Gathered around fear: Is it worth it?

I remember the first time I ever watched a horror film.  I was somewhere around the age of 13, when I joined a neighborhood friend to watch the movie "It" (sorry mom, this is probably the first time I have ever confessed this to you).  I remember being terrified by the clown who existed in the dream world as well as the real.  I remember biking back home with enhanced senses: constantly looking over my shoulder, listening for any sounds out of the ordinary, and making sure I avoided any drain holes where horrific clown arms may reach out and grab me.

I was entranced by these horror films through my first few years of college.  The horror series "Saw" captured my interest by surprising the viewer with disturbing images and shocking endings. 

Over the last two weeks I have heard a number of advertisements on the radio that promoted a message such as the following: "Come to the so and so horror show where you will be so terrified that you will not sleep for days."  This is supposed to make me want to come there?  I'm supposed to spend the few dollars that we make every week so that we can be so disturbed that we will not be able to sleep?

I don't often post a blog with the sole purpose of a question, but I have racked my brain over the last few weeks to figure out why watching horror movies and entering into scenarios created to invoke fear are desirable past times?  Am I missing something?  

As Jamie and I went down to bed tonight, we heard a loud noise somewhere in the neighborhood: this was well over two hours ago, and I am still awake wondering what the cause of those noises was.  This is a horrible feeling, and I hate it!  Why do we willfully subject ourselves to paranoia and fear?  Do we so desire to feel "something," that we settle for fear and angst?  Or am I missing it and being a party-pooper on Halloween?  Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire to get together with people, dress up and be united; but at what expense?  If anyone has any input to these questions, please chime in!

Comments

[Kathryn Burke]

Excellent questions. I find myself so disenchanted with what Halloween has become that I go out of my way to avoid the displays. It goes against what I have been working for in my life: peace, joy, gentleness. It is 100% fear-based, and I want no part of fear. Those who like to be startled may enjoy this season of Boo!, but I find neither the motives nor the method satisfying. Thanks for articulating your views, A.

[Dan]

Well, I know some people like the rush. It's thrill-seeking, for your mind. And some don't lose sleep over it; they just enjoy getting the poop startled out of them, and go on to bed.

I have an overactive imagination, so I steer a little farther from horror stuff. But I might go to Cedar Point's Halloweekend extravaganza... I'll let you know if I sleep. ;)

[Andrew Engelhardt]

Dan - I guess it's that feeling of "wanting the rush" that I am intrigued by. Is it a personality issue? I guess I run into a theological quandry when it is suggested that filling an emotional "need" or "rush" is filled by opening oneself up to fear. But I guess the same quandry exists when we say that filling that emotional emptiness is the purpose of a worship service, which sadly is often the way that we approach worship leading and formation in community too often.

[Gordon Hackman]

Good post Andy. I used to be really into horror movies. I finally quit watching them after having a few experiences where I couldn't get a disturbing image out of my mind for days. I thought a lot about what it is that attracted me to them.

I think for me there was always a sense of mystery about them, something that I couldn't quite put my finger on, and that was a large part of what drew me to them. The horror writer Peter Straub has talked about how for modern people who live in a secularized and materialistic world, the experience of fear can is one of the only ways they can experience the transcendant. I think there's probably something to that.

Also, I think part of it is like what attracts some people to ride roller coasters. It's scary on one level but you also know that it's mostly safe, because the experience is constrained and artificial.

I confess that often the attraction is still there for me but I generally resist it now, because like you describe so well, it's frequently not worth it afterwards.

[Andrew Engelhardt]

Kathryn - I agree with the discontinuity presented when we desire the fruits of peace, joy, and gentleness, yet engage in practices (either as participant or consumer or consumed) of violence, fear, and aggression.

Gordon - I had never thought about mystery as a draw to the horror genre; nor had I realized that these genres present an appearance of being able to keep a "safe distance" because of constraints and artificiality. I guess this post originated because there is still something within me that, like you, draws me in at times. It's an area of disconnect, because I can think of no edifying or positive reasons for engaging the genre, yet I am sometimes drawn to it. I wonder if you nailed it on the head (at least for me), in the perspective of getting to view something of great weight from a safe distance.

This post could easily have been written about violence, for it seems to present the same issue. When I actually take time to think about it, the MMA and UFC rise to popularity is very curious, and I am just as troubled by it (if not more) than the issue of horror; yet I am drawn at times to watch those fights.

[Dan]

Welp, we've got all that adrenaline. Might as well use it.

[Judah]

As we talked about the other day, I think it has to do with a preternatural need to used our survival skills. As we live in a society that goes out of the way to ensure safety and comfort, there is an instinct in us that wants to be challenged and used towards the sense of accomplishment and worth. Intellectually we can track our status on an economic or career status. We can look at a list of our accomplishments and make judgments about our worth. However, those are standards based on external forces relative to a societal mechanism. I think horror movies, bungee jumping, and even video games tap into a much more fundamental gauge that is internal and built in for survival. The problem is that we have spent the last century figuring out how to eliminate all threats and maximize comfort and pleasure. So as many of us sit around watching TV or surfing the net (me), that nagging feeling comes up that we are wasting our lives away. That is why we invented horror movies (and video games for me). To tap into that gauge, trigger some adrenalin, and trick our bodies into thinking we have conquered some horrific threat and thus are due satisfied feelings of worth. There is also a tie in with imagination and creativity in my opinion, but this comment is long enough as it is.

[Andrew Engelhardt]

Man - this is really helpful Judah. I truly had a difficult time coming up with any constructive reason other than wanting to "feel something" for why someone would watch horror movies (games, extreme activities); not that I am trying to find a rationale for doing so. I guess this resonates because it is probably true, or at least at times.

There are many questions that are raised by insights like yours, such as "Is feeling a need for survival something to be pursued?" and "Is finding an internal standard for accomplishment a worthy end?" Regardless of the answers to these questions, I think you nailed it on the head, at least for me. It feels good to be scared, search the house for the cause of the scary noises, and go back to my wife to tell her that everything is okay. Or it also feels good when we eliminate the object of fear.

[Jean Sharp]

Andy,
Is there validity to fear as a part of human existence?
God has been the constant, or security for humanity, and yet, as with the Israelites, we are drawn towards fear, worry and the practicality of "what ifs".
How does fear shape us?

[Andrew Engelhardt]

Jean - I don't know if I am understanding what you're trying to get at. I am not condemning fear as an emotion, just as I am not saying that we shouldn't fear God or the realities of living in a scary world.

This post (intended) to be about creating fear in our lives via (non)realities. I think of the horror movies that become so popular during Halloween: serial killers, zombies, doom and destruction. While there are murderers and daemons and some sort of darkness beyond this life, we believe in a redeeming story to it all. Redemption is a theme that a horror movie or haunted house cannot have, because the creators and inventors of these tools require continuing fear to make the experience worth it.

So anyway, to answer your question, of course fear is a part of human existence: I don't think I ever questioned that.