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Stephen King's "Why We Crave Horror Movies" Reading Response
Stephen King fascination with horror
Stephen King's "Why We Crave Horror Movies" Reading Response
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Not only is Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, a biased sample, but it also appeals to population and emotion. To further explain why we crave horror movies, King argues that “we are all mentally ill” (345). He expresses that we all make an independent decision to buy a movie ticket and sit in a theatre. King goes on the to explain our mental insanity through examples, such as, “sick jokes” (347). According to King, these “sick jokes” prove our insanity and our need to release that insanity through watching horror films. Although King does offer valid points and relative evidence that support his arguments, the points only pertain to a certain portion of the population. What about the people who don’t crave horror movies, or the ones who do not fit into the, we, of Why We Crave Horror Movies? There are many individuals who would object to the insanity of watching a movie that could possibly keep them from sleeping at night. Such individuals may be quite disturbed reading this essay, wondering how they got dragged into this stereotype of these human beings. King states, “The potential lyncher is in all of us” (346). Is it really though? The mention of everyone having that same personality trait embedded somewhere in their personality makes one question their identity. King is appealing to emotion here, failing to realize that there are many people who would rather be somewhere else, rather than in a huge, dark room watching a movie they will be scared to walk out of, because of the things that they‘ve just witnessed. While appealing to population King also appeals to the emotions of his readers. In doing so King suggests that the movies that we watch suit the way ... ... middle of paper ... ...vely to lack attention given to them. King lures his readers in by using an issue that is relative. By doing this, it automatically makes that reader think into the possibilities of all humans’ sanity, or lack thereof. “Why We Crave Horror Movies” includes valuable evidence that backs up its argument that “We are all mentally ill”. However, its argument would not be subject to opposition if it were specifically directed towards horror film viewers. King’s failure to specify his audience, falsely accuses some of his readers. While his argument of human insanity is justifiable, his argument generalizes, appeals to emotions, appeals to populations, and his are opinions are biased because Stephen King, himself, enjoys horror movies. Works Cited King, Stephen. “Why We Crave Horror Movies.” One Hundred Great Essays. Ed. Robert Diyanni.
... phrases, such as "the judgment of God" and "forfeit" (551) to make the reader feel seriousness about what is happening. Emotional appeal depends on the use of strong words. King knows this, and uses this to help get his idea across. The emotional appeal of the letter is his best accomplishment.
flaw. It makes them seem closer and more human to who the reader. This is
As King stood before the massive crowd of Americans, he urged the citizens of the United States to turn their hatred of colored people into a hatred of the true evil: racism. King continually states that the black people are being held back by the “chains of discrimination.” King uses this to make the audience feel that the black people are in great misfortune. King describes the white people as swimming in an “ocean of material prosperity” while the black people are stranded on a “lonely island of poverty.” Here, King magnificently uses the Declaration of Independence and implores the audiences’ emotions on all levels, wielding pathos as his Rhetorical weapon. Prejudices surrounded the nation and caused fear, anger, panic, rage, and many more intense emotions. All people who lived in this time period experienced these prejudices in one form or another. King takes the idea of these prejudices and describes a world without all of the hate and fear. He imagines an ideal world that all races, not just black people, would find more pleasant and peaceful. Moreover, King references how the United States has broken their promise to the men of color by refusing them the basic human rights granted in the foundational documents of the country: the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
King is a man of many horrors but it’s easy to agree psychological destruction may just be his favorite cup of tea. That being said, let’s discuss his 1970 short story, Graveyard shift. It’s dark, the moon is up, and, a massive cleaning effort at the mill, called out his name. Hall. Warwick, his boss, takes him and his men to the basement to clean out a rat infestation. There, they find a sub-basement and the most terrifying things they’d ever laid eyes on. Throughout the story, King
...h leads to losing the imagery of the reader trying to get convinced and persuaded, interrupting the interest sometimes as well.
What is madness? Is madness a brain disorder or a chemical imbalance? On the other hand, is it an expressed behavior that is far different from what society would believe is "normal"? Lawrence Durrell addresses these questions when he explores society's response to madness in his short story pair "Zero and Asylum in the Snow," which resembles the nearly incoherent ramblings of a madman. In these stories, Durrell portrays how sane, or lucid, people cannot grasp and understand the concept of madness. This inability to understand madness leads society to fear behavior that is different from "normal," and subsequently, this fear dictates how they deal with it. These responses include putting a name to what they fear and locking it up in an effort to control it. Underlying all, however, Durrell repeatedly raises the question: who should define what is mad?
