I’ve learned a lot about horror films through this blogging experience. Though I’m not quite a convert, I definitely have a new appreciation for the themes and patterns that I learned about. I just want to take one minute to talk about some of the themes that I wrote about that I noticed while watching The Shining.
The first one is the body. I wrote my second blog about the horror film’s disregard for the human body. Though the mind and the body are, arguably, two separate entities, the hijacking of the father’s mind throughout the film was, obviously, the main motivator. In many ways, Jack Nicholson’s character lost control of his body as the hotel spirits gained control of his mind.
Obviously the theme of the destruction of the family is also portrayed in The Shining. The father turns on his wife and son, attempting to kill them for these mysterious hotel spirits. As the son becomes more and more distraught with the premonitions he is having, the wife tries to go to her husband for help. He turns on her, under the influence of the spirits, and the family is destroyed.
I already talked about the ending a little bit in my last post and there weren’t really gender role issues that I noticed. One topic I didn’t blog about but that is definitely prevalent in horror films is the “token black.” The Shining follows the predictable horror movie theme of having one black (or in some cases Asian) person who is always among the first, if not the only, to die.
I’m really glad I did my blog on this topic and, as much as I hate to admit it, watching The Shining was not only a really great way to tie everything together, it was kind of fun! Maybe I should take on a slasher film next... we’ll see!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
My Experience - WARNING Spoiler Alert!!!!
So, since this blog is about cross-culture experiences, I decided to have an experience of my own with a horror film. I really wanted to see one of the classics, so after receiving advice from a few friends who are scary movie fanatics, I decided to watch The Shining. Made in 1980, this movie is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. For anyone who doesn’t know, the movie is about a family who goes to spend the winter in an isolated hotel. The son has visions of past and future violence in the hotel and the father succumbs to violence under the influence of violent spirits haunting the area.
I can’t say that I enjoyed watching The Shining, but it was definitely a learning experience and I’m proud of myself. I know a lot of people who say that it’s not even scary, but I’ll admit to being pretty freaked out towards the end. One of the things I didn’t like about the movie is how it’s so easy to attribute the events to the people being “crazy.” Talking to people that aren’t there? That seems pretty crazy to me...
My one major disappointment with the film was the ending. The entire movie builds up to the father murdering his wife and son, but then... nothing. The two escape, unharmed for the most part, and the father freezes to death. It was all pretty anti-climactic. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good movie and I’m definitely glad to have seen it. So the list of horror movies that I’ve seen has grown to three: The Sixth Sense, The Exorcist, and The Shining.
I can’t say that I enjoyed watching The Shining, but it was definitely a learning experience and I’m proud of myself. I know a lot of people who say that it’s not even scary, but I’ll admit to being pretty freaked out towards the end. One of the things I didn’t like about the movie is how it’s so easy to attribute the events to the people being “crazy.” Talking to people that aren’t there? That seems pretty crazy to me...
My one major disappointment with the film was the ending. The entire movie builds up to the father murdering his wife and son, but then... nothing. The two escape, unharmed for the most part, and the father freezes to death. It was all pretty anti-climactic. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good movie and I’m definitely glad to have seen it. So the list of horror movies that I’ve seen has grown to three: The Sixth Sense, The Exorcist, and The Shining.
Horror After Terror - Horror Films in Guatemala
The enjoyment of a horror movie is contextual and means very different things to various viewers. In her book Reckoning: The Ends of War in Guatemala, Diane Nelson devotes a chapter to the meaning of horror films to Guatemalans. She explores many of the same themes as researchers such as Glenn Walters, but applies them to people who gain a very different sense of enjoyment then many Westerners.
One of the main themes she talks about is how Guatemalans have a unique sense of connection with many characters because of the fluid identities that they have, in many cases, been forced to adopt. The dichotomy of victim/perpetrator does not function very well in relation to the Guatemalan civil war. Many people were forced to kill in order to save their own lives or were driven to kill because of losses they had suffered. An example that Nelson offers is that of a girl who joins the guerilla movement because she is upset with losing her mother (Nelson, 2009: 109). She is both victim and perpetrator, both killer and one who has lost someone due to the killings. This same sort of fluidity is often found in horror movies when the victim turns and kills the monster or whoever is chasing him/her.
