The Unknown

In the Haunting there was a question posed to Luke by the doctor and it pertained to someone seeing a lamp moving but, not seeing any visible matter moving it? Luke believed that nothing had moved the lamp but, the Doctor went on to explain that nothing could not have moved the lamp and that there was a force that could move this lamp even if at the time people did not understand this force. The Doctor goes on to explain the preternatural theory that states all supernatural forces can eventually be explained by science if not in ones lifetime then, eventually in another’s. All supernatural can be explained. The question of the lamp and the stated theory put questions on the understanding of the supernatural in horror movies and the way in which we may classify horror movies. What is the supernatural? Is the supernatural still the supernatural if it can be explained by science in any time? Is Carrols definition that the supernatural in horror movies is simply anything that can’t be explained by modern science, complete? How far would something have to be known in order for it not to be considered supernatural? Can the supernatural be in varying degrees? Is something still supernatural if a part of it can be explained by science but, the rest of it can’t be? Would the lamp that moved still be supernatural in a horror movie if scientist could explain that a force did move the lamp and that this force was natural? No, this lamp would not be supernatural according to Carroll and rightly so, but there is a gray area that appears when put into context of a so called horror movie. What if this same natural force knocks over all the lamps in the house at the same time and this house in particular has had a long history of a particular method of suicide carried out by every different owner that has occupied this house. Would the action of these lamps being knocked over be the supernatural in a horror movie? Carroll would say that no this is not the supernatural of horror movies yet but, rather it is in the fantastic realm. I would say yes though, that this is the supernatural in horror movies because there is still the unknown in why people would kill themselves in a particular method. This force seemingly explained by Science is not fully explained. There doesn’t have to be definitive proof to cause even the same art horror that carol claims to be elicited from his definition of art horror. The unknown even without a confirmation stage still creates art-horror through the cognitive evaluative which can be present without a monster. The unproven which cause hesitation can alone cause art horror. The supernatural which cause most art horror is due to the unknown lingering questions because the unknown is the supernatural present in horror movies.
In very early cultures forces of nature and phenomenon’s in nature were given personifications with harmful events such as drought being given a God that is unnatural and to whatever culture disgusting. Things such as rainfall were given beautiful Goddess’s. Why is it that these cultures gave harmful forces disgusting and unnatural Gods? The reason is because these types of things are unknown to us and are perceived of as a threat. Something is disgusting and seemingly unnatural because we do not understand why a thing would be created that would look so different than anything we are used to seeing. This thing’s actions as well come into question because we have no basis to gauge where this thing comes from, how this thing will act and what is the intention or will of this thing. We cannot understand these things well because most of our understanding from the world (very present in primitive times still present just not in the same way or intensity) comes from the projection we have of ourselves that we put on the world. I know how this thing will act because he looks like me. This thing’s intentions and wants are completely separate from mine because he looks totally different than me. This thing must be totally opposite from me because his origin is different from mine so it is an origin I do not understand. These statements can be flipped around and still be true such as this person thinks totally different from me so he must not be from the same place. These thoughts are not always fully conscious though because the way in which we gain knowledge is not always conscious. The unknown is not only restricted to being present in things but, also events and practices. Practices for one reason or the other such as origin can have the same affects of being unknown and also being unknown and threatening in that it threatens ideas in which we feel our society stands on and without these ideas would be a crumbling of society and a crumbling of our safety due to a belief that our safety is intact because of that specific society. The unknown then does change with changes all around us. This includes changes in things such as religion and science which are an attempt to make the world more known to us and in a lot of cases control the world around us. We cannot control something that we know exist but is still in many ways unknown to us. The unknown for a person can rest on the three pillars of sociology. When, where, and to whom you were born to. A bump in the night and what I would be fearing as someone in America in 2007 being a white middle class kid would be totally different than what a kid born in 750 b.c. in Greece to an upper-class family would be scarred of when hearing a bump in the night. Either way the specific fears that elicit Carrols emotions of art horror are due to the unknown which is one of the most basic reasons why people fear for their lives and safety.
Carroll’s assumption is wrong in that we must see the monster to be horrified but, this is wrong because the presence of the supernatural is still believed by the audience to be there even if there hasn’t been the definite confirmation scene. Other things such as atmosphere can take care of that. In some cases the confirmation scene would make the thing more known to the viewer which would be the first step to understanding it or understanding how safety can be acquired.