I think Carrol's definition of horror kinda sucks. First of all, horror involves more than monsters. Pyscho is considered a great horror movie, and is there a monster? Let's see...no. How about the Most Damgerous Game? Horror? Yes. Monster? No. And while I guess Norman Bates isn't what you'd call a normal dude, I think it's theoretically possible he could exist. (I'm not sure, I didn't really pay attention in Abnormal Pych.) lots of other horror stories come to mind. Bierce's story, the Yellow Wallpaper, Sunset Blvd, lots of Poe stories, and many other stories don't have anything to do with monsters.
Another problem is that there are lots of movies, books, etc that feature critters that probably count as monsters, but don't really count as horror. Dan's essay about will ferrell was pretty good, and I agree that will ferrell is probably a monster, if for no other reason that for the horrorible movies he's made. But I don't think Stepbrothers counts as a horror movie.
Or what about Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Monsters? Yes. Even scary ones, like all traditional and everything. But forbtye most part it, it isn't horror, for the most part. (Buffy was pretty much everything at one point or another, including a musical). But Buffy isn't really horror.
What is horror? I think it's like pornography. The Supreme Court said regarding pornography that "I know it when I see it." I think horror is kind of the same way. Horror kind of depends on the way it's written and stuff. I can't really say exactly what it is, but I can always recognize it.
One alternate definition, though flawed, is the idea that horror is the study of dying in unforeseeable, incomprehensible, and unexpected ways. If the roof caves in next time we have class, and we all die, people will be sad, but not horrfied. When the movie comes out, it will not be horror, because people realize that kind of thing is preventable. But if the building monster decides to send the roof crashing down, that would be horror, because you can't anticipate that sort of thing, nor can you try to stop it. That, to me, is what horror is.
2 comments:
Then how mught you account for those works of "horror" that some people find terrifying (perhaps for personal phobias) and others don't? I mean, Dr. Langguth mentioned that his greatest fear miught just be a toddler-seized spider, and -to tell you the truth- I don't think that would neccesarily frighten me. On the other hand, a real toddler with the cognitive abilities of a well-studied genius and a maniacle drive to torture me, personally, that would make me wet my pants, while others might drop him in a playpen and be done with it.
Alright Dan,
Buffy had werewolves, vampires, the ultimate first evil, not only one but two apocolypses, evil withches, demons and a countless slew of other more deadly and vicious killing machines that week in and week out were threats to humanity. What more could a show possibly need to do to be classified as horror? :)
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