The Philosophy of Horror (Noel Carroll)
Carroll, Noel. The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart. New York: Routledge: 1990.
Noel Carroll, film scholar and philosopher, offers the first serious look at the aesthetics of horror. In this book he discusses the nature and narrative structures of the genre, dealing with horror as a "transmedia" phenomenon. A fan and serious student of the horror genre, Carroll brings to bear his comprehensive knowledge of obscure and forgotten works, as well as of the horror masterpieces. Working from a philosophical perspective, he tries to account for how people can find pleasure in having their wits scared out of them. What, after all, are those "paradoxes of the heart" that make us want to be horrified?
Art horror is an art in which the characters dictate the spectator when to fear the (necessary) monster. In order to create art horror, there must be a narrative that involves a threat against normalcy, a breach of impurity in the very nature of being and a monster who embodies that breach. Carroll answers the question: why would anyone be drawn to experience fear and horror? He calls the answer the 'attraction-repulsion' complex. This simultaneous push and pull is used in several formal elements in art-horror: POV (identifying with both victim and killer). Attraction-repulsion is the sado-masochistic relationship between the viewer and the horror film where the viewer enjoys submitting to the rigours of the horror film. Attraction-repulsion is also a common theme in vampire movies, where the victims fear the vampire but submit to it's power.
THE FANTASTIC (Tzvetan Todorov)
Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to the Literary Genre. New York: Press of Case Western Reserve University: 1975
First, the text must oblige the reader to consider the world of the characters as a world of living persons and to hesitate between a natural and a supernatural explanation of the events described. Second, this hesitation may also be experienced by a character. Third, the reader must adopt a certain attitude with regard to the text: he will reject allegorical as well as 'poetic' interpretations. These three requirements do not have an equal value. The first and third actually constitute the genre; the second may not be fulfilled. (Todorov 1975, p.33)
Although Todorov's approach to genre theory does not specifically define horror, his explanation of the fantastic has been used by Noel Carroll and other horror texts to help define the horror genre. According to Todorov, the fantastic lies in the audience's uncertainty where they cannot discern whether the events are natural or supernatural and experience the discomfort of not attaining a resolve. It is important to note, however that many criticize Todorov's model for genre theory, mainly due to the fact that it leaves little room for films that cross genres or that audiences emotionally identify as horror. Todorov's genre categories, however, are useful to determine patterns in horror films. There are several films that work in an alternate world model where the laws of science don't always apply a novum world model that is based in the supernatural or a fantastic world where the audience remains clouded in uncertainty. Ultimately given the vast and experimental nature of the horror film, horror defies Todorov's modes of representation and can emerge anywhere.
The ocular & spectatorship
Crary, Jonathan. Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990.
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Screen. 16:3 (Autumn 1975): 6-18.
Perrello, Tony. "A Parisian in Hollywood: The Ocular Horror in the Films of Alejandro Aja." American Horror Film. Ed. Steffen Hantke. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2010, p. 19.
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Screen. 16:3 (Autumn 1975): 6-18.
Perrello, Tony. "A Parisian in Hollywood: The Ocular Horror in the Films of Alejandro Aja." American Horror Film. Ed. Steffen Hantke. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2010, p. 19.
Vision and the act of looking is a strong theme in many horror films. In early gothic literature, such as in Guy de Maupassant's Le Horla, the author presents vision as proof over all and stresses the importance of seeing as well as the act of showing gore. Modernity leans on the notion that seeing is related to knowing. Science through examination can give better insight into the world than faith in myth or religion. However, as the science of vision progresses the technology has disrupted the faithfulness of visual representation, which in turn has led to societal anxiety. The optical technology that has defined modernity, such as the telescope or the microscope has proven that there are limits to our vision and that realms beyond what we can see exist and affect us. The anxiety of not being able to rely on our eyesight is a reoccurring sensorial theme. The theme of vision and the disruption of the modern reliance on vision has inspired several horror films that deal with the realms beyond our vision, whether it be in outer space or the contagion of disease. This anxiety is not necessarily related to seeing the object of horror itself as it is in Guy de Maupassant's work but rather in the anxiety of not seeing. It can be argued that there is a greater fear in the unknown. As in Tony Perrello's argument, the viewer experiences true horror not by seeing the monster or the gore but by sympathizing with the victim watching the horror. In many instances, the audience will merely mirror the emotional pain or anxiety exhibited by the character on screen regardless of the character's role in the plot. As in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951), the director draws the audience into empathizing with the evil character in a race against time to commit murder. Laura Mulvey also speaks of the spectatorship of siding with the killer in Peeping Tom (1960). The audience simultaneously empathizes with the victims on screen while occupying the killer's point of view.
