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.
During this week’s discussion, we were talking about enjoying horror movies. First I watched a part of a horror movie and talked about Provide one example each from the Buffy episode of non-diagetic sound, diagetic sound, and mise-en-scene goes as follows:
Diegetic sound
The example I choose is the first day after the demons take all people’s voice from the town, one of Buffy’s friend comes to school, when she go through the hall, is so quiet and have no sound, a man comes in with a glass of water and dropped by accident, the sound that glass hit the ground and broken is a great example of diegetic sound. Although it is very short but this detail makes a very good impact to the audience and a horror feeling to people in this movie, to remind them their voice had been taken by demons.
Non-diegetic sound
The example I choose from movie is that when the demon want to steal people’s voice with a small box at first night, when that demon opened up the box, a sound comes with it,(from 13:32-13:36), it sounds like wind but not only this but also another kind of sound. This few seconds is non-diegetic sound, it successfully makes a horror feeling to me, I don’t know what is this box use for at that moment, but it do contribute fear to me, to attract me want to keep going to see what will happen next, and to imagine what is this box made for.
Mise-en-scene
The example I choose is the first night the demon show up, at very beginning, the belfry, the camera from bottom to the top, outside to inside, with horrible sound comes, I don’t know what will happen, then, I saw a pair of withered hands carrying a box, when the demon opened the box, the scene change to the outside of the belfry again, and it was 1:00 am, it’s an information to tell us most people in this town might fall asleep, and then the scene change to view the whole town, then towards to a house, finally into the house and see a bed, which let me know, the demon wants to steal voice at that time, it was great mise-en-scence, which has a very clear and step by step to contribute such horror feelings to the audience, awesome.
Reflection:
(This is a world famous horror movie called “Paranormal Activity.”)
In order to achieve the goal to research how horror movies impact people’s life, I chose two articles and compared them to the original article which professor gave us, 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. 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.)
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.
Future:
I watched many horror movies before, but I never think too much about how it influences people’s life especially to kids. During this section, I have more understanding and feelings about horror movies. I agree with the 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 only thing we need to pay attention is about our self-control and education children.
Bibliography:
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/
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