Preview

Analysis Of Why We Crave Horror Movies By Stephen King

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
273 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of Why We Crave Horror Movies By Stephen King
In the short story “Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King, the author suggests, everyone has some degree of evil inside. Some act upon their evil in ghastly ways ,while others simply suppress their evil inside. First of all, King states that “we’re all mentally ill.”He further elaborates on this point by saying, “those…..outside asylums only hide it better.” Essentially, saying we need ways to tame our evil. King , evidently presents the idea that scary movies are a way to satisfy our inner evil, for those of us considered sane. While those considered insane, chose to express their evil through horrific and indecent actions. In reference to, Jack the Ripper and the Cleveland Torso. The question of sane vs insanity comes into light.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    He is right, everyone in the world is mentally ill in one way or another. No one is perfect; as King points out we all do odd things. Some people tend to talk to themselves, have to have everything just right everyday or they go crazy, and just do odd things from day to day without giving it a second thought. We do things that are life threatening just to say that we could do it and do things that make us scared just to say that we were able to. We watch movies that freak us out, do crazy stunts, and do things that could end with us giving our lives just for the thrill of it. No one is perfectly normal or perfect in any sense we all do something crazy at some point of our lives, some do such every day. Everyone does it and everyone is insane to a point that it is considered normal, and is almost expected of people. We do not call ourselves insane or think of ourselves as insane because everyone has some insanity in their lives so we just think of it as the way of life. Not thinking of how insane we are by doing it. To a point everyone is mentally ill, there is a little insanity in all of…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stephen King is known by his grotesque movies and recognizable writing. In his piece, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he explains the human races’ need to watch other people being tortured, mutilated, and eventually killed. King uses two opposing tones in his essay to create an atmosphere that is both humorous and serious.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stephen Kings essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he implies that we are all mentally ill. Stephan King is a New York Time best-selling author who writes in the horror and fantasy genre. Kings work today has been turned into countless successful films and movies. He started his writing career with a book called Carrie, the story of a tormented teen who seeks revenge. In Stephen Kings essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies” he says we all are mentally ill in a sense, but some of us can hide it enhanced than others.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Isolation, in medical psychology, is defined as the state or quality of being alone away from others. According to Corey, psychoanalytic theory defines isolation as a defense mechanism that emphasizes on keeping negative cognitions and feelings from influencing other thoughts and feelings (57). Isolation, therefore, is more of a psychological process that creators of psychological horror often exploit to create horrifying films. This paper investigates the effects of isolation on the mental processes of an individual. It also explores the spectacle of isolation in psychological horror films and looks at the deep-seated mental processes and emotions that form the basis for the genre of psychological horror.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Before I got pregnant with my son, I used to love watching scary movies. My favorite was all of the “Saw” movies, but there was a few I’m still scared of watching to this day. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King explains how each and every one of us have some kind of weird and twisted side that likes to see the horror in some daily things. He talks about riding on the roller coasters at amusement parks, you have this excitement of riding, but then you think of the scary movie where the ride starts falling apart and everyone dies. These types of things make us put ourselves to the test and prove to others that we are able to do some things. Yes, it puts fear in our hearts, but it will never stop us. King makes us realize that when we are young, we are really curious about different things, horror being one. Once we have grown into mature adults, our curiosity has somewhat been fulfilled because we don’t crave the scary things anymore. As a child, we watch children’s movies looking for fun little things. The only thing is that we don’t quite realize that there are issues in those movies that deal with death. For instance, in “The Wizard of Oz”, the Wicked Witch of the west is melted by the water that Dorothy threw on her. Not all of the children’s movies are fun and games. As we look at these movies, we let our thoughts roam where they want. If you think about it, are we normal to laugh at someone who just got their head chopped off. Stephen King says “the potential lyncher is in almost all of us.” He’s saying that all of have had those moments where someone has made you angry or upset, and you just wanted to hurt them. In another way, he could’ve meant the lyncher as showing love, friendship, etc. to one another, and one will be awarded with the same acts of kindness or something else. King says “If we share a brotherhood of man, then we also…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I thought Stephen King’s opening paragraph in the short story “Why We Crave Horror Movies” was great. I believe it leaves the audience on the edge of the seat wondering what his statements will be. I also like his opening paragraph because I am able to relate to his examples of fears. An opening like King’s leaves the audience curious, and sets the tone for the rest of the paper. My beliefs of the dominant mood, what I have learned from this paper, and my relations might very much differ from yours.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Literature and film has been a large part of horror for a long time in history. Horror has been in literature since early 1200s because of the book called Inquisition. The book was largely inspired by religion and witchcraft. Film in horror started with the first horror film Le Manoir Du Diable by a French filmmaker named Georges Melies, this film was only two minutes long. Hopefully, in this paper you will learn about the history of literature and film in horror.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Popular culture is ever changing phenomenon, and it is been changing to worse. Seeing some of the things on television or in a movie or on the internet nowadays really makes you question the intelligence of humans as species. “why we crave horror movies” by Stephen King, makes us to think and get an idea of why we love to watch horror movie. People like scary movies because they make them feel good. Even though people scream, shout or even cry during some scary movies they end up feeling better about themselves because of realizing that some people suffer more than them even if those people were imaginary.The subconsciousness mind can't tell the difference between true and imaginary experience, that's why movies can change our moods to a great extent even though we are aware that they are not real. Personally, I like horror movies, but still i will close my eyes in some horror scenes. Those scenes will freaks me out, leaving me unsettled for days, the images a record player in my mind. But still i watch just to get thrilled. The thesis in the…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stephen King is one of the most well-known horror story authors in history. In his essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” he opens up with the thesis on the first sentence, “I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better – and maybe not all that much better, after all” He later goes on to say “When we pay our four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row center in a theater showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare.” Basically what King is trying to get across is that horror movies are vital to mankind’s sanity. He gets his point off early and keeps reiterating it throughout the essays entirety. That point is that we NEED horror movies to let out our monstrous, and mentally ill side. A side in which according to Mr. King, we all have whether we believe it or not.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In two horror films, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" the main killers have similarities and differences between each other. By their past, their killings, and weapons.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Here is an essay I am writing for my English 101 class. Any advice or…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Horror Conventions Essay

