The Creators Project: Emotional storytelling manifests in film, but when it comes to the horror genre, images can walk a fine line between fiction and reality. Whether viewing the latest torture porn, or tuning into the ten o’clock news, innate feelings of fear are regularly consumed through pictures.
5 comments:
I think it’s really interesting that horror images and movies are discussed in this article as a safe place to release our darkest and most primal urges and thoughts. However I disagree with the man who said that he doesn’t really get desensitized to graphic images, I think that people, particularly those who, because of their jobs, seen a lot of graphic images, do get at least a little desensitized, even if only subconsciously. I wonder if watching a lot of horror movies can desensitize you when you are confronted with actual horrible images of what is going on in our world. I think this must be true, particularly because after a while horror movies could no longer rely just on horrific images to frighten people, they use all sorts of sensory cues to let people know that they should be frightened. The biggest one is the soundtrack. Next time you are watching The Shining, imagine it without the soundtrack and you’ll see what I mean. But when you see pictures in the newspaper from a recent massacre there is nothing other than your gut repulsion telling you how awful the things happening out in the real world are.
I was speaking recently with my family about the difference between seeing scary things happen on screen and reading about them in a book. The article spoke about how the horror movies air our fears and strange inner desires in a space that is safe, that is controllable: yet that describes a book better than a movie. When scary or traumatic things take place in a book, I cringe while I read but keep reading. However, it is impossible for me to watch a horror movie, and I find myself turning the sound off or leaving the room when something particularly scary is taking place on the screen. I would rather miss what happens altogether than experience it. I agree with Helena about one of the largest differences being the soundtrack. Reading, I have a picture of what is happening in my mind, but there are always details missing. On the screen, there is a detailed visual image and an accompanying soundtrack to fill the scene with details...and this more realistic sense is what I find the most terrifying.
I was speaking recently with my family about the difference between seeing scary things happen on screen and reading about them in a book. The article spoke about how the horror movies air our fears and strange inner desires in a space that is safe, that is controllable: yet that describes a book better than a movie. When scary or traumatic things take place in a book, I cringe while I read but keep reading. However, it is impossible for me to watch a horror movie, and I find myself turning the sound off or leaving the room when something particularly scary is taking place on the screen. I would rather miss what happens altogether than experience it. I agree with Helena about one of the largest differences being the soundtrack. Reading, I have a picture of what is happening in my mind, but there are always details missing. On the screen, there is a detailed visual image and an accompanying soundtrack to fill the scene with details...and this more realistic sense is what I find the most terrifying.
This article definitely brought a few things to light that I'd never thought about before. Like, yes perhaps horror is healthy for us. All of these repressed feelings and thoughts brought to light for a few hours to truly spooky us.
But, can you imagine the job of reviewing horror movies, and movies for content day in and day out. Of course you would need psycological help. But, my question is, wouldn't you become numb to what is bad? When you view content like that constantly, wouldn't your guards for what is heinous be down, since you experience so much of it, what can even offend you anymore. I guess they have certain trigger that they have to combat, like not having certain body parts, certain language too much and other things that cause them to ask a director to cut their film. But you as a reviewer could never see a sary film the same way again. Nothing would frighten you in the world after all those images.
I think Kieron Brennan hit it right on the head, when he said “Images of fear must directly affect the person viewing," in order to be successful in the horror genre. In terms of horrific images the psychology behind them is very complex. For starters one could argue that Horror films and graphic images serve a somewhat freudian role in our society, allowing us to release our primal urges for sex and violence in a way that prevents us from disrupting the rest of society. While I don't think its quite as clear cut as that, there is merit to having exposure to alarming images as they alert our brains of pathways for our "fight or flight" reactions and provide a slight cushion for facing the everyday horrors we hear in the news each night. While this desensitizing can prove useful, theres a fine line horror images traverse, which is being alarming enough to discomfort and being terrifying enough to scar and desensitize completely.
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