Objectives:

1.Explore the psychological and emotional curiosity for and impact of horror art on individuals and society

2.Analyze the unique aesthetic qualities of horror art.

3.Understand and utilize some basic principles of film and television analysis.

Original Post:

The first article is called “The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies”. The writer stated her ideas about why so many people like to feel scared and enjoy the horror movie. She thought that curiosity is a powerful emotion for feeling horror and people need to release pressure though horror. Just like the writer said “Curiosity is a powerful emotion. There’s a sense of illicitness to horror that is very seductive, because from a very early age we are taught that watching horror movies, like porn and cigarettes and pinching the underside of your little brother’s arm to make him squeal, is wrong.”(O’Brien, para 5) This is true for me as well. Most people are not meant to see the horror movie. This feeling is effected people no matter how old they are. Sometimes, people just want to survive from the dark and unexpected things to compare with their real life. Just like people love to rollercoasters, they love to feel horror in the same way. Carroll said that“It stimulates our cognitive appetite with the prospect of something previously inconceivable.” (Carroll, page 287) People are always attracted by the horror because of their curiosity. With this curiosity, people start to seek for horror to enjoy. That liberation with dark ride is people want. People can know horror through seeing horror movies just like know violence through from violence movie.

The second article is called “Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them”. The writer stated his idea about the reason why different people have different attitude towards horror movies. He showed that the excitation transfer process, different Wiring, gender and novelty are the reasons to distinguish people who like horror movies or not. Just like Tartakkovsky said “Since danger disrupts routine, curiosity about change is important for survival. Sparks equated the pull of frightening films to stopping at the scene of a gory accident: ‘You don’t see that every day,’ he said.”( Tartakkovsky ) Sometimes people could not see the horrible accident in their daily life and they can feel it in horror movies. This experience is valuable. They can feel it just like it is true.  Carroll said that “we are attracted to, and many of us seek out, horror fictions of this sort despite the fact that they are 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, ratiocination, etc.”(Carroll 284) The horror movies is same as the frictions, both of them need people’s curiosity. Even though horror is disgust, it can give people some unusual experience. People need these kind of horror to support their lives. Perhaps some people think it is sick, but it is necessary to cater people’s curiosity.

Reflection:

Horror movie always affected me. When I was a kid, I watched a horror movie with my friends. It was a movie which was produced by Chinese company. In that movie, I still remember a plot that the main character and his friends wanted to escape the ghost in a building. They escaped through the stairs but when they arrived the next floor, it is still the same floor. Hence they never ran out the building and got killed by the ghost. After watching the movie, I was afraid of walking into the stairs for couple weeks. The despair and fear from people scared me. It made me to think that what I will do at that moment. Just like Carroll said“It stimulates our cognitive appetite with the prospect of something previously inconceivable.” (Carroll, page 287)

Another horror movie I remember is “Dead Silence”. Nursery rhymes should be full of laugh, but in the world there is such some nursery rhymes that let a person listen to the creeps. the Vince Town hass a terrorist nursery rhymes: Be careful to stare from Mary Shaw; She had no children, only dolls; If you see her, don’t scream; Otherwise she will open your mouth and tear your tongue. The town has been covered by the curse of the nursery rhymes, as long as there is the presence of a doll, someone had been killed with tongue being cut off. At last, Mary Shaw’s ghost still alive and the main character died. This horrible end scared me deeply.

Future:

When my friends invite me to see horror movie, I will refuse them and tell them do not do that. Even though it is exciting in some ways, it still has  negative effect on people. Sometimes it could made mental damage to people. It can release people’s pressure but people can search other ways to do that. Horror movie is not only way to release pressure.

Bibliography:

O’Brien, Lucy (September  9, 2013). The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies. Retrieved from http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/the-curious-appeal-of-horror-movies

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (Eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., pp. 275-294). New York, NY: Routledge.

Tartakovsky, M. (2012, October 28). 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