What We Actually Fear vs What Horror Movies Tell Us to Fear

BLOT: (20 Oct 2010 - 12:23:03 PM)

What We Actually Fear vs What Horror Movies Tell Us to Fear

When the above graphic first came to me, it was much shorter. The top section (then, the section to the left) was simply bankruptcy, failure, and infidelity. The bottom (then right) section: zombies, vampires, ghosts. The middle was just clowns. I thought about it right as I was going to sleep. My last thought I remember from that night was, "Oh, and spiders!" When I woke up the next morning, brain parasites had been added.

The reason the graphic came to me was because of movies like Frozen and Open Water. Movies where it is simply wo/man versus the elements. A horror movie about being stuck in a ski lift doesn't really sound like a horror movie, but imagine being actually stuck in the ski lift. Freezing. Over night. Or drifting out in the ocean, getting tired and increasingly a target for things like sharks. Think about the time that you locked yourself out of your house and wasn't sure who to call, or the time you got stranded with no phone down an unlit road, or lost on a hiking trail. Those real life incidents are nothing like horror movies, but they are terrifying enough, in their own right, to make you change your habits (have a spare key made, always charge your cell-phone, get a trail map first) for the rest of your life.

There is a disjunct between the things we actually fear—rejection and a messed up bank account—and the things horror movies are full of—the restless dead and space mutants. This is not altogether an accident. Horror movies are a form of fantasy as much as anything else. "How can you watch that garbage?" Because I don't actually have to worry about meteorites creating a race of super bugs.

Just in keep in mind that most good horror movies use the unreal elements to discuss real things. Zombie outbreaks represent a break down in our ordered lives. Aliens represent the threat of outsiders and new diseases. Vampires represent lust and fear of death. Axe wielding maniacs represent our distrust of others. Ghosts are often signs of guilt and the belief that we can fix others before we fix ourselves. Demons are emblematic of the universe being against us. And they are also fiery eyed monsters. And zombies are also flesh devourers. And ghosts are also shrieking, long-haired monstrosities. And aliens also drain our spinal fluid. Have a good time and contemplate the essential nihilistic nature of the universe: it is win-win.

Back to the graphic at hand. I knew when I made it that someone will come along and go, "But there was a horror movie about that!" or, "What about?" or, "I'm actually scared of that!" I know. That's partially why Ghosts and Children straddle the line between things people might be actually afraid and are also outside of it. Because we can fear just about anything. The graphic isn't mean to be accurate in a scientific journal sort of way—it talks about Jon Mikl Thor shower scenes for goodness sake—but more just a "Doug was having fun" sort of thing.

I might make a longer, larger version. And I might not. Anyhow, enjoy.

TAGS: Horror

BY WEEK: 2010, Week 42
BY MONTH: October 2010