Fear
A word that can control lives. It describes what we hate the most, the things we despise, horrors that we would hope to never encounter even in our most nightmarish dreams. Decaying bodies, brutal murder, psychological torture. These seem like things we should logically flee from, try to avoid. Instead, so many of us flock towards them like moths to flame. Why is this? Why would draw towards the darkness we fear, and perhaps even worse, romanticize it? Is it the suspense keeping us on the edge of our seats as we silently beg for the hapless victim to not open the door? Is it the sudden rush when the monster jumps out from behind? Is it the fight or flight urge we feel as the adrenaline kicks in? Perhaps it is simply the dark essence of horror, its forbidden nature that makes it all the more tantalizing. It disgusts us, and yet we want more. As interesting as the psychology behind this is, there is an even more pressing question we must ask. Is this okay? Not in the legal sense or social sense, but in a moral sense. Is it okay to watch horror, and even more importantly, is it okay to enjoy it? Some people say, "It's just fiction, a story. There's no harm in it."
While others argue that it implants dark themes into our subconscious. I think that it is not so black and white. Like with many things, instead of looking at the surface, we must look to the heart. Why was the story made? For some movies like the Saw series, the purpose seems clear, create suspense and shock the viewers with creative deaths and torture. Not all horror creations are like this, though. Many of Hitchcock's works showed a theme of justice or were meant to make the audience truly think. House by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti attempts to use the horror genre to explain the sacrifice of Christ. Also important to look for is the effect of a movie. Schindler's List contains many graphic and disturbing scenes that disgust people, and rightfully so. With horror movies, we view scenes just as brutal and graphic, but instead of being disgusted, some of think, "Wow, that was so cool!" When things like these scenes stop disturbing us, then we should be disturbed by our own de-sensitivity. It is not the darkness in the movie we should be worried about, it is the darkness in us. Doctor Shoemaker was consulted in the making of this article.
Photo by Pixabay.com
