Greetings, freaks.
I had a thought about horror, prompted of all things by the Watchmen adaptation, and thought I'd run it by you folks to see what you thought.
First off, I postulated that there has been a fundamental shift between the current generation and the previous one in terms of their anxieties about the world and how they process their fear of it*. In the 70s and 80s, the Cold War was constantly simmering, and the spectre of nuclear armageddon loomed large in the public mind (and subconscious). The threat was towering, almost in comprehensible, but it was always there, the thought that total destruction could be zipping our way from afar at any moment. And during this time, the slasher film came into vogue. You had lots of Michael Myerses, Jasons, and Freddies**, along with your Pinheads and Things From Another Worldses, and though it's a simplification to put it this way, there was a fairly constant implication: things are coming from the outside to destroy you.
Things have changed in the last 15-20 years. We feel, rightly or wrongly, that with the end of the Cold War, we have pretty much dodged the nuclear bullet. The threat is not felt as strongly as it was a generation ago, in any case. But are we seeing a new generation that is braver, cockier? No, if anything, we are more afraid than ever, but our fear is directed more internally. Over the years, from Oklahoma City to Columbine to 9/11 to Virginia Tech, we've been forced to acknowledge that even our "safe" places are not really safe. Terrorism cannot touch a nuclear apocalypse in terms of scale, but it hits us where it hurts most: at home.
And what has been the rising trend in horror? Home invasion. The Strangers, Funny Games, High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes (or at least its standout sequence), even the shitshow Saw series has a concept that is as much about people being ambushed and caught off-guard as being forced to do terrible things.
So anyway, my theory is that the rise in the motif of homes invasion in recent horror is a reflection of the fading of Cold War anxieties in the face of the series of smaller but more intimate violations of places that are supposed to be "safe" that have shaped the American psyche over the last decade or two. Am I on to something here, or just talking out my ass again?
*I'm talking about American attitudes and horror films almost exclusively throughout this whole shpiel.
**although Freddy actually straddles both categories I talk about, but I'm talking about broad strokes. There was also the occasional Last House On The Left or whatever in the 70s and slasher in the 00s.
I had a thought about horror, prompted of all things by the Watchmen adaptation, and thought I'd run it by you folks to see what you thought.
First off, I postulated that there has been a fundamental shift between the current generation and the previous one in terms of their anxieties about the world and how they process their fear of it*. In the 70s and 80s, the Cold War was constantly simmering, and the spectre of nuclear armageddon loomed large in the public mind (and subconscious). The threat was towering, almost in comprehensible, but it was always there, the thought that total destruction could be zipping our way from afar at any moment. And during this time, the slasher film came into vogue. You had lots of Michael Myerses, Jasons, and Freddies**, along with your Pinheads and Things From Another Worldses, and though it's a simplification to put it this way, there was a fairly constant implication: things are coming from the outside to destroy you.
Things have changed in the last 15-20 years. We feel, rightly or wrongly, that with the end of the Cold War, we have pretty much dodged the nuclear bullet. The threat is not felt as strongly as it was a generation ago, in any case. But are we seeing a new generation that is braver, cockier? No, if anything, we are more afraid than ever, but our fear is directed more internally. Over the years, from Oklahoma City to Columbine to 9/11 to Virginia Tech, we've been forced to acknowledge that even our "safe" places are not really safe. Terrorism cannot touch a nuclear apocalypse in terms of scale, but it hits us where it hurts most: at home.
And what has been the rising trend in horror? Home invasion. The Strangers, Funny Games, High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes (or at least its standout sequence), even the shitshow Saw series has a concept that is as much about people being ambushed and caught off-guard as being forced to do terrible things.
So anyway, my theory is that the rise in the motif of homes invasion in recent horror is a reflection of the fading of Cold War anxieties in the face of the series of smaller but more intimate violations of places that are supposed to be "safe" that have shaped the American psyche over the last decade or two. Am I on to something here, or just talking out my ass again?
*I'm talking about American attitudes and horror films almost exclusively throughout this whole shpiel.
**although Freddy actually straddles both categories I talk about, but I'm talking about broad strokes. There was also the occasional Last House On The Left or whatever in the 70s and slasher in the 00s.
theorizes that people need these kind of films (ESPECIALLY in times of great fear and tragedy), so they can feel that they have some kind of power over the otherwise intangible evil that plagues/brutalizes/terrorizes the psyche. Sort of a confrontation. Almost as: if we can turn these topics into escapist entertainment, we'll cease to hide debilitated under our beds. I find the use of storytelling (whether it's oral, written, or visual) as a coping method in the mental tool belt to be kinda fascinating.