In the United States, many teenagers turn to horror films for mere entertainment or to help shape identity. In Guatemala, people turn to horror films because, in the words of one young man, “This is what happened in our country. We have to watch this so we don’t forget” (Nelson, 2009: 89). After the terrible events that occurred during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, perhaps horror films even provide a sense of normalcy. Maybe it is too much to ask men and women who lived out their teenage years hiding in the mountains to sit back and watch a comedy.
Works Cited
Nelson, Diane M. Reckoning the Ends of War in Guatemala. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 2009. Print.
One of the main themes she talks about is how Guatemalans have a unique sense of connection with many characters because of the fluid identities that they have, in many cases, been forced to adopt. The dichotomy of victim/perpetrator does not function very well in relation to the Guatemalan civil war. Many people were forced to kill in order to save their own lives or were driven to kill because of losses they had suffered. An example that Nelson offers is that of a girl who joins the guerilla movement because she is upset with losing her mother (Nelson, 2009: 109). She is both victim and perpetrator, both killer and one who has lost someone due to the killings. This same sort of fluidity is often found in horror movies when the victim turns and kills the monster or whoever is chasing him/her.
In the United States, many teenagers turn to horror films for mere entertainment or to help shape identity. In Guatemala, people turn to horror films because, in the words of one young man, “This is what happened in our country. We have to watch this so we don’t forget” (Nelson, 2009: 89). After the terrible events that occurred during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, perhaps horror films even provide a sense of normalcy. Maybe it is too much to ask men and women who lived out their teenage years hiding in the mountains to sit back and watch a comedy.
Works Cited
Nelson, Diane M. Reckoning the Ends of War in Guatemala. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 2009. Print.
Justification in Horror Movies
One theme that has continuously come up during my research is that of justification and the monster/killer as an object of pity. While watching horror movies, look at who is killed first and who survives. There is a moral code that, to a certain extent, dictates which characters survive.
Glenn Walters is quick to point out that chaste girls are among the least likely characters to be killed during horror movies. Our own popular culture notices this to. The popular website “ Texts from Last Night” features this quote, “(219):I'm in a trailer park. But I'm not scared. The virgin always lives.” Though sex has become a much less taboo topic in recent years, our culture still encourages girls to remain virgins.
Wilson even draws attention to a theory known as the dispositional alignment theory, which hypothesizes that a person’s reactions to an event during a horror film can be traced back to the feelings they have for the person involved. If a viewer thinks the character deserves punishment, they will look at the violence in a much more positive light.
Robin Wood also notes this phenomenon saying, “Few horror films have totally unsympathetic Monsters” (Wood, 1985: 205). Saw, for example, features Jigsaw, a man who is choosing to kill people he thinks don’t appreciate life. It is revealed in the second film that Jigsaw is also dying from advanced brain cancer. The audience is able to sympathize when they realize that, despite the horrors he has committed, this man is going to die. His choice of victims also makes him more sympathetic. He is not killing “innocent” people. Instead, Jigsaw kills a man who cheats on his wife, a drug dealer, and a rapist just to name a few.
Though audiences are still afraid of killers such as Jigsaw, they understand his motivations. Identifying with the killer and feeling a sense of justification in the violence committed seems to correlate in some way with higher viewer satisfaction.
Works Cited
Walters, Glenn D. "Understanding the Popular Appeal of Horror Cinema: An Integrated-Interactive Model." Journal of Media Psychology 9.2 (2004).
Woods, Robin. "An Introduction to the American Horror Film." Movies & Methods (1985).
Glenn Walters is quick to point out that chaste girls are among the least likely characters to be killed during horror movies. Our own popular culture notices this to. The popular website “ Texts from Last Night” features this quote, “(219):I'm in a trailer park. But I'm not scared. The virgin always lives.” Though sex has become a much less taboo topic in recent years, our culture still encourages girls to remain virgins.
Wilson even draws attention to a theory known as the dispositional alignment theory, which hypothesizes that a person’s reactions to an event during a horror film can be traced back to the feelings they have for the person involved. If a viewer thinks the character deserves punishment, they will look at the violence in a much more positive light.
