[tsa]

In another thread I said:

Originally Posted by tsa

I also can't stand people hurting each other as a form of entertainment. I just don't get why people like that. Horror is not for me.

And then Josho said:

Originally Posted by Josho

That's an interesting topic that certainly deserves its own thread.

I enjoy horror (games, movies, books) for roughly the same reason that I like roller coasters. They produce a visceral fear reaction that, because I know it's a controlled setting (therefore an illusion), is actually safe. It's an adrenalin rush.

It's funny. I know a lot of people who dismiss horror (especially graphic horror) as entertainment with an "I don't know why anyone would consider that entertainment." Yet many of the same people will happily read a novel, watch a movie, or play a game in which one spouse cheats on the other, for example, or somebody betrays somebody else in a similarly devastating fashion...emotional or psychological torture rather than physical torture.

To me, THAT is much harder to watch or read, and the visceral reaction it produces in me is sometimes so extreme that I feel repulsed rather than entertained.

Bones mend, skin heals. But emotional cruelty scars for a lifetime.

So I'd turn it around and ask, "Why would anyone find fiction with scenes of betrayal and emotional cruelty entertaining?"

So here it is: the "Cruelty as entertainment" thread. I'm curious to your opinion.