“Michael Jackson’s “Thriller: The Catchiest Zombie Movie.” Although “Thriller” is beloved as a classic 80’s pop music video, it manages a successful dive into the social and political issues that make zombie flicks so great. Pulling from a history of work on zombies, Michael Jackson packs so much history into such a concise package. Through using the texts of Amy Devitt and Kerry Dirk we are able to uncover Jackson’s experience and social commentary in “Thriller”. He simultaneously writes a hit song, revolutionizes music videos, and still remarks on the societal problems of the early 1980’s. However, the story goes much further than that of a number one hit. “Thriller” owes its success to an important cultural figure that looms as large as …show more content…
Vince Price says in his creepy voice, “Creatures crawl in search of blood/ To terrorize y'alls neighborhood” (“Thriller.” 6:39). There was a big focus on urban neighborhoods with a lot of new forces beginning to terrorize them in the 1980’s. These forces include high unemployment, beginning of the AID’s crisis, racism, and the spread of crack addiction in poor communities. This commentary was later reinforced by his music video for “Beat It.” The song was made as a commentary on gang violence. It depicted an identical shot, but instead of zombies crawling out of graves, it was gangsters crawling out of the sewers. Jackson brilliantly uses the creatures who terrorize “y’alls neighborhood” (6:39) as an allegory for the social and political issues of the early …show more content…
It worked like a charm as the people crowned him the “king of pop” and still celebrate him to this day. As the #1 selling record of all time and its video highly regarded as the best ever, it achieved all of its goals in a fashion nearly unrivaled. The only reason Jackson didn’t scrap the “Thriller” video for being too demonic was because of the insane amount of money pouring in from MTV and the like. In its success it revolutionized pop albums, music videos, and took the zombie genre and shook it to a more danceable level. It was also a successful foray into the zombie movie genre. The reason we can now bust out “The Thriller” on the dance floor is because as Devitt says, “Genres develop… because they respond appropriately to situations that writers encounter repeatedly” (576). Suspenseful highs, quiet moments, and scary creatures come to mind for both “Thriller” and “Night of the Living Dead.” Although “Night of the Living Dead” has significantly less dancing, it paved the way for sub-genres like this to see the light of day. “Thriller” also had great costumes, writing, and acting. Featuring very well placed tasteful symbolism and social
The auteur theory is a view on filmmaking that consists of three equally important premises: technical competence, interior meaning, and personal signature of the director. Auteur is a French word for author. The auteur theory was developed by Andrew Sarris, a well-known American film critic. Technical competence of the Auteur deals with how the director films the movie in their own style. Personal signature includes recurring themes that are present within the director’s line of work with characteristics of style, which serve as a signature. The third and ultimate premise of the Auteur theory is the interior meaning which is basically the main theme behind the film.
The highly anticipated Tv series Scream Queens, premiered on September 22nd. Scream Queens genre is a horror story with minimal comedy. The storyline takes place on campus at Wallace University, in the Kappa Kappa sorority house. The story revolves around the Kappa Kappa pledges and a serial killer loose on campus. The sorority sisters are in danger and determined to find out who the killer is.
Drug addiction is on the largest contributing factors for the deaths of millions of people throughout out the ages. Todays day in age drugs have become more dangerously more potent than they were a decade back. The majority of the population believe that the reason addicts become hooked on drugs because the the chemical triggers found in the drug. This has caused many society as a whole to look down on drug addicts and treat them with less respect than anyone who is not a drug addict. Johann Hari is an english author and journalist who was published articles in newspapers like the New York times, Huffington post and the Guardian, Hari has published his own book Chasing the Scream were he goes into a three year journey on the war on drugs.
And last but not least is the villain in these movies. Most of the killers in these films are portrayed as mentally deranged and/or has some type of facial or bodily deformation and who have been traumatized at an early age. Even though these characters terrorized and murder people they have taken on the persona of anti-heroes in pop culture. Characters like Halloween’s Michael Myers, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees have become the reason to go see these movies. However, over time,”their familiarity and the audience’s ability to identify and sympathize with them over the protagonist made these villains less threatening (Slasher Film (5))”.
On a cold Halloween night in 1963, in the film Halloween, a six-year-old boy named Michael Myers was seen stabbing his older sister to death with a gigantic kitchen knife then leaving to stand outside the house with a blank expression on his face. As a result he was sent to Smith Grove’s Mental Hospital which he escapes from 15 years later to go after 17 year old Laurie Strode and her friends Lynda and Annie. Warshow’s essay, The Gangster as Tragic Hero, depicts American society’s need to show public cheerfulness and maintain a positive morale as well as its desire for something more sinister, something more brutal. This desire to indulge in the forbidden fruit of sadism and cruelty is what makes the gangster persona so appealing to the nation. He is the man of the city. He emerges from the crowd as a successful outlaw and his only aspiration is success through brutality.
