Horror as entertainment?
In another thread I said:
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Intense thunderstorms are fun to watch/experience. But I haven't had one here for quite a while.
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I meant this thread to be about cruelty, not horror in the broadest sense. Sorry Undeaf, my fault for being unclear. Maybe a mod can change the title of the thread into "Cruelty as entertainment?"?
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No, I quite intentionally commented on something kind of on a tangent impulsively. Sorry if it might have been too uncontributive.
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It is strange how people (well, i can't use the word "enjoy") "focus" their attention on other people's misery. For example when you see a car accident and stuff.
I guess a bit of that goes to cruelty as well. Horrors are ok, and i like to watch them. Same goes for games (Silent hill, alone in the dark...), but i honestly can't say i'm entertained by pure cruelty. That's just mean! |
I'll add these thoughts: I think one would have to search long and hard to find ANY fiction in which cruelty is not a main character. From the Bible, with its hundreds of murders, tortures, rapes, and mutilations, to the Brothers Grimm, to spy novels, Westerns, romance novels, science fiction..."man's inhumanity to man" is a tried-and-true theme, and it's difficult to construct a villain who's not being cruel to at least someone, if not a whole LOT of someones.
--Josh |
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I took a horror literature class in college, and we explored the concept of traditional horror( like in Frankenstein or Dracula) and the more modern concepts of "gore" movies. The conclusion my class came up with was that curious humans enjoy this stuff because they naturally crave understanding about death and fear. Sometimes there is a religious side to it too. |
Well my dear tsa, as much as I love you, plutonically of course, and are a good friend, I must disagree on this. I understand where you're coming from, but I love horror and torture, as long as it isn't real, of course.
No one would like to watch a tv show, or any other form of entertainment, if there were no problems for the characters to face. I just have a dark soul that likes that kind of stuff. |
I can't really watch fictional cruelty of any kind unless it's done in a socially responsible manner -- either to portray characters who are able to overcome it, or to draw awareness to actual atrocities that are currently happening in the world. If it's just done for the shock factor, I'm not a fan.
Plus, I'm squeamish about gore and stuff. |
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Not that I don't think these things should be dealt with in fiction. On the contrary, it's necessary that they are, if only because these are real things that we have to deal with in our world today. Again, there needs to be a socially responsible reason for it. |
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Cruelty and gore in movies is not an option at all for me. I literally can't make myself watch it. Even a fist fight makes me turn my head away. Like Squinks said violence should be dealt with in fiction. But there are many ways to deal with the matter without shoving it in our faces. I'm more fond of subtle ways of describing violent courses of event. |
I feel the same Jelena, although I can stand James Bond movies and stuff like that. But it shouldn't go much further. I also can't stand watching magicians doing all sorts of cruel things to people. It makes me sick and gives me nightmares.
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I love horror, gore and both physical and mental misery in movies, books, games or any fictional medium.
In real life I absolutely despise violence in any form and I'm 100 % anti-war in all cases. I guess that if you analyse this you get the possibility that I get all my adrenaline "kicks" when I consume culture since I have no desire what so ever to deal with things like this in real life. In other words, the mainstream Disney- and Popmusic-fans are the ones that are serial killers in their spare time. ;) |
Today I thought: you can also turn the question around: why can't some people stand cruelty while they know it's fake?
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My mum also can't understand why people, like me, love horror and gore in movies. What can i say? I'm depraved. :devil: :P Peter Jackson was the same when he made his earlier films (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead). They're completely over-the-top violent and gorey, but he said in a documentary for Bad Taste, that he isn't a violent guy and would never do any of the stuff that happens in the movie. But he had loads of fun making those movies and experimented with loads of sick special effects. :D For me, i can't really explain it. I'm a dark individual anyway so they appeal. And these sorts of things are ideal for expressing/channeling bad/negative energy. And yeah, a lot of people love the adrenaline rush and being scared. I'd also find it a bit boring if nothing really bad happened to any characters in any fictional entertainment. |
I think it's a rather natural thing that some people like lighthearted entertainment (which is understandable) while others prefer harsh things. Why certain people like certain things surely is a difficult topic. Partly congenital and partly based on ones childhood, perhaps? :P
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