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.
- Understand and utilize some basic principles of film and television analysis.
http://flavorwire.com/340359/horror-films-you-didnt-realize-were-based-on-true-stories
Original Post
Why horror?
This week’s topic is horror, which is something that I really not familiar with.
I don’t watch horror movie or TV shows since I was scared by a horror movie when I was in school. If you as me “why horror”, I would say I don’t know. I really don’t know why such many people enjoy horror things. Most people would argue that they are all fake, but I just scare that something or a little part of it might be come true some day, and that what really scare me.
I will use some examples to explain my point better.
I am not scared with this kind of horror thing because they are more like horror art, they all from Photoshop or other ways to fake it. They are disgusting, but not scared.
However, like this picture, I believe it was from some horror movie. I am not a fun for this kind of stuff because I will keep thinking some person would at my back and do some bad things to me when I don’t notice him/her/it.
This movie is a very famous horror from Japan, and it is the one scared me the most. I didn’t know it is a horror movie because I didn’t watch it from the beginning. I just watched a part of it, and I think this is scarier.
I believe the most scary thing is what come from real life, for example things happened in school lab when you are alone, in bathroom at the middle of the night, or when you sleep alone in a very old house.
Why horror? That’s exactly what I want to ask to the people who enjoy horror movie. I think they got nothing but scary feelings. Maybe they could get exciting when they are scared? I don’t know. I always keep myself away from horror movie so that I will not be afraid when I am alone.
To those who love horror movies, mind your back tonight….
Reflection
This topic was the most difficult one to me because I am personally “coward” person in terms of horror. I was scared by a horror movie when I was very little so I never watched any horror things after that. However, I watched a whole movie for this class, and I feel like I was very brave. The movie wasn’t that scary even though I watched it with minimize volume on. I learned how to analyze the sounds and effects using in that movie (see my full discussion of the sound in my “Enjoy Horror Discussion”) instead of just blindly watched a movie, and this made me feel very happy. Another objective that I learned from this topic was exploring the emotional and psychological curiosity for and impact of horror art on individuals and society. I realized that the real scary things are all from real life.
http://fineartphotographysite.com/fine-art-editing-photography-by-joshua-hoffine/fine-art-horror-photography-by-joshua-hoffine-3/
For example this picture, it shows pretty much my situation when I was very little. I kept thinking there must have something under my bed so that I started to sleep on my mattress only. I guess those people who enjoy horror movies love the feeling of “unknown”. They do not enjoy being scared, but they feel excited about the outcome. This makes me think of the article I read in that week. In Carroll’s Why Horror, he states that “pleasure derives from having our interest in the outcome of such questions satisfied” (Carroll, 277). I guess that’s why people won’t be scared if they watch a horror movie the second time because they already know the outcome.
Speaking of horror as art, I would say horror is never art to me before I take this course, but I changed my opinion a little bit after this term. I still remember the definition given by Ellen Dissanayake in “What Is Art For”, which is to make something special (p.25). You can take a look of my discussion about it in my post “What Is Art For?” I feel like horror could be seen as a kind of art if a group of people enjoys watching it, and those movies or horror stuff could give them special feelings.
Future Goals
I think my next step is to watch another horror movie if possible and try to enjoy it. To be honest, it will be too challenging to me if I watch it by myself. So I think I will ask my best friend to give me an accompany, and I will choose a movie that she already watched before so that she could notice me in advance if something scary will show up. Besides to overcome this, I really learned a lot form this topic, and especially the part about sound technical terms in films. I think I will explore this area in the future; for example, I will look up more kinds of sound effect and try to recognize them with my eyes closed during a movie, which could be any kind but horror.
Bibliography:
Table of Contents
Artifact 1: Life Values Assessment
Artifact 3: Food As Art Research