The horror genre is synonymous with images of terror, violence and human carnage; the mere mention of horror movies evokes physical and psychological torture. As remarked by noted author Stephen King “the mythic horror movie…has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized.” (King, 786). At manageable intervals, we choose to live these horrific events vicariously through the characters in horror movies and books as a means of safely experiencing the “what if”. The horror genre allows us to explore our fears, be it spiders, vampires, loss of our identity, or death of a loved, under the most fantastic and horrible circumstances conceivable. King also points out that by watching horror movies we “may allow our emotions a free rein . . . or no rein at all.” (King, 784). According to psychiatrist James Schaller, by vicariously “experiencing contrived fears, a person develops a sense of competence over similar types of fears.” (Schaller). Horror films allow the viewer the opportunity to safely examine their fears safely and to the depth and extent they wish to do so. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 provides the opportunity for the viewer to consider a diverse range of fears, with a little humor thrown in for balance, from the safety of a darkened room, a comfortable seat and in less than 120 minutes.
Lorie Myers begins the film Halloween as a normal, happy teenager and everything in life is fine. Michael is the brother of Lorie and he is locked up in an insane asylum for murdering his older sister Edith. He eventually escapes and decides he wants to murder his sister Lorie. Lorie is unaware that she has an older brother because she is adopted by another family when she was an infant. On Halloween night, Lorie is babysitting and her friends are being murdered. Lorie losses everything and she had done nothing wrong. Michael blames Lorie for the situation because of her relationship to him. Lorie is traumatized from Michael terrorizing her, but she makes it out alive. As the Halloween series progressed, Lorie becomes successful, but the fear
The article Why We Crave Horror Movies by Stephen King distinguishes why we truly do crave horror movies. Stephen King goes into depth on the many reasons on why we, as humans, find horror movies intriguing and how we all have some sort of insanity within us. He does this by using different rhetorical techniques and appealing to the audience through ways such as experience, emotion and logic. Apart from that he also relates a numerous amount of aspects on why we crave horror movies to our lives. Throughout this essay I will be evaluating the authors arguments and points on why society finds horror movies so desirable and captivating.
Scream Queens (FOX) – The latest creation from Glee/American Horror Story executive producer, Ryan Murphy. Revolving around a snooty sorority and a homicidal maniac along with a series of murders, what's not to like? Featuring an impressive cast – Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), Lea Michele (Glee), Keke Palmer, Nick Jonas, Abigail Breslin, Ariana Grande, and the scream queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis. Scream Queens airs Tuesday nights on FOX.
Today in America, people can’t get enough of zombies, zombies are everywhere ranging from movies, books and tv shows. The entertainment business uses the zombie apocalypse theme in order to present a post apocalyptic situation that no other form of genre can really create. In American zombie apocalyptic entertainment, humans must face the horrors of survival and change, while fighting off the zombies, thus also challenging their morals. Pessimistic viewers may see the situation as depressing, prejudice and an means of expressing xenophobia. However optimistic viewers see the situation as an opportunity for better change, individually and as a collective community. A controversial example of this topic would be Robert Kirkman’s popular graphic novel, called The Walking Dead, filled with violence, betrayal and challenges. The Walking Dead can be read as a pessimistic text but the most appropriate way to read is
“I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed; Get along with the voices inside of my head; You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath; And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy; Well, that's nothing.” The Monster by Eminem. One song can have many interpretations. Person one might think of it as an excuse for some psychopath. Person two could think of it as a plea for help, from a psychopath. What do you think? When you think of the term “evil mastermind” you think of some idiot who makes traps so complicated that the hero escapes and he gets trapped.What is a true evil mastermind and what traits do they posses? Well before I answer that question I want ask a question. Would you rather be hunted on an island filled with
Jordan Peele’s social thriller Get Out was recently nominated in comedy category of the Golden Globes. While the movie did have scenes of comedy it certainly does not fall into the category of comedy. Although Peele stressed that the movie could not fit into a category he stated he had nothing to do with it being submitted as a comedy. Furthermore, the outcome has striken up the continuous problem of the African American community not being taken seriously in almost every aspect of their lives.
We all have cravings, be it for snacks or sweets, there is always something we desire. We crave horror in the same way. In Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he argues that people need to watch horror films in order to release the negative emotions within us. King believes that people feel enjoyment while watching others be terrorized or killed in horror movies. King’s argument has elements that are both agreeable and disagreeable. On one hand he is acceptable when claiming we like the thrill and excitement that comes from watching horror movies; however, his views regarding that the fun comes from seeing others suffer cannot be agreed with because the human condition is not as immoral as he claims it to be.
The continuing fascination with the zombie motif in popular culture, including literature, film, television, and video games, points to the fact that zombies are of greater significance in our cultural psyche than simple vehicles for inducing easy fear. At the same time that the zombies themselves hold this weight, the fear of zombification - the threat of losing one’s selfhood and becoming one of the undead - holds an equal, if not greater, fascination for individuals as well.
George A. Romero, the director of Night of the Living Dead accidently created the zombie genre that we are familiar with today. Night of the Living Dead reshaped the entire genre with its bitter realism. Romero established verisimilitude unintentionally by focusing on how people react to crisis. The first zombie movies relied on semi-terrifying dress codes (of their time) and the conventional diegetic scream of a female. Whereas Romero’s film is an interpretation of humankind’s collapse. Romero drew inspiration from the infamous Vietnam War spiralling at the time and the American civil war. The verisimilitude lies within the human condition in dire times, like war. Therefore, in the Night of the Living Dead the zombie/ghoul stands as a symbol for the enemy contriving those dire times. This consequently makes the genre actually terrifying because representations have altered. Zombies are no longer an otherworldly or scientific monster e.g. White Zombie but a