This week, we are talking about enjoying horror movies. The first article I find is from University of Chicago Press Journals, which talks about why do people love horror movies and gives explanation about it. In this article, the author pointed out an argument “A bedrock assumption in theories that explain and predict human behavior is people’s motivation to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. How can this be reconciled with the decision to engage in experiences known to elicit negative feelings, such as horror movies.” According to this argument, I would like to discuss about this question, yea, if people watch movie is a purpose to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, why do they voluntarily put themselves into fear feelings? Some people may feel very uncomfortable and even cannot go to sleep after watching a horror movie, but why they still want to enjoy horror, still willing to pay for it?
In this article, the author gave us explanation which was “The first is that the person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. The second explanation is that they are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end.” I agree with these two reason, so many people like to watch horror movies are not about fear or self-torment, for instance, one of my roommate, Andrew, he is very positive and optimistic during his daily life, you can never think about he is a crazy fan of watching horror movies. I asked him why he likes horror movies, his answer is simple but reasonable. He told me, watching horror movie because he find it’s exciting, and also a kind of way to release pressure from studies or works. In contrast to Carroll’s article “Why Horror?” Carroll gave an opinion of why people attracted by horror movies or horror stories, Carroll said “All narratives might be thought to involve the desire to know- the desire to know at least the outcome of the interaction of the forces made salient in the plot. However, the horror fiction is a special variation on this general narrative motivation, because it has at the center of it something which is given as in principle unknowable.” (p281.) I agree with this point because as the audience of a horror film, most people want to discover the things that unknown or unknownable, the curiosity is triggered by the existence of the monster which in part is highly unusual with regards to our schemas. Therefore, we find a deep desire within ourselves to know about them.
The second article I read was written by Margarita Tartakovsky, which also talks about horror movies. In his article, he not only discussed about why people love horror movies but also pointed out some people hate horror films. The author discussed both side of horror movies in very physiological and scientific ways. For instance, he stated in his article “According to Glenn Sparks, Ph.D, a professor and associate head of the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie. This is called the excitation transfer process. Sparks’s research found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases.” This is a scientific explanation to let us know when and after people watching a horror movie, the feeling which most people called “exciting” really is. There is another interesting example in this article which I would like to share with you is “Men often like [scary films] as date movies because women are more likely to seek physical closeness when they’re scared, and men can show off their strength and bravery,” Cantor said. (This is aptly called “the cuddle effect.”) this is very interesting opinion and it is the fact. Because men always want to show their brave to girls and enjoy girl’s fear to let girls find protection and rely on men themselves. However, on the other hand, author also talked about the negative impact of horror movies to children. “…college students who watched scary movies or shows before 14 years old had trouble sleeping and felt anxious about typically safe activities or stopped engaging in them altogether…Even if it’s make-believe, she said, it’s still scary for young kids. For older kids, realistic threats, such as kidnappings and child molestation.” These problem are serious and very important for parents to know. Everything has its positive and negative parts, although horror movies can let people release their stress but for kids, parents should pay more attention to take care of their children of what kind of movie they watch. If children watch too many movies with horror, blood, violence, it is unhealthy for their growth, it may cause them crime when they grow up. All in all, different people have different thoughts and tastes of watching horror movies. The only thing we need to pay attention is about our self-control and education children.
References
University of Chicago Press Journals. (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm
Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 15, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/
Hey Yuyaq, good work on your research essay. I found that a lot of the points you brought up parallel findings from my essay. I totally agree with your second explanation, “that they are willing to endure terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end.” This is probably the only reason I am willing to watch horror films, because in general I despise them. One reason that I read in one of my articles was that people enjoy horror films because they are able to separate themselves from the fear instilled by the characters in the movie. When a person goes to a movie theater, even though they are aware they are going to be scared, they have a feeling of safety because there is nothing they can do about the characters they are about to watch, and somehow this helplessness releases pleasure in the viewers mind.
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