The uncanny (Sigmund Freud)
Freud coins the term for the eery, the disturbingly strange. The uncanny is that which has ought to have been secret but that has come to light. It is something that is both familiar and unfamiliar, secret and revealed. This cognitive dissonance of two opposing terms has been used by scholars to define horror and it's paradoxical nature to both attract and repulse at the same time. It is essentially, the return of the repressed and it is projected onto objects, peoples and places and is a threatens the self by putting the self into question. The threat to the self is manifested through the use of doubles and the uncertainty of the identity of the double. Another common use of the uncanny is through animism. Dolls, automatons and dismembered limbs that are powered by independent activity raise the uncertainty of whether or not the body is alive or dead. Dismemberment does not necessarily come from the physical removal of body parts but can also manifest itself through ventriloquism or disjointed sounds.
abjection (Julia Kristeva)
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horros: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.Creed, Barbara. “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection.” Screen 27 (1) January-February (1986), pp. 44-54.
Abjection is the defensive reaction of repulsion when the subject is forced to confront to (false) construction of the self. By extension, everything within the limits of acceptable societal convention, morality and the faith of human existence is put into question. The abject is what one keeps away to stay alive both physically and mentally for "sanitary" reasons and for reasons of maintaining "sanity". From a physical perspective, the corpse, the exposing of the hidden body's insides and it's waste are things that remind us that our bodies are made of meat and this in turn reminds us of our own mortality. The abject reminds us of our bodies and their materiality. Abjection is the reminder of the construction of social rules and morals and in horror films, the abject is manifested in 'the other'. From a moral perspective, all things that may constitute the other such as a sexual immorality, race, gender, etc. forces us to confront our belief systems and to face the horror that they are crumbling.
In Barbara Creed's discussion on the representation of the woman as the monster, she links the monstrous feminine in patriarchal society, (the Sirens, Medusa, witches and movie monsters), to sexual difference and castration. Creed addresses Freud's theories on castration and positions the woman as the site of the male fear of castration. Creed ties in her theories on the monstrous feminine with Kristeva's theory of abjection where the monstrous in horror is grounded in ancient religious/historical notions of sexual immorality and perversion, corporeal alteration, decay and death, human sacrifice, murder, the corpse, bodily wastes, the feminine body and incest.
Abjection is the defensive reaction of repulsion when the subject is forced to confront to (false) construction of the self. By extension, everything within the limits of acceptable societal convention, morality and the faith of human existence is put into question. The abject is what one keeps away to stay alive both physically and mentally for "sanitary" reasons and for reasons of maintaining "sanity". From a physical perspective, the corpse, the exposing of the hidden body's insides and it's waste are things that remind us that our bodies are made of meat and this in turn reminds us of our own mortality. The abject reminds us of our bodies and their materiality. Abjection is the reminder of the construction of social rules and morals and in horror films, the abject is manifested in 'the other'. From a moral perspective, all things that may constitute the other such as a sexual immorality, race, gender, etc. forces us to confront our belief systems and to face the horror that they are crumbling.
