Alright, so this fella, Stephen King, he wrote this thing, see? “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” it’s called. Now, I ain’t no fancy scholar or nothin’, but I reckon I can tell ya what he’s jabberin’ about.
First off, he says somethin’ ’bout us all bein’ a little bit crazy. Says folks outside the loony bin just hide it better. Sounds ’bout right to me! Life’s a mess, ain’t it? Full of troubles and worries. Sometimes you just wanna scream, ya know?
Well, that’s where them horror movies come in, I guess. King, he says we like ’em for two big reasons. First off, it’s just plain fun. Yeah, I know, it sounds weird, watchin’ all that blood and gore. But it gets your heart pumpin’, gets you all worked up. It’s like ridin’ a rollercoaster, I reckon. Scary as heck, but you still get on, don’t ya?
But there’s more to it than just fun. King, he’s a smart cookie, he figures out we got this…this… I dunno, this need for it. Like we gotta see that bad stuff happenin’ on the screen so it don’t happen to us, maybe? Or maybe it’s ’cause we see them monsters and killers, and we think, “Well, at least I ain’t that bad.” Makes ya feel better ’bout yourself, see?
He talks about how these movies, they ain’t real. Duh! But they let us feel real things. Fear, sure, but also…relief. When the monster’s finally dead, or the bad guy gets his comeuppance, you can breathe easy. It’s like lettin’ all that pent-up stuff inside you out. A good yell, a good cry, same kinda thing.
- King uses fancy words, like “pathos” and “logos” and “ethos.” Don’t ask me what they mean! But he uses ’em to make his point. He tells stories, he makes ya laugh, he makes ya think. He’s tryin’ to show ya that watchin’ these scary movies ain’t crazy, it’s just…human.
- He says it’s like a “safety valve.” You let off a little steam, ya know? Life gets so darn stressful. Work, family, money… it’s always somethin’. So you sit down, watch a monster movie, and for a little while, you forget all about your troubles. You’re just focused on that crazy stuff happenin’ on the screen.
- And maybe, just maybe, watchin’ all that horror makes us a little bit braver. We see folks fightin’ back against the darkness, and we think, “Maybe I could do that too.” Maybe we got more fight in us than we thought.
Now, some folks, they don’t get it. They say, “Why would you wanna watch that stuff? It’s just nasty and violent.” Well, to them I say, “Mind your own beeswax!” Everybody’s got their own way of dealin’ with things. Some folks knit, some folks fish, some folks watch monsters tearin’ people apart. To each their own, I say.
King, he understands that. He understands that we’re all a little bit twisted, a little bit dark. And that’s okay. It’s what makes us human. And those horror movies, they’re just a way of facing that darkness, of acknowledging it, and maybe, just maybe, of conquering it. At least for a couple of hours.
So yeah, that’s what I got from that fella’s essay. We watch horror movies ’cause they’re fun, ’cause they help us deal with our fears, and ’cause they remind us that even in the darkest of times, there’s still a little bit of light. Or, you know, maybe we just like to watch stuff blow up. Who am I to judge?
Anyway, that’s my two cents. Go watch a scary movie, if you like. Or don’t. It ain’t gonna hurt my feelings none. Just try not to go crazy yourself, alright? The world’s got enough crazies as it is.
Tags: Horror Movies, Stephen King, Essay Analysis, Fear, Entertainment, Psychology
