Now that we have progressed through Carroll's description of horror as a genre and the monsters that inhabit its (formulaic) plotlines, we see the author's first explanation of what the horror stories really mean to us. Sure, we are filled with art-horror, but, for horror to continue to survive as an academic genre, we need to hear what these tales tell us about the relationship to our lives and the world around us. On pg. 129, Carroll says that "horror stories are predominantly concerned with knowledge as a theme." As we continue to read more works from this genre, Carroll thinks that we'll learn more about how we should act in our own search for knowledge. Are we overreachers that need to be checked, or discoverers that need to explore? Carroll also points out that horror was developing at the same time as the Enlightenment, and puts those two in conflicting positions because of their positions regarding the search for what is real and what is not. But, isn't it interesting that both are concerned with the pursuit of human knowledge? The search for understanding, supernatural or not, is central to both. In this light, the first horror stories could be seen as either encouragement or warning, or some of each.
2 comments:
Neurologists and zoologists alike continue to be fascinated at the fact that humans appear to be the only animals (to our knowledge) that think about the way they think. And boy do we ponder. We constatnly question why our thought processes are the way they are and why we are intrigued by some things and not others. Scientists have actually pinpointed the areas of our brain that are excited by different ways of learning and those that are active when we contemplate the unknown, either responding rationally or emotionally. Thus, the idea of the unknown is equally fascinating to us and is manipulated in many ways, as is seen in the thrill some get from gambling, the anticipation of a child on Christmas eve, and the fear of a moviegoer at a horror film.
I think this is a really interesting perspective to take on the development of the horror genre. It would definitely explain the inspiration behind the underlying social themes (such as communism, sexism, racism, the possibility of nuclear war, radioactivity, and the perceived dangers of medical technology) in films such as Romero's Night of the Living Dead and others from that same period. The pursuit of knowledge that you emphasize as being crucial to the horror genre would certainly play a role in the public's acknowledgment of those themes and certain fears associated with them.
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