In Barbara Creed's discussion on the representation of the woman as the monster, she links the monstrous feminine in patriarchal society, (the Sirens, Medusa, witches and movie monsters), to sexual difference and castration. Creed addresses Freud's theories on castration and positions the woman as the site of the male fear of castration. Creed ties in her theories on the monstrous feminine with Kristeva's theory of abjection where the monstrous in horror is grounded in ancient religious/historical notions of sexual immorality and perversion, corporeal alteration, decay and death, human sacrifice, murder, the corpse, bodily wastes, the feminine body and incest.
the shadow (Carl Jung)
For Carl Jung, there is the subject and there is the shadow. The shadow represents ethical negativity or moral evil. The shadow is not part of the self. It is a necessary counter-part that constantly follows the self. The self is built on differentiation and the shadow is the embodiment of that difference. When confronted with the shadow, the self is reminded of its own construction and this confrontation can be realized through psychoanalysis. When acknowledging the shadow, the self can attain a truer and oftentimes better self. This idea of the shadow, where the subject mentally blocks and represses the negative elements that make up the shadow are themes in popular literature like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in films such as Fight Club and Haute Tension. While abject horror aims to terrify the mind through the mutilation of the body, the horror caused by the shadow aims to terrify the body through the mind. All this is unwanted, negative and evil is psychologically stored into a shadow that is projected onto a figure separate from the self. In times of war, society has a collective shadow and that shadow is best portrayed through Romero's zombies. In many horror films, the shadow is the unfolding of the dialogue between the 'us' and the 'other', most effectively through a confrontation of both sides or through a single body, as in a demonic possession.
the subliminal
Baird, Robert. "The Startle Effect: Implications for Spectator Cognition and Media Theory." Film Quarterly. Vol. 53 No. 3 (Spring 2000): p.12-24
Lucas, Tim, Mark Kermode. "The Exorcist: From the Subliminal to the Ridiculous." Video Watchdog No 6 (July/August 1991): p. 20-31
In “The Exorcist: From the Subliminal to the Ridiculous”, Tim Lucas and Mark Kermode describe subliminal images as “the use of single or double-frame inserts into stretches of unrelated footage to enhance the impact of the material” (Kermode 20). The use of subliminal images defined here describes a way for filmmakers to punctuate their stories with exclamation points. What Lucas and Kermode refer to, as “the subliminal effect” is not necessarily something completely unnoticed and it is important to make the differentiation from the psychological term for ‘subliminal perception’, which is “the perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness”.
They key difference being that in film, the subliminal image may be seen and the audience may become aware that a foreign image has intruded into a scene but, under tense circumstances, may not be able to rationalize the effects of that image. In an interview on The Exorcist, William Friedkin refers to subliminal perception as the way the audience naturally brings random, sometimes voluntary and sometimes involuntary, images up like flashcards. Just as you are reading this now you may be thinking of an image in your mind that may be related or unrelated and you may not be entirely aware of how or why that image has been conjured into your mind. Subliminal techniques are most effective when the subject is in an anxious or tense state. They work very well with horror films that want to reach audiences’ gut reactions: fear, anxiety, and tension. In horror films, the subliminal can be used to create an element of foreshadowing or it can also add to the uncertainty and anxiety as to whether or not the image was another flash card generated from the mind or from the screen.
Lucas, Tim, Mark Kermode. "The Exorcist: From the Subliminal to the Ridiculous." Video Watchdog No 6 (July/August 1991): p. 20-31
In “The Exorcist: From the Subliminal to the Ridiculous”, Tim Lucas and Mark Kermode describe subliminal images as “the use of single or double-frame inserts into stretches of unrelated footage to enhance the impact of the material” (Kermode 20). The use of subliminal images defined here describes a way for filmmakers to punctuate their stories with exclamation points. What Lucas and Kermode refer to, as “the subliminal effect” is not necessarily something completely unnoticed and it is important to make the differentiation from the psychological term for ‘subliminal perception’, which is “the perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness”.
They key difference being that in film, the subliminal image may be seen and the audience may become aware that a foreign image has intruded into a scene but, under tense circumstances, may not be able to rationalize the effects of that image. In an interview on The Exorcist, William Friedkin refers to subliminal perception as the way the audience naturally brings random, sometimes voluntary and sometimes involuntary, images up like flashcards. Just as you are reading this now you may be thinking of an image in your mind that may be related or unrelated and you may not be entirely aware of how or why that image has been conjured into your mind. Subliminal techniques are most effective when the subject is in an anxious or tense state. They work very well with horror films that want to reach audiences’ gut reactions: fear, anxiety, and tension. In horror films, the subliminal can be used to create an element of foreshadowing or it can also add to the uncertainty and anxiety as to whether or not the image was another flash card generated from the mind or from the screen.