The Horror Genre

Dr. Kathleen Green Pasadena City College Fall 2011

Lecture Overview
Genres in General Development of the Horror Genre

Themes and Issues Conventions Subgenres Timeline of major developments Theoretical Issues

Why Study Film Genres?

What is a genre?
Literary Studies: poetry, prose, drama OR comedy/drama
Film Studies: Western, musical, romantic comedy, horror film, etc.

What do you study about genres?

1. Conventions: elements of the script, mise-enscene, sound, editing or cinematography that are common to the genre
Ex: extreme long shots of landscapes are a convention of westerns, whereas closeups of victims eyes are common in horror films

2. 3. 4. 5.

How a genre changes across history How a genre becomes self-reflexive How a genre is divided into subgenres How genres express commonsense truths of human behavior at a given historical period

Development of the Horror Genre

Timeline of major developments Themes Conventions Subgenres Theoretical Issues

A Broad Timeline
Early Cinema: Edisons Frankenstein, Melies 1920s: German Expressionism 1930s-40s: Monster movies film noir 1950s: Cold war/post-war horror 1960s: Occult horror/Hippie horror 1970s: Slasher film 1980s: Sequels and remakes 1990s-2000: Experimental/Self-Reflexive 2000-2011: High-end horror; genreblending; continued sequels and remakes

Metamorphosis (The Fly) Proliferation (The Birds) Besiegement/Isolation

(Night of the Living Dead)

Themes Common in Horror

Death (The Ring) Human manipulation of nature (mad doctor with subhuman accomplice) (Frankenstein, Caligari) Contemporary Social Issues (Invasion of the Body

Snatchers)

Conventions of Horror Genre

Low-key lighting Spooky nondiegetic music Dissolves Black and white or dark colors Chase scenes Knives, not guns Complex tone

Just a Few Subgenres of Horror

Ghost story Creature/monster story Dual personality Mad scientist Horror/Sci-Fi Gore/Splatter Hippie Horror Vampires Demonic Children Slasher

The Slasher Film

From Psycho to Halloween to Scream Conventions: psychopathic killers stalking female victims; knives; phone calls; sexually active vs. virginal women; voyeurism; POV shots Audience identification: with killer or victim or both?

Theoretical Issues about Horror

Empirical Studies: Horror and its audience

Horror as a low-brow popular form Demographics of horror audiences (young, male)

Pam Cook: Major shift from the horror of supernatural (classic period) to the horror of personality (post-Psycho)

Theoretical Issues about Horror

Robin Woods psychoanalytic approach: horror expresses all that we repress and oppress Feminist analysis: oppressive (Mulvey, Williams) or potentially liberating (Clover)?

John Belton on the Core Values at Play in Horror

What it means to be human What is valid knowledge The self and the Other Social class, esp. bourgeois and values Religion Gender roles and expectations The formation of the American family