I don't mean fantasy horror, but films like Hostel, Scary Movie and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Films where pepoles lives are at stake and for entertainment we seem to enjoy the way they get killed, and enjoy the chase and suspense.
The reason why I ask this question is because I'm sure if you read in the paper that somebody died of a stab wound you would feel sorrow. But! does the fact that people enjoy violent and horrific films make us feel nothing when we hear of these sad stories, because we have seen worse?
2007-01-18 21:40:42 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Entertainment & Music ➔ Movies
Do you really feel sorrow for every person who has been murdered or assaulted and reported about in the media? I am not saying that murder is a good thing but I think that it is the also newspapers that desensitise us to these tragic events. As they say, "there is no news like bad news". You have to remember that newspapers are made to make a profit more than tell people about the world and the fact is, a story about somebodies brutal murder on the front page is going to sell papers.
The problem with this however is that you don't actually have a personal connection to these people. In essence, the real people who are killed and reported about in papers are just as unreal to you as a fictional person who is killed in a film. Is it even right to know the intimate details of the death of somebody you don't know?
I think that films like Hostel (or even the comedy Scary Movie) are just ways of dealing with all the bad news that is generally thrust upon us. You can't honestly understand the motives, reasons or circumstances of a real murder by reading a highly slanted account in a newspaper.
On the superficial level, horror films entertain because they they are films and that is their purpose. Most people enjoy horror films because they enjoy being scared but why do people like being scared? It is because with all the bad news around us we don't always know how to be scared and certainly don't understand it.
A horror film is more visceral than a news story and can certainly help us to explore the savage side of the human character. That someone might "enjoy" the acts portrayed in these films is simply to admit that the acts are not perceivable in a real world context. Horror films can help us hide from atrocities such as murder but underneath they can also help us come to terms with them (all within the system of the Hollywood money spinning machine).
2007-01-18 23:30:34 · answer #1 · answered by harmfultoasterfanclub 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No matter what the story of a Horror film is about at the end of the day we not it isn't real. No matter how wrong murder is we still find it interesting. It is only when we believe it is real or it is real that people like me, feel sympathy for the one has just died.
Scary Movie just takes the mic out of conventions that an average horror film seems to contain. Horror films use these codes and conventions to scare the life out of audiences.
Basically especially for me I do not let scary films get to me because I convince myself it is not real. Though I know the media over exaggerates things when we read a newspaper it contains seemingly real photographs and facts. Basically horrific stories in media texts are only scary if we believe them. Know what I mean?
2007-01-18 21:58:46 · answer #2 · answered by Husain F 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Even the Texas chainsaw massacre has titillation-one of the biggest purposes of horror films is to watch 'em with chicks because they get scared and cling onto you while, you watch a girl run around the woods in hot pants being chased by a maniac.
I feel more sorrow for violent acts in the news because its seems more real when I see it in a film-that people can do terrible acts and horror films are good for a due warning of the unscrupulous people out there!
....you know people without scruples!
2007-01-18 21:54:58 · answer #3 · answered by Dude 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are asking a very deep question.
I think that your question can cover a lot of different possiblities. From people who don't value human life, so these movies are truely entertaining. To those who have such a strong moral outlook, that these types of movies are detestable to them.
I guess it all depends on a person's ideas and thoughts of these types of movies, as to how they react to violence that is already prevalent in this world.
Personally, I like to have horror nights with my husband, so that we can cuddle on the scary parts!!
I am anxiously waiting for "Hannibal Rising" (Feb. 9th) and "Whisper" (not sure when it will be released).
2007-01-18 22:45:53 · answer #4 · answered by whathappentothisnation 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess we know it's fake but enjoy the adrenalin rush that comes with it. Unfortunately our imaginations can carry on after the film has finished (I still get freaked out by the image of that wee boy from the Grudge).
My girlfriend refuses to watch films like Hostel, she doesn't enjoy that sort of rush.
2007-01-18 21:45:56 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I enjoy horror films because they scare me(some of them.) I cant say any more than that.
2007-01-19 01:07:33 · answer #6 · answered by Dan 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
horror has always been my favorite genre! ive seen more horror films than any other genre.i watch then because i dont get scared at all i want a film to scare me! but none has!
2007-01-18 23:27:06 · answer #7 · answered by oysidius_torchwood 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
different people like different things, same could be said for Big Brother tv show in england
wait a minute, come to think of it, that show is a horror lol
2007-01-18 22:27:36 · answer #8 · answered by Dr Doom 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we know it's not real and also because the suspense gets your adrenalin pumping which released natural endorphins into your bloodstream and gets you excited!
2007-01-18 21:48:00 · answer #9 · answered by Wafflebox 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's the thrill of being scared, the suspense!
2007-01-18 21:57:34 · answer #10 · answered by ☺Catriona♥S☺ 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