Dissertation/Thesis/Final Paper Question

[rickfa]

Do the Psychological Techniques Employed by Horror Filmmakers Have a Direct Relation to Societies Fears and Paranoia?

I'd be extremely interested in hearing everyones views on the subject and would of course give full credits and recognition to any opinions used in the final document - as horror fans you are all primary sources of information.

I'm very aware how vague that question might seem so below, please find my contents page which will hopefully make my train of thought clearer to you all.


Introduction
Identification of Subject
Research Methodology
Introduction of Subject

Chapter 1
The Conventions of Horror - A Nightmare on Elm St. vs. Alien
Commonplace Imagery
Enclosed Spaces
The Floating Camera
Concealment
The Story
The Screaming Victim
Subliminal Sexual Imagery
Social Themes

Chapter 2
Early Horror
Global Threat
The Cold War
Post War Paranoia

Chapter 3
Body Horror
Consumer Obsession
The Thing - Cancer/Disease
The Blob - Organic Disease
The Fly - Aids

Chapter 4
Zombies
Origins
Hallmarks
Of The Dead
Social and Political Undertones


I'm particularly interested in hearing peoples opinions about early horror and underlying themes regarding the cold war (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and Post-War (Invasion of the Body Snatchers).

However all views, thoughts and opinions on the question will be more than welcome.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Rick

[Tat2]

For the most part, absolutely!

Horror movie Filmmakers and writers thrive on societies fears past and present. This can easily be viewed by looking into history of folk lore regarding vampires and werewolves. In third world countries, Vampires "still exist."

The most common view of "Frankenstein" was that the Doctor (Henry) was meddling into Gods plan. Doctor H. Frankenstein, before the movie was released, was censored, in which he stated immediately after screaming "It's Alive..." stated "Now I know what it is like to BE GOD!"

All of the Slasher films (Last house of the left, Don't look in the basement, Friday the 13th, Holloween, etc...)of the seventies and eighties played with peoples paranoia as they felt less safe in their "used to be safe neighborhoods" due to the media, Serial Killers and the upswing of violence in general.

Movies like the Exorcist, Demons, The Gate, Gates of Hell, Frailty, etc... went head to head with religion, full steam ahead. "The Exorcist" which is considered to be the scariest horror movie of all time, and based upon a true story, according to the media, struck a cord with people. Is showed the world just what Satan could do to a person. Seeing this happen to a little girl in a house in the good ol' U.S. of A. made it all the more believable and added even more to the horror because it was close.

People love a good scare. There are many users of this site, myself included, that have been into horror movies and the particulars of it for so long, that it is nearly impossible to find a movie that could give us that old feeling and adreneline rush of a good fright. Filmmakers and writers realize this so they try to use our fears based on more physological fears (ie., 13 Ghosts, Seven, The Cell, Darkness Falls, The Butterfly Effect, Final Destination, etc..).

I think you get the jist of what I am saying, so I'll stop now. Hope this helped a bit.
:D