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Old 12-10-2017, 02:48 PM
Jenslyl87 Jenslyl87 is offline
Little Boo
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 1
Exclamation Why do we even like horror in the first place?

Hi fellow horror nerds!

I'm on a bit of a streaking reading up on the paradoxical appeal of the horror genre, a form of entertainment that paradoxically aims to make its audience feel bad. I think that, whatever explains why people such as myself would want to engage with horrific entertainment is bound to tell us a lot about human psychology. Whatever else you may think of the genre, you have to acknowledge that people's attraction to it is kind of weird.

Are you familiar with the work of horror researcher Mathias Clasen, for instance? He has a new TED video in which he addresses these questions. I find his evolutionary approach fascinating and even compelling. In a nutshell, he argues that horror represents a kind of danger simulator within which people can acquire adaptive experience with the dangerous and the unknown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6St5R2bYMOY&t=


If you're familiar with his approach, what do you think about it? Are you persuaded? If not, what do you think accounts for the appeal of the genre?

Hoping to get a bit of a discussion going

Last edited by Jenslyl87; 12-10-2017 at 03:02 PM.
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