A great post the discusses Horror as a genre and raises a few interesting points about that age old statement…”I don’t like horror.”
Is horror a genre, or is it an aesthetic? This guest post by Elizabeth Twist, a writer and life-long horror fan, seeks to answer that question and suggest a new understanding of “horror” in film and fiction.
I am a horror fan and much of what I write is horror – or at least, I think of it that way. I am frequently subject to the following exchange:
Well-Meaning Interlocutor: “What do you like to read?”
Me: “I enjoy horror.”
W-MI: “Oh, I hate horror. It’s disgusting and awful. How can you like it?”
I enjoy challenging people on this point. When they say they hate horror, often they mean they hate gore porn or slasher movies. Though I personally appreciate even the gorier manifestations of horror, the reality is, you can find horror in all sorts of flavours. Do you like the original Twilight Zone? Did you thrill to
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Hmmm… cleverly argued but however you define horror it’s the tropes themselves that I find least appealing in ‘most’ books where horror makes an appearance. Although I loved the Aliens movies it wasn’t because they scared me out of my wits. Basically I don’t like being scared. A lot of people do. -shrug-
Hope you don’t mind a drop-in comment, Alex.
@acflory: I am not totally sure that enjoying being scared is exactly the appeal of horror, at least not for me. Personally, I am super susceptible to scary tropes, way more than most people. I suppose the enjoyment comes in from having faced fear and survived. I also savour the aftereffects of knowing that I’ve taken a good hard look at something truly yikes-worthy.
That aside, I don’t consider the recent trend in excessive jump-scares in the movies to be truly frightening or worthwhile. They work on me, but I find them needlessly nerve-wracking.
I don’t mind at all. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
I agree with you about the scares. Good horror is about the build up as much as the ‘jump’.