He used rhetorical techniques such as allusion, irony and metaphors. These were all ways of connecting to his reasoning’s by using an element of life or something that we are well aware of. He also used different types of appeals, which were pathos, logos and ethos. Each of these appeals had drawn us into his reading in different ways to connect to our emotions and the most affective was the common logic he brought and his credibility of being a well-experienced person in horror. Common logic is the best way to catch your readers attention because if they understand what you are proclaiming then they can grasp onto your argument. For Why We Crave Horror Movies, King gave both visible common logic and hidden. The hidden had to do with the psychological reasons to why we desire horror movies and how it can release our hidden, evil emotions that we normally keep inside of us. Also, it relieves us of stress to not be in the real world even if it is just for an hour or more. These hidden logic is more of a realization for the readers and come into sense these are the reasons why we truly do crave horror
Modern day horror films are very different from the first horror films which date back to the late nineteenth century, but the goal of shocking the audience is still the same. Over the course of its existence, the horror industry has had to innovate new ways to keep its viewers on the edge of their seats. Horror films are frightening films created solely to ignite anxiety and panic within the viewers. Dread and alarm summon deep fears by captivating the audience with a shocking, terrifying, and unpredictable finale that leaves the viewer stunned. (Horror Films)
This was effective because by stating that “we’re all mentally ill” (King 414) right off the bat readers will be compelled to continue reading. He might have offended some readers by questioning their mental state but this is inconsequential because it is easier to change a reader’s feelings if they actually read the piece which is what his opening statement insures. His introduction commands attention and requires a strong logical argument to back up this claim. King also does this effectively. As a published writer King knows how to manipulate words and phrases to use in a way that fits his purposes. It was by this skill that he was able to normalize fears and horror movies to transition into his thesis. King gives three reasons for why it is such popular genre to watch, “to show that we can, that we are not afraid…” (414), “to re-establish our feelings of essential normality” (414), and “to have fun” (414). He normalized the phenomenon and logically explained each of these claims. Another effective part of his essay was to establish cause and effect. King illustrated what happens when we submit to our insanity or when we control our emotion by sharing an anecdote about children and the reinforcement they receive from parents and society. He even goes to explain which actions will elicits positive reinforcement and likewise which prompts negative
Much of my skepticism over the insanity defense is how this act of crime has been shifted from a medical condition to coming under legal governance. The word "insane" is now a legal term. A nuerological illness described by doctors and psychiatrists to a jury may explain a person's reason and behavior. It however seldom excuses it. The most widely known rule in...
Therefore, they are more likely to commit violent acts. At the University of California, Berkeley there was a study done by Andres G. Martinez, Paul K. Piff, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Stephen P. Hinshaw on how ascribed humanity affects the perceived dangerousness of people with mental illness. It concluded that once the mental illness label was placed on someone, they were ascribed less humanity (Martinez, Piff, Mendoza-Denton, & Hinshaw, 2011). The “...targets may be animalistically dehumanized, in which they are rendered animal-like in terms of lacking such uniquely human qualities of constraint, complex emotional capacities, and refinement” (Martinez et al.). Stigma could be the reason that a majority of the public believes
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.
King used an appeal to pathos, in order to persuade his viewers to aid in the quest for equality. By using the power of human emotion, King established the connection needed to ...
...es and causes it to become lost in the background at certain points of the novel.
Throughout the many tropes which are correlated with the presence of the Horror Film Genre, there is always one underlying theme that is consistent over the lifespan of horror film development: The main protagonist(s), male and/or female, struggle to bring a sense of normality and uniformity back into a society that has turned into a chaotic domicile. We, then, must question and evaluate what obstacles conflict with the protagonist’s motives. These are, in terms of this analytical essay, the subject of the Other to whom possesses characteristics that can be equated to common symptoms of patients diagnosed as psychotic or similar psychopathology. In valuating this posed statement, Robin Wood’s theory, which is the concept of sexual repression