Robin Wood also notes this phenomenon saying, “Few horror films have totally unsympathetic Monsters” (Wood, 1985: 205). Saw, for example, features Jigsaw, a man who is choosing to kill people he thinks don’t appreciate life. It is revealed in the second film that Jigsaw is also dying from advanced brain cancer. The audience is able to sympathize when they realize that, despite the horrors he has committed, this man is going to die. His choice of victims also makes him more sympathetic. He is not killing “innocent” people. Instead, Jigsaw kills a man who cheats on his wife, a drug dealer, and a rapist just to name a few.
Though audiences are still afraid of killers such as Jigsaw, they understand his motivations. Identifying with the killer and feeling a sense of justification in the violence committed seems to correlate in some way with higher viewer satisfaction.
Works Cited
Walters, Glenn D. "Understanding the Popular Appeal of Horror Cinema: An Integrated-Interactive Model." Journal of Media Psychology 9.2 (2004).
Woods, Robin. "An Introduction to the American Horror Film." Movies & Methods (1985).
Gender Roles in Horror
Teenagers make up a large, if not the largest, percent of horror movie viewers (Walters, 2004:6), leading many researchers to ask what about this genre draws them in. One theory, proposed by Glenn Walters, is that since independence and identity play a large role in many horror films, teenagers who are dealing with these same issues are able to relate to the characters they encounter. Walters points out that the settings for many horror movies are in high schools, homes, and neighborhoods. High school is obviously a time during which a lot of self-discovery takes place and both the home and neighborhood are seen as conflict zones as teens struggle to gain more independence.
In 1986 a study was done in which college students watched a clip of a horror film with a member opposite-gender who was instructed to act distressed, comfortable, or indifferent. The study revealed that the men enjoyed their viewing experience more in the presence of a distressed female while the women enjoyed their experience more when accompanied by a man who seemed in control and didn’t display fear (Walters, 2004:10). Many movie critics have also noted the gender roles played by the characters in movies. Feminists often criticize the traditional “...man as subject and the female as object of his gaze” (Nelson, 2009: 111).
Media is, in many ways, how people develop their sense of identity. We read magazines and watch movies to figure out what clothes to wear, how to do make-up, and what the cool places to shop are. It’s easy to forget the potential influence that horror movies can have on those ideals, but scary movies are a huge source of entertainment for many teenagers. If the movies are telling us that men are supposed to chase after women, whether it’s to love or to kill, we are still learning that women are passive objects. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and there are horror movies featuring female killers, but the norm is the male monster/killer lusting and chasing after the innocent female victim.
Works Cited
Walters, Glenn D. "Understanding the Popular Appeal of Horror Cinema: An Integrated-Interactive Model." Journal of Media Psychology 9.2 (2004).
Nelson, Diane M. Reckoning the Ends of War in Guatemala. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 2009. Print.
In 1986 a study was done in which college students watched a clip of a horror film with a member opposite-gender who was instructed to act distressed, comfortable, or indifferent. The study revealed that the men enjoyed their viewing experience more in the presence of a distressed female while the women enjoyed their experience more when accompanied by a man who seemed in control and didn’t display fear (Walters, 2004:10). Many movie critics have also noted the gender roles played by the characters in movies. Feminists often criticize the traditional “...man as subject and the female as object of his gaze” (Nelson, 2009: 111).
Media is, in many ways, how people develop their sense of identity. We read magazines and watch movies to figure out what clothes to wear, how to do make-up, and what the cool places to shop are. It’s easy to forget the potential influence that horror movies can have on those ideals, but scary movies are a huge source of entertainment for many teenagers. If the movies are telling us that men are supposed to chase after women, whether it’s to love or to kill, we are still learning that women are passive objects. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and there are horror movies featuring female killers, but the norm is the male monster/killer lusting and chasing after the innocent female victim.
Works Cited
Walters, Glenn D. "Understanding the Popular Appeal of Horror Cinema: An Integrated-Interactive Model." Journal of Media Psychology 9.2 (2004).
Nelson, Diane M. Reckoning the Ends of War in Guatemala. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 2009. Print.
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