Paradox Of Horror

KATERINA BANTINAKI

The Paradox of Horror: Fear as a Positive Emotion

With its roots in the English gothic novel of the eighteenth century and a body of work that spreads across different media, the horror genre has persisted in art for more than a century, gaining gradual popularity among audiences. Its success has been particularly pronounced in cinema, where horror films like The Exorcist, Jaws, Alien,
Silence of the Lambs, and numerous others rank among the major box office hits in cinematic history. With success, however, comes reflection: what is the attraction of such harrowing fiction?
The many subgenres that arose in the development of horror and its many narrative commonalities with other genres, such as the sci-fi or the
psychological
As to the difference

386 question—that is, why we are more willing to experience negative emotions in response to art than in real life—Smuts argues, and I want to agree, that, first, art provides a degree of safety not present in real-life situations that could arouse intense negative emotions and, second, the control that we usually enjoy in our encounter with fiction does not let the pain involved in such emotions pass a certain threshold of tolerance.21
The distinctive and crucial element in Smuts’s account is the hypothesis that the horror experience is desirable but basically unpleasant. As this hypothesis goes against audiences’ own reports on their experience, however, it merits scrutiny. Further, it is unclear how an occurrent emotion can be rewarding for the subject and still be a negative emotion or, at least, negative in the sense that its real-life (unrewarding) occurrence is. More generally, it is perhaps clear from this short review
Perhaps there is a kind of “rough” affective pleasure that one can feel toward what is intense or uncomfortable or even painful, say due to endorphin release that accompanies physical or psychological stress. But to argue persuasively for such a pleasure we would need to provide an account of the nature of and relation between different types of affective pleasure and pain, which, even if space allowed, I am not equipped to provide. Affective pleasure, however, is not the only type of pleasure there is: we can also enjoy or take attitudinal pleasure in what we experience, even if what we experience involves negative affective elements.26 For instance, I can enjoy a heated discussion among friends for its intensity and argumentative ingenuity, although I may not experience any positive bodily symptoms in the course of it and despite the fact that I may experience some negative ones (for example, agitation over a sarcastic remark thrown at me). A positive attitudinal hedonic state is related to our goals and desires and signifies an approving or welcoming stance toward an experience or a state of affairs (a stance, note, that is lacking from the unfortunate soldier discussed above). In what follows, I argue that the emotions experienced in response to horror,