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The typical convention of horror, specifically using the colour white, is shown in the typography. The colour white connotes the image of ghosts, spectral beings that haunt their victims. This connotation gives the audience the feeling of the ghost is gazing at the audience through the DVD cover through the blurry effect and the filter applied to bulge the text giving the text a spectral presence. This is also seen in the film “Entity” with the bold typography and a white figure in the background. The feeling of being watched invokes the audience because of the adrenaline being produced in the body. A plausible reaction would be is to drop the DVD cover and run! This gives the audience a sense of gratification. Horror films offer a diversion from normal life as the supernatural events that happen in them are astounding. Experiencing such a thrill at a safe distance allows a sense of safety which conforms to Maslow’s theory. This conforms to the conventions of the horror genre as we feel a chill down our spine.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King is one of the most successful American writers of horror stories, and many of his books have been made into blockbuster movies such as LIST MOVIES HERE. The audience Stephen wishes to direct his attention to are the people who aren’t afraid of being afraid. King yearns for his audience to be fulfilled by the gruesome, extended truth that is horror. The average person of society doesn’t necessarily get to see a Jason or Freddy hack the head off of a woodsman with an axe every day, or as King says, “The fun comes from seeing others menaced-sometimes killed.” The intention of King’s horror novels or movies is to give the average person a taste of what they’ll probably never see in real life. "The potential lyncher is in almost all of us... " King says. He also suggests that "emotions don’t go away … they demand periodic exercise," and to exercise these emotions, the world has brought us Stephen King, a master in giving his audience what they want;…

    • 829 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the horror in movies

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Life is full of common and expected but yet, very frightening situations, events, or circumstances such as natural disasters, wild animal attacks, been aggravated by violent individuals, strange and chronicle illness or situations that threaten the safety or people’s life. There are also other events that rarely occur in people’s lives but are even more frightening because there are mysterious and dark beings involved. Humans know very little about these entities and the factors that generate such events. Rare events such s these have been studied and investigated for hundreds of years and passed on from generation to generation but regardless of the vast research on the topics, its events, and the many publications of them through the ages, there is still very little known about them making the theme and its occurrences more mysterious and horrifying than the common and expected dangerous situations normally happen in people’s lives. Events that have involved the subject of the spiritual realm and the demons and evil spirits in it, always has placed several feelings of horror and fear in the hearts and souls of many people over centuries. Another concept that has been around for a similar period of time is the subject of extraterrestrial beings which is also a topic that is considered to be mysterious and unexplainable. The mystery and unexplainable facts of these concepts and its events have been the inspiration and motive for many books, stories, paintings and nowadays, they even have been used as topics for recreational purposes such as in movies. Films based on real life events have always capture people’s attention because they feel compel to find out what really happened to the people involved. The topics of demonic possession and alien abduction portrayed in the horror movies The Exorcist and Fire in the sky makes them two of the scariest and most popular movies ever produced because of the real life content each story is based…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Can aggressive children be predicted by the movies they are watching? People’s everyday lives are Can filled with events that trigger stimuli in the brain, even if he or she aren’t aware of it. From their friends playing pranks on them, to watching a more violent show on television, it all affects the minds in one way or another. Not only do these events or images affect kids current life, but could also lead up to adulthood such as: anxiety, heart racing, high blood pressure, etc. Everyone knows that a child learns by example; but that doesn’t change much in a teenagers case who is being exposed to violence at the prepubescent stage in life. In result to that, it can then create hostility in the teen, and they will become numb to what the…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays