What is the deal with modern horror movies? I don't want to sound like an old man, but I just don't get the point any more. I once read that the difference between terror and horror in films and literature is like the difference between erotica and pornography. The concepts of terror and erotica in culture attempt to titillate the mind by suggestion and a certain level of craft, while horror and porn are blunt, brutal, and just try to supply the consumer with an animalistic fix.
The level of gore and violence in films is in general not something I disapprove of, or more properly care about: I am not some Tipper Gore trying to mandate what people should and should not see. I do not think it corrupts our culture, but more accurately the reverse: it sells because our culture demands it.
But I ask myself, and this is where I get really baffled: how can large numbers of (allegedly) adult citizens watch a film whose plot is basically that a bunch of people get cruelly tortured and killed? And this is the third installment in an incredibly popular series!!! To me, this doesn't seem like playing on our sense of fear as much as raising bloodlust in the brutal and increasing depression in the thinking. Either way, it seems to be somewhat mindnumbing. My passions even get more aroused when I think that the audiences for whom such films are made are alleged members of the Western civilization that finds the Holocaust and terrorism to be acts of evil. Apparently real political violence is bad, but fake (although extremely graphic) violence for entertainment is enjoyable. It seems that we are a step closer to the Roman ampitheatres, and we know where the Romans wound up.
I would much more highly recommend The Ring, either in its original incarnation or the American remake. That is a truly terrifying film.
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3 comments:
There was a zombie movie last year, 'Dawn of the Dead' that I actually did enjoy, particularly the ending, and I do not normally enjoy such things. Once in a while, an over the top gory over the top film is not a bad way to pass a couple of hours. I do not disagree with anything you have said though.
I do think you cannot compare watching cartoon violence around halloween to watching people being slaughtered in various creative ways for entertainment in real life, just as doing terribly violent absurd things in 'Grand Theft Auto' cannot be compared to such behaviour in the real world.
Your mention of Roman amphitheatre reminds me of Terri Jones' series about Rome. He questioned the enthusiasm of so-calles Romanophiles who view Rome as a prime example of an enlightened society. He gave an example of a female prisoner who was beaten to the point of death and slashed with whips and swords before she was raped by wild animals in front of cheering crowds. He said that maybe we should take a moment to consider what kind of society Rome really was.
Pace,
I of course do not mean to say that there is something wrong with horror movies. I'm more questioning the style . For instance, I was rewatching Ridley Scott's "Alien" on Halloween, and it just struck me how good that film was done! The plot is straightforward, you know basically everyone will die, but its how the atmosphere and the suspense is created that lends to the excitement and the entertainment.
But I also want to draw some distinctions. I'm not really talking about gore, or horror, or even violence. I think a certain amount of those things can be consumed by the general public. But the problem I see with the latest batch of movies is the strong focus on torture. GTA may be violent, but as you say its a cartoon, and besides, you're not pulling people's teeth out. However, I would argue that people watching scenes of torture definitely raises the possibility that we go down a moral slippery slope: how can one claim to enjoy watching fake but realistic torture done on an actor you probably know something about but abhore real torture done on someone you don't know and will probably never meet?
And to bring in Tim's remarks on Rome, I would like to mention the first and only time I was present at a WWF event, in 2000 at Washington, DC. Now, of course, the events were all staged, but one of them involved Degeneration X getting into a match where real blood was spilt onto the ring (it stayed there throughout the entire performance). Let us not forget that the gladiators too shed real blood while pretending to be mythical or fictional characters in a performance. Civilization indeed.
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