lives because horror is very good at captivating the viewer into a world that they cannot look away from. Although I think that it could just be another type of stress because you can never feel comfortable and relaxed.
People may use it instead to have an exciting experience that seems so different from the drudgery of their lives. Carroll explains that horror is “driven explicitly by curiosity” because it has the ability to engage the “audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis and confirmation.” People want to try to understand the mind set of a psycho path and horror movies give insight to that.
Future Goal:
I want to explore more into the horror genre because most of my life I have steered clear of it. I do not enjoy being sacred and it actually makes me more stressed out then it takes my mind off things, but I think there are types of horror in art that I need to explore. I do not necessarily mean horror movies but maybe more performance art or visual art.
Sources:
Begley, Sharon. “Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies.” The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 10 May 2015.
Carroll, Noël. “The Nature of Horror.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 46.1 (1987): 51-59. JSTOR. Web. 10 May 2015.
http://youtu.be/c526W9YONdQ