Personal Horror In Stephen King's Carrie, Cujo And It

Watching frightening films such as “It,” Stephen King’s masterpiece, which is engrossing its monumental audience, is a favorite pastime of many young people. This industry is vast and creates a large amount of wealth for many of the people behind it. However, parents should diligently research these films’ psychological effects on minors before allowing their children to engage in this form of entertainment. After all, “‘Given that very young children may not yet know what types of stimuli frighten them most, nor do they enjoy the power to choose which media the family will view, they are in special need of protection from exposure to such scary stimuli before coping strategies are necessary’” (“Scary”). This shows that parents must carefully consider the content they allow their children to see. People watch horror movies for myriad reasons, as shown in Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” and watching these films have both positive and negative effects that parents should be aware of, which are displayed in Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies” and in the USA Today article “Scary Movies and TV Programs Have Long-Lasting Effects.”

My grandma once told me, “If you stay up too late at night, the boogeyman will get you”. I never believed her but I knew I wouldn’t want to see the Boogeyman if he actually existed. Most people would actually want to watch these horrible beings. In this case, they would want to view a horror movie such as “Friday the 13” or “Nightmare on Elm Street”. It is part of our Human Condition to be attracted to the films and asking for more. Stephen King’s claims in “Why we crave horror” asserts us that humans crave horror to face our fears, to re-establish our feelings of normalcy, and to experience a peculiar sort of fun.

Stephen King, the author of Cujo, presents his book on a frightening level of suspense that Lewis Teague, the director of Cujo, a movie based on King’s novel, complements wonderfully. Lewis Teague stays true to Stephen’s book, occasionally adding his own twist to it.

Many authors tend to state their opinion very briefly in their work. This makes it vulnerable for others to agree or disagree on the opinion with facts. Common fallacies also known as logical fallacies and argumentation styles are the most critical ways an author can be debated on leading to ongoing arguments. Logical fallacies are faults in reasoning that weaken our arguments and argumentation styles are types of arguments that modify the text to create a structured essay. Logical fallacies and argumentation styles can either create a more developed essay or can make it vulnerable. This can be avoided with much revision and editing but there will always be someone to judge someone else’s work for any purpose if found. Like many novels that

Stephen King wrote a very brief essay titled "Why we Crave Horror Movies", in which he explained some of the reasons that people choose to go to horror movies to be entertained. In his essay, King goes on to explain that we as a people need horror movies as a sort of release; to feed the darker elements within all of us without having to sacrifice our humanity (also, civility). King does this by comparing people based on their levels of sanity whereas some societal "eccentricities" are completely acceptable, while some will get you thrown right into the loony bin. It’s summed up pretty well in this quote:

Stephen King never clearly states the thesis of this essay however there is enough information provided that we can infer one. We need to keep our inner lyncher at bay by feeding ourselves with small portions of demonic, bloody, violence, found in horror movies. King writes “It deliberately appeals to all the worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized...” (Why We Crave Horror Movies, paragraph 12) and by doing so he’s implying that horror movies are like a temporary fix for our violent craves.

sample, but it also appeals to population and emotion. To further explain why we crave

As I was lying in bed recalling the event happened an hour before I was thinking to myself that I will never look at lightning the same way again. Thunder and lightning was still present in the night sky as I lay there in bed thanking God I was alive and well. Each flash of lightning lit the entire room and each clap of thunder rattled the windows of my hotel room. Lightning can seem much more terrifying when you’re up 20,000 ft in the mountains, and the thunder sounds a lot louder too. The sound of nature’s fury seemed to slowly descend as the night went on, but my nerves did not. I was still stunned and in shock of being stuck in a lightning storm high in the mountains. I never thought about the power and damage lightning can inflict

If somebody asked me what my favorite type of movie is I would probably say horror. I would say horror because it provides a thrill in me that no other type of movie sparks within me. When reading Stephen King’s article I realized there is more to a horror movie than just thrill, there is anticipation, and even suspense shown. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King uses a mysterious tone and pathos to successfully persuade his audience of kids and adults into watching mysterious horror movies that will let you re-establish your feelings.

Stephen King said, “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They’re inside us, and sometimes, they win.” This quote sums up the arguments made in the article “Why We Crave Horror” and what King believes. Stephen King makes three correct claims saying that humans crave horror to have a peculiar sort of fun, face our fears, and reestablish our feelings of normalcy.

In Stephen King's "Why we Crave Horror", the famous novelist argues for a rather depressing explanation of society's fixation with horror movies. He insinuates today's generation's obsession over gory and demonic storylines is a result of our internal need for violence that must be satisfied. Such claims may shock readers at first, however, King's use of diction, imagery and tone leave us no choice but to agree with his analysis of human behaviour. He uses these rhetorical tools to prove to the naive reader that we truly are "mentally ill".

him or her involved in the film - how often have you been watching a

Picture a nine or ten year old, roving the backwoods of Ohio with his friends. One of them had just finished telling a story about how some kids had went missing-- presumed dead, in that very spot. Suddenly, an echo resounds, the sound of snapping branches, heralding the approach of a masked killer. Hearts pounding like a church choir, all of the boys spirit away as fast as they can, shaken to the very core, as their older friend emerges from the brush “Huh, I wonder what that was about”. As is evident in the name, the horror genre, to its credit, is full of stories about children being threatened or harmed in someway, because what’s more horrific than the future being stricken in some way? Just look at the work of

The emotion of fear injects the sense of dread all throughout our body, causing our muscles to tense up, pupils to dilate, body to sweat, stomach to clench, and to breathe heavily. Fear’s main intention of doing so is to warn ourselves of any potential danger we might be in and prevent any future harm done to us. (Dayton) So, for what reason might we humans want to experience fear; such as watching horror movies, when it is so closely associated with pain?

These two films arrive amid the second-wave of feminism in the United States. During this time, the country saw the Post WWII era of family values, and mass consumerism. The civil rights movement became the topic of discussion throughout the media, and college students across the nation became political activist. The Vietnam war erupts as the main focus of the mid-60s, and tensions increase even more as the Gay Liberation Movement blooms into full effect throughout the 60s and 70s. With all the chaos, women saw themselves as secondary and decided to spark social movements as a way to gain equality. Gloria Steinem became the face of the movement stating, “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” The main focus of the second-wave of feminism was to gain women’s power and liberation. They sought to expose domestic violence against women, the marriage inequality, child rearing, divorce, sexual assault, sexual liberation, birth control rights, abortion (Roe v. Wade), education for women, as well as chattering the glass ceiling in the workplace. These two films could be said to be a written response to the movement. In the film Halloween, the female characters are sexually liberated but are consequently tortured for their promiscuity.The women are young, vibrant, socially aware, and are comfortable with their sexuality. It would be safe to say that these women would be a part of this movement given the historical context. The women in the film Carrie would