Horror Vs Reality Research Paper

Asma states, "Monsters can stand as symbols of human vulnerability and crisis, and as such they play imaginative foils for thinking about our own responses to menace.” This means that human weaknesses and fears are represented through monstrous figures, and these fictional situations provide perspective into how we react in fearful environments. In our current society we fear many things, including but not limited to failed or corrupt governmental systems, the afterlife, the unknown, and captivity, which makes this claim valid. Although we may not realize it, these fears are embodied by the horror monsters we see in popular culture. Society shares common fears, and often times the most prevailing fear is reflected in the most popular characters at any given time. Monsters are the fictional representations of society’s dark subconscious, exploring not only why the author’s statement is accurate but what we actually fear.

Literature is a wonderful medium of delivering fear. From Gothic stories to science fiction, fear has embraced

During 1981 there was a huge development in technology. In that same year of 1981, Stephen King published an article in the Playboy magazine by the name of “Why We Crave Horror Movies.” In his essay he wrote about why people enjoy watching horror films. King intends this essay toward young men who watch horror films. He mentions that everyone is a little insane and that it is okay to be that way. He wants young men to know and understand that there is something more to it then just wanting to get scared when watching horror movies, it is for young men's insanity relief so that the good emotions can be expressed. Back then there was a stigma, mostly in religious people, parents, and psychiatrists, but it is still present today. Critics believe that horror films were made to scare viewers and draw in the negative things. King is famous for horror movies and is known to be the king of them. The article “Why We Crave Horror Movies” was written forty years ago by King who is the author of many popular horror books and films King persuades young adults that it is okay to watch horror movies because everyone is a little bit insane in the inside.

As King argues, the horror genre serves a specific purpose to allow us an outlet to let out anticivilization emotions. These movies let us lapse into our most simplistic mindset, enjoying the pain and suffering of other people. As King says, “it urges us to put away our more civilized and adult penchant for analysis and to become children again...the invitation to lapse into simplicity, irrationality, and even outright madness is extended so rarely” (King 2). The human

She argues that although audiences crave the feeling of being afraid, they crave being safe while watching scary movies. It means that they know that they can safely be scared while the event is not actually real. An article cites multiple studies to prove her point as to why people crave and enjoy horror films while others do not. She hypothesize that this need for excitement accounts for why this genre is popular among teenagers and younger generations, since the desire for watching horror movies predicted to be decreased with

For century human are fascinated with the concept of death and the creepy crawlers that wonder through the night. As years progress the art of scary storytelling has stayed the same but, in modern day, film producers makes it more enjoyable for all people. The concept of horror movies and scary thing intrigues people for some reason, making it strange that people can actually enjoy these type of things. In 1981 Stephen King wrote an article called Why we crave horror movies. He described the people who enjoy horror movie are the mentally insane, the deep dark void in the back of your head secretly wants to come out.

Horror is a tool for understanding that evil can be defeated -- and it's also a tool for understanding that sometimes, bad things happen, and there are no solutions. People can't always be saved, and endings can't always be happy. Unfortunately, with the way life is, that's an important truth to learn.

In this article, King provided clear, locally related analogies to why we crave horror movies and portrayed credibility. He used ethos to attract with the reader throughout the article. King compares talking to ourselves and squinching our faces to being “mentally ill.” He uses this analogy to get a connection from the audience because every human being has a fear and/or phobia. He compares being fear of something to being mentally ill to create critical thinking.

"We can understand society more by what it fears. " Skal deliberates how changed cultural fears and hang ups-such as nuclear war and the battle for reproductive rights, can be imitated in horror films. It was insightful for how it related the horror genre to cultural trends in America. The book is very characteristic; you can tell Skal has written works on Dracula and Tod Browning, and that he does not care at all about 1960's European horror. The book is not complete; there are many things missing, and Skal's argument of the films never gets much deeper than an insincere Freudian analysis.

The obvious connotation of a “monster” is a form of creature that is not human. One of the main mediums through which our fear-evoking images of monsters is created is through movies. In the article, Timothy Beal reveals that as a nation we thoroughly enjoy the trill of a horror movie, “While the popularity of the formula slasher movie is waning, our dread fascination with the monsters of supernatural horror will not relent”

There’s not quite a feeling like it; the hairs on your neck rise in anticipation and fear, goosebumps form all over your arms, your heartbeat quickens reading every single detail on the edge of your seat. These feelings only arise in one genre, horror. Archeologists and researchers noted that the earliest recorded tales contained traces of horror, thus dating the genre all the way back to ancient civilizations; however, the genre has become a more popular literature genre since the seventeenth-century. Moreover, since the thirteenth-century authors liberally used horror, in which religious beliefs largely shaped and structured the tales. Then, during the 1580s, a new type of horror emerged, such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth, as well as

Paranoia is an enemy to many people in the darkness. This irrational fear accounts for many sleepless nights, and horror only fuels the fire. Yet, these people are still captivated by something that produces such unpleasant results. The culprit just might be one thing-- the characteristics, events, and situations that humans all share-- the ingredients of what makes things such as emotions and ambitions exist; otherwise known as the human condition. Based on these two notions, it is safe to say that in the article “Why We Crave Horror,” Stephen King is correct in claiming that humans crave horror to display some sort of bravery, to reassure feelings of normality, and to simply have a good time.

Monster and horror movies can be a perfect mode for representing repressed fears and can be seen throughout the history of the genre. Haitian zombies can be seen as a representation of the fear of being stuck as mindless workers forever, werewolves can be understood as representation of our repressed fear of being our most primal selves, Frankenstein as a fear of the power of modern science, and so on throughout history. While this film creates a sense of uncanniness through the replacing of our loved ones with mindless automatons it can also be seen as a repressed cultural fear of being a mindless, emotionless, cookie cutter member of suburbia that was present in the 1950s when this book and film were

Over the past 10 to 15 years the horror genre has been the subject of a big discussion. This discussion has been made by many different people to get a better result. The discussion quickly turned into a debate about ethics and how the horror is for civilized people. Henry James once said that the only criterion for a good art is that it must be interesting. Times do change and the horror gets more and more interesting. But what is horror? Some people sees the horror as a funny thing with funny creatures. Other people sees the horror as an insanity or internal fright. What horrifies one does not necessary horrify another. That is a quality that has always worked against horror and have also been one of the strongest points of commonality. The

Stephen King, in his essay Why We Crave Horror Movies, speaks to a love for horror, but more importantly offers King’s insight on why horror makes such enticing movies. In short, Stephen King establishes that horror is not only a popular genre because it shows fearlessness, establishes normality, or that it is fun, but because horror offers an opportunity to control an urge and leniency for violence. King compares horror movies to public lynching, stating that horror is an opportunity to sanely control violent urges society has (Stephen King, 1981). Aptly, King states that horror keeps ‘them’ from getting out and ‘me up there’; moreover, that it keeps insanity out and sanity in (Stephen King, 1981). This analysis by King makes it evident that horror can be used to control violence through a