The Appeal of Horror

The Appeal of Horror

Article 1:

“Horror movies make humans stress….”. Prauda. Retrieved May 11, 2008. From http://english.pravda.ru/science/health/03-11-2006/85372-horror_movies-0

"People enjoy deviations from the norm - a change of pace, within limits" (McAndrew). There are many different perceptions of the rationales for the thrill humans get from horror movies. Each author has their own theories of why, yet many of them seem to intertwine.  This article about how horror movies make humans stress resistant, and thus improves our health has a unique theory. Rather then discussing experiences, psychological effects, or pleasure this article brushes on the internal muscular, neural, and circulatory responses our body experiences during times of fear. The author who is unknown discusses the stimulation our brain goes through when fear is evoked in us. He presents the theories of physiologist Frank Mcandrews and quotes "We're motivated to seek out this kind of stimulation to explore new possibilities..” explaining the thrill many of us feel when we are watching a horror film.

            I tend to agree with this authors rationale though I do not reject the others. We all have felt the reactions our bodies undergo when viewing a horror film, like the author explains our heart races, our head pounds, and our palms sweat, we undergo feelings of anxiety, yet that particular feeling is one we often thrive for. Each of the authors of this article of Carroll’s and Gaut’s articles offer some explanation for the pleasure we feel towards horror films. Carroll quotes that “horror thrives above all as a narrative form” discussing the staged presentation of the monster. I can agree with many of Carrol’s and Gaut’s assumptions or reasoning’s yet the author of this article takes a completlety different route, discussing fear through stimuli and explaining how that is key for many cognitive therapies.

Article 2:

Klus, Helen. “Why do we enjoy horror films”. Ezine articles. Retrieved May 11, 2008. From http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Do-We-Enjoy-Horror-Films?&id=1060951

            I chose this next article by Helen Klus because it helps to clarify the theories of both Carroll and Gaut, and well as offering her own insight. Klus starts by explaining Carroll’s co-existentialist theory and then goes on by comparing it to Gaut’s theories. She makes sure to critically analyze each theory expressing their pros and cons. She criticizes Carroll for only providing one theory of why people enjoy horror. Klus also briefly brushes on the thoughts of Rosemary Jackson who speaks about the roots of horror and the effect horror has on a society. I felt that Klus was un-biased in her writing and tried to provide us with many sources and theories to explain ones thrill with horror.

            In this article you can clearly see the insights and sense of disagreement felt between the two authors (Carroll and Gaut). The question that comes up is, who is right? Is there one theory that explains our desire to view horror? Is the rationale for viewing horror and individual sensations? Clearly it partially is some people do not enjoy horror at all, how our those peoples physiological makeup different from the ones who get a thrill out of viewing horrific (fictional) events. How is it that just knowing that a horror film is fictional has a completely different effect on us then if we were to watch real film of the horrific events that many of the movies depict, even though some of the fictional depictions could actually be closely related to reality in some cases?