"Dracula" and "The Cat People"

I am not a very big horror fan at all and was a little skeptical about taking this class. I just can't seem to keep my eyes open during an entire scary movie. I know they are not real but telling myself that does not matter whatsoever. So far, however, I have found this class very interesting and am learning a new approach to viewing horror movies. We have learned to notice the mis-en-scenes and mis-en shots of the horror films we watch. The focus of the camera and the scene that the camera is focused on are very important for the viewer. In Noel Carroll's book, "The Philosophy of Horror," Carroll describes horror as "art-horror." Art-horror is the emotion that horror narratives and images are designed to elicit from audiences. A central theme of art-horror is the monster. Carroll says that every horror film or literature needs to have a horror monster in order to be a true horror film/book. Carroll says that in works of horror, the humans regard the monsters they meet as abnormal, as disturbances of the natural order. In fairy tales, on the other hand, monsters are part of the everyday furniture of the universe.
In the movie Dracula, Dracula is in some ways portrayed as a monster and in some ways as a normal human being. During the first part of the movie when Harker comes to work in Count Draculas castle as a librarian, Dracula looks like a normal human being on the outside although he acts a little weird. In this movie, Dracula is an example of a metonomy monster. He is not what he appears to be on the outside and the environment helps to show that he is anything but human. I think he can also be considered a fission monster because he is part human and part animal of some sort at night. As the movie goes on, the viewer is revealed Dracula's true identity, a vampire. In the second half of the movie, Dracula is more fearful to the audience and does horrible things to frighten us. The characters show a fear of Dracula and Carroll says that the characters in works of horror exemplify for us the way in which to react to the monsters in the fiction. In film and on stage, the characters shrink from the monsters, contracting themselves in order to avoid the grip of the creature but also to avert an accidental brush against this unclean being according to Carroll. Some of the characters deceive us, however, and seem to show not fear but pleasure. Harker's fiance is visited by Dracula every night and she willingly lets him into her room to suck her blood. Her facial expressions during these scenes show pleasure and almost love for the monster and not "nausea" like Carroll says the reacton should be. He says that emotionally, these violations of nature are so fulsome and revolting that they frequently produce in characters the conviction that mere physical contact with them can be lethal. Van-Helsing and his partner show fear and hatred toward the monster but Harker's fiance shows an almost longing.

In the horror movie, "The Cat People," the monster is a woman named Ulaina. This character does not fit Carroll's discription of a true art-horror monster. She doesn't appear to be nauseating, disgusting, revolting, impure, or unclean. She doesn't elicit fear in the audience. Ulaina is an example of a metonomy monster. The environment in her apartment helps give a clue about who she really is. Her apartment is covered in cat paintings and statues, including a statue of King John with his sword through a cat. She is also considered a fission monster because she is a human and turns into a panther. She tells Oliver, her fiance/husband, that she is worried for his life and that she can't kiss him for fear of killing him. Oliver still wants to be with her until he realizes he is in love with Alice, a co-worker. Jealousy and anger are what helps turn Ulaina into a panther. As a human, Ulaina isn't threatening or impure which are two crucial elements that a horror monster must have according to Carroll. Throughout the movie, Ulaina's true identity is hidden pretty well until she confronts Oliver and Alice in her cat form in the office building. Although the cat form is Ulaina's monster form she still isn't disgusting. She looks just like a normal panther. The only abnormal thing is that a panther would be out of place in a big city. I don't really think Carroll would consider Ulaina a monster according to his definition of an art-horror monster. Throughout the entire movie I wasn't really scared and the monster was only actually seen once and it was when the psychiatrist kissed her that you saw her transform into the monster form in the shadows. Even upon her transformation the audience doesn't beome frightened. This may be because the event was seen through shadows and not the real thing. I think that one reason the monster was only shown once was because the director wanted to make the audience use their imagination for what the monster looked like. There were some suspicious parts when the audience is made to think the monster will appear but it actually doesn't. The part when Alice is walking home from work and Ulaina is following her and suddenly disappears and when Alice is in the swimming pool and hears the growling are two examples of this.

I liked "Dracula" better than "The Cat People" because it did elicit some fear from the audience. Another reason I liked "Dracula" better is because it was in color. This may seem dumb but I think black and white kind of hides the scary parts of the movie. Color can be used to show the frightening aspects of the movie. For example, blood in black and white doesn't really look like blood at all, but in color you can actually see the red color of the blood and this will help the audience elicit an emotional response.