Post Gazette: "Most Greek plays have horrible monsters and supernatural horrors," said Michael Chemers, associate professor of dramatic literature at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. Like past cultures, "we love horror, too, but we consume it in a much more consumeristic way. We pay to be horrified in the same way we pay to be entertained."
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Horror a captivating force across cultures
Post Gazette: "Most Greek plays have horrible monsters and supernatural horrors," said Michael Chemers, associate professor of dramatic literature at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. Like past cultures, "we love horror, too, but we consume it in a much more consumeristic way. We pay to be horrified in the same way we pay to be entertained."
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Ok personally, I am a HUGE scaredy cat when it comes to horror movies and things like that. But I can still appreciate the art and the science behind it. Savini seems to be one of the best(obiviously), and it is so great to see what a deep rooted passion he has for it. I also find it really interesting that he was a combat photographer in Vietnam, and how he dealt with that was thinking of it as special effects. When it comes to war everyone has to figure out how to handle it in their own way, and thankfully this way helped translate into his career. I think as humans we love to be scared, because it is the not knowing and not being able to be in control, has a certain thrill to it. Especially like they said, when we know that we are not in any real danger. Personally, I think I will still just appreciate it from afar.
Like Sonia, I simply can't watch a scary movie, not even if my life depended on it. The article is mainly the reason why. To scare someone is to play into the formula of horror. A director that fails to scare someone, quite obviously, didn't use the proper tactics. It is crucial to find the right moment. Scary movies that I did end up seeing ranged from scary to funny. Scary in that, I couldn't even predict the twisted ideas of the director. Funny where I just completely knew what was going to happen next and the actual "monster" was a little less than adequate. Its true, I enjoyed the comedies more, but for a horror junkie, that moment could really be ruined.
What really caught my attention in particular throughout this piece was the bit about the logistics of a scare. The author explicitly said that the point of scaring a person is all in the suspense and a little less in the gore of it all. This is simply so true. Lately, movies are changing into what others think the public would find scary and shocking. The result, a lazar eye operation going awry. It is disgusting. That's all. Not scary, certainly not shocking. It is telling the audience that the antagonist is a machine that kills someone ones via the eye. Not incredibly interesting, yet, downright disgusting.
The director that was interviewed used the real life experiences and added them into his work. He channeled these occurrences into effective material. Something live, and something relatable. The realism of a horror film is all about how close to home it hits. The same for any other drama. Catharsis is the key to a performance.
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