The Cause of Escalation?

I was thinking about the following:

I think we can all agree that the horror films of yesteryear don't, by and large, have the impact on today's viewers they may have had back in their heyday. And I think we can also all agree that as far as graphic violence and gore are concerned, we've seen a trend of escalation over the years. Horror movies evolved from the B&W Universal monster films (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.) and SciFI classics (Them!, The Deadly Mantis, The Thing from Another World, etc.) thru the blood drenched (but still not overly graphic) Hammer Dracula movies of the 60's and thier ilk, through NOTLD ushering in the 70's and "Last House on the Left" pushing that decade's boundaries, into the 80's slashers and their Savini inspired, gory brilliance, into the current torture porn trend.

The question posed by this thread is: Why? Why don't these films affect us as much as they used to? Why do we as an audience seem to need to constantly up the ante, violence and gore wise?

Perhaps the answers have less to do with the films themselves and more to do with us, as individuals and as a society.

I recall being a kid in the 70's and watching the Universal films, and thinking they were cool and being fascinated by them. But scary? Hardly. And at the time, I was terrified by then-contemporary horror films. But at one point, these films scared adults, let alone kids. Why was the 5 year old me not scared by them in 1975, when 1940's adults were? The usual argument advanced for why we as older, constant horror fans or the newer generation of younger fans aren't scared by things that terrified the previous generation is because we/they are jaded by over exposure to the genre. We've become too familiar with it all, and thus aren't scared by older stuff, because we've seen it all, and often much worse in the contemporary form the films have taken on by now. But I don't think this is the only reason (it certainly contributes, I'll readily concede). As I said, I was afraid of the then current horror films as a kid (probably until about age 9), and thus hadn't seen a large number of them. I HADN'T been (over)exposed to horror films; I hadn't become jaded (yet). But I still didn't find the older films scary. What can account for this?

An easy answer would be the imagery we as a society are bombarded with by the media, in all its forms.

To be sure, media themselves weren't nearly as readily available in years past. TV's weren't commonplace until at least the mid to late 50's. And even when they were, there were only the 3 networks and their limited programming for YEARS. Much more of the country's populace lived outside cities then, so access to things like movies & newspapers or magazines was probably much more limited for those folks. The number of movies released in a given year was a mere fraction of what it is today. So back in the 40's and 50's, anyway, it's plausible that you COULDN'T see much in the way of disturbing imagery thru media outlets, even if you wanted to, simply because it wasn't avaialable for your consumption. And even as the media & their influence became more widespread, what you were allowed to see was so much tamer by today's standards, due both to government paternalism in the form of standards & censorship and to the quality of the special effects available to simulate the violence and gore.

One has to wonder why the former was in place so rigidly in years past, and has loosened so much in the ensuing years. Why did they feel the need to protect us so much back then? And why do they not feel that need now? Is it merely a self fulfilling prophecy? The nightly news is a frequent scapegoat for those who espouse this opinion. From earliest childhood we are immersed in stories about violence, they say. And as the subject matter of the news, which is deemed more worthy than mere entertainment, became more horrific (read: brutally honest) about things like the Vietnam War, and Urban Crime, the censorship rules inevitably loosened as even the news put forth horrific imagery, clearing the way for edgier films to be shown on TV, easily accessible by all of us as kids these days (and for several decades, now). So the theory goes, our constant exposure to these things will jade us as a society against the horror films of years gone by, even if we don't indulge in contemporary horror films as individuals.

But I'm not entirely sure I buy that either. I'm just a little too young to recall the graphic Vietnam War footage we always hear so much about (you know, how it was the first war fought in American living rooms because there was so much news footage being broadcast?). And although I have clear childhood memories of news broadcasts about Son of Sam (I grew up in the NY Metro Area, where that was happening, and it was all over the news here). But it's not like there were crime scene photos or anything really graphic being shown. So how does that account for the jaded attitude? Is the mere fact that things like this are being reported on - and thereby, their presence in the world acknowledged openly in a manner they never would have been in years gone by - enough to harden our hearts and make us demand more from our horror films?

Maybe being one of the affected I'm too close to see it, but I think this kind of rings hollow, and doesn't fully explain why we as a movie going public seem to outgrow what was once considered terrifying every couple of years. And I doubt very much that the improvment in effects technology can explain all of it, either. To be sure, if you grew up on 80's slashers or zombie films with good effects, your tolerance and appetite for gore is probably pretty high, and stepping down to older, B&W, almost effects-less films from the 50's or earlier doesn't satisfy that appetite. But I refuse to believe that's ALL there is to this process. It certainly contributes, but it can't be the whole cause.

So what do you think? Are any of the above the root cause for the escalation of horror in films? Do they combiine to explain the changes in our attitudes towards horror? Or are there things I'm not thinking of that you think account for it? Share with the rest of the class.

I had a similar thought die still born as I was shaving this morning. Well put. You hit the nail I was aiming for right on the head. I think I'd add that we as a nation seemed, by all acoounts, to be more wide eyed and innocent (almost childlike) before the 60's started to open our eyes to what was going on in the world around us, and behind the scenes here in our own country. I think one could argue this was inertia from the time of monarchs; they probably liked to keep their populace docile, so they'd be more likely to follow orders than question them. Remember, monarchy was the way of things everywhere but here until well into the 20th century. We had no other model to really borrow from, so our leaders probably sought to perpetuate a sort of top down mode of leadership, treating us all like ignorant children (hence the paternalism in morality standards in censorship). Until the flow of information started to get to unheard of levels with the advent of television and the computer, and greater access to college level educations w/ the GI Bill prompted the questioning of authority & the status quo in the 60's. No one was quite so wide eyed and innocent any more. We all grew up a little as a society, I'd argue, and our tastes became a little more adult as well.

Thanks for the compliment. I honestly don't recall if I saw these alone or with one or both of my parents. It wouldn't surprise me to learn I saw them w/ my Dad around. He was always into sci fi, at least. He got me into the Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and the Outer Limits. And I clearly recall watching War of the Worlds w/ him the 1st time I saw it. I doubt very much he would have exhibited any fear response to the older films. There may be something to this.

My experience differed a bit from HBarr's. My folks weren't into horror at all, really. Mom's kind of squeamish about such things, or else sees them as kind of stupid. Dad, while not scared by them (I have watched a few horror films w/ him, and the most reaction I got was the occasional "Wow!" at a particularly artful kill; wish I could recall which one it was), was just not into them. But either way, they weren't watchjing them to give me a reaction to work off of. I recall seeing "The Amityville Horror" on TV when I was like 7, and being scared shitless. Dad, who was watching it at the same time, had no such reaction. But by the time I was 12, after watching horror films almost non-stop for 3 yrs or so, it took a lot to scare me. Still happens, I'll grant you, but it takes a LOT. And all that 9-12 yrs old movie watching I did on my own. I've mentioned before how cool it was that my folks let me watch damn near anything I wanted, & how grateful I am that they did. I hope to be able to take a similar laissez faire approach to my son, but will undoubtedly encounter opposition from my wife. But my reaction went from abject fear I didn't witness to adoration I didn't witness, either. So while parental reactions may influence one's reaction, I don't think it's the defining element in all cases. Maybe it's the access allowed? If your parents like & appreciate horror films & react positively to them, they by definition are letting you watch them. Perhaps the mere fact they allow you to see this stuff and get acclimated, rather than making it taboo or belittling it in some way, is enough.