As is known to all, every behavior occurs has it own reason, so does horror films. Some research has shown us that horror films are the most stable kind of films because they have their own fans, who are willing to see the horror films as soon as it is released. The situation, of course, has its own reason.

A famous philosopher named Noel Carroll has put forward the idea in an article named Why Horror? that while people are scared of horror, they cannot help giving rise to a sense of pleasure. This is a paradoxical psychological situation. Noel Carroll points that it is the way the strategy is worked into the plot that gives rise to the sense of pleasure, instead of the strategy itself (Carroll, 1990). And curiosity makes the audience getting involved in the processes of discovery, explanation, confirmation, disclosure, proof and hypothesis. (Carroll, 1990) Therefore, the horror films, which are mostly made in the form of narrative, can make the audiences happy because they successfully arouse the curiosity deed down in the audiences’ mind. Every one has the sense of curiosity, therefore, as the old saying goes, “Curiosity kills the cat.” There is no doubt that the scene of the natural and the unnatural in the horror films call up people’s curiosity. Therefore, many factors like mise-en-scene, diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound is widely used in horror films. People wonder about many things, and the horror films reflect and response to the curiosity. In Nobel Carroll’s eyes, that is the reason the paradoxical psychology situation that people have the sense of pleasure when facing horror.

Daniel Shaw, who has written the article named The Humean Definition of Horror, has many disagreements with Noel Carroll. He says the sense of pleasure when facing horror at the same time is related to emotion and cognizance. Daniel Shaw thinks that there is no clear definition of art, even though many philosophers have tried to make a definition of art. And he also feels the phenomenon of art-horror, which is put forward by Noel Carroll, is adequate enough to convince people. Moreover, he also believes that the idea of art-horror cannot successfully recognize how the paradox between horror and pleasure (Shaw, 1997). Daniel Shaw points that Carroll has paid little attention to the existential dimension.

Tanya Krzywinska has put many ideas which are different from Carroll and Shaw. Krzywinska thinks that in horror films, many charting generic crosscurrents, moral occult and interactive evil are used. Meanwhile, tension and spatial orientation increase the pleasure in people’s mind as well. Sometimes, horror films will also make audiences have the sense of horror by leading the audience to think back to their horror experience (Krzywinska, 2002). By dating back to their horror experience, the audiences get involved to the horror films in no time. Meanwhile, the charting generic crosscurrents skillfully arouse the sense of horror in the audience’s mind. And the moral occult and interactive evils also make the audience thinking, and help them get involved in the films as well. Even though Tanya Krzywinska has thought horror films in the view which is different from Noel Carroll and Daniel Shaw, some of Tanya Krzywinska’s idea accord with Noel Carroll and Daniel Shaw’s ideas. All of them believe that it is important for the horror films to get the audiences involved in the films. And all of them emphasize the inner emotion of the audience. They do not think the paradox as an acquired situation but the inborn inner paradox psychological problem instead.

As far as I am concerned, human being have the sense of curiosity in born and we cannot help being curious of the things which we do not know for sure. And that is the reason why we have evolved in the history. However, facing the unknown, we have the feeling of horror. I think this kind of paradox is reasonable. I do not agree with Carroll because he thinks that people have the sense of pleasure because of the structure of plot. I think people are born to have the sense of horror and the sense of pleasure at the same time. Let’s take another paradoxical psychological thinking for example. People are afraid of the occurrence of bad things, but some philosophers also point that as a matter of fact, people expect the occurrence of the bad things deep in their minds at the same time. Maybe the paradox psychological situation is inborn.

References:

Carroll, N., (1990). “Why Horror?”, The Philosophy of Horror (pp. 275–293). New York: Routledge.

Shaw, D. (1997). ”A Humean definition of Horror”, Glasgow: Film-Philosophy.

Krzywinska, T. (2002). “Hands-On Horror”, Re-imagining the Horrific Visual Media and Culture. London: Special Issue of Spectator 22:2 (Fall 2002) 12-23

Generally speaking, the sense of horror should be disliked by people. However, as a matter of fact, in our daily life, we surprisingly find that people enjoy the sense of horror. This is such a paradoxical but common mental situation in people’s mind. A great number of people have the favor of entering the cinema to feel the horrifying factors like the mise-en-scene, diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound and so on, which horrify them but rise the sense of pleasure deep down in their heart at the same time.

There are many horrifying factors which are common in the horror films. Among the common horrifying factors, the mise-en-scene, diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound are found here and there in all horror films. For example, many horror films have their films set in the haunted houses, which people are too worry to go inside. Let’s take the famous Japanese horror film named The Rings as an example. The Rings has scared people to die but win great reputation and then become classics of horror film. The setting of The Rings is a little town and a haunted house, which is famous for ghost and no on dare to live inside. As for the diegetic sound, in the film named The Rings, we can find the sound of the wing, and many other natural sounds, which appear reasonably but horrifyingly. The digetic sounds keep the audiences’ sense of horror. And the great example of non-digetic sounds in The Rings is the special sound which cannot be heart in our daily life. When hearing the special sound, which is not digetic in our daily life, the audience can feel that the ghost is coming and the sense of horror come to the audiences.

The example of mise-en-scene, diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound is common in the horror films so that it is easier for us to understand these horrifying factors bring the sense of horror in the audiences’ mind. Only when all the mise-en-scene, diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound are used in horror films, can the films be horrifying. The mise-en-scene of haunted house can contribute to the audiences’ aesthetic of horror because the setting of haunted house can not only bring the audience into the context, but also rise the interest of the audience because they will be pleasure looking forward to what is going to happen. And the diegetic sound like the sound of wind can scare the audiences because all the audience have heard the sound of wind and they will look back on their experience of hearing the sound of the wind and feel they are right in the film, which can make them completely entered the story and the atmosphere of horror. As for the non-diegetic sound like the special background music which shows the ghost or something horrifying is coming will give rise to the expectation in the audiences. All the factors above can prove that the sense of horror can make people have the sense of pleasure at the same time.