After watching the The Shining and reading Carrol's essay The Paradox of Horror, I can see why the movie The Shining is an American-Horror classic, and also why the horror genre is still so immensely popular nowadays. Personally, I have never enjoyed horror movies, but for some reason I have always wanted to enjoy them. But thanks to Carrol and his essay of The Paradox of Horror, I am now better able to understand why the horror genre is so attractive.
In Carrol's essay The Paradox of Horror, he ultimately seeks to discover the underlying reasons as to why human beings are attracted to the horror genre. He explores the 'paradox of horror' which "amounts to the question of how people can be attracted by what is repulsive" (160). This attraction is evident by how horror films produce fear, disgust, and repulsion, which are inherently distasteful emotions, yet the horror genre is massively popular. As Carrol is seeking to understand the 'paradox of horror' he declares the morbidly unnatural (the repulsive) evokes a type of fear called 'cosmic' fear. He says this fear is "attractive because this kind of awe responds to or restores some sort of primordial or instinctual human intuition about the world." He says that we seek the morbidly unnatural in horror to experience awe, a cosmic fear with a visionary dimension that corresponds to instinctual, human views of the universe (163).
In The Shining, one can see this 'cosmic' fear having a pivotal role in the film. Throughout the film, Danny experiences psychic phenomena. An example of this would be in the beginning of the film, where he has a vision of an elevator full of blood opening up. The Shining also gives ample evidence of what Carrol writes in his essay about the importance of curiosity in relation to the horror genre. Carrol says that the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity, and that it engages the audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation. He then says that doubt, skepticism, and the fear that belief in the existence of the monster is a form of insanity are predictable foils to the revelation (to the audience and/or characters) of the existence of the monster. This ultimately leads us with a desire to know steeped in curiosity (182).
Room 237 in The Shining is a perfect example of this type of curiosity causing the audience to become engaged and possessed with a desire to know. Earlier in the film Danny is explicitly told by Hallorann to not go into Room 237. This instantly made me fascinated and curious to know what is the truth or secret behind Room 237. Hallorann commanded Danny to not go in there, but I wanted proof and the exact reason as to why Danny shouldn't go in there. So once Danny stopped by Room 237 as he was cruising around on his tricycle, I was bombarded with conflicting thoughts and emotions. I remember kind of saying to myself, "You shouldn't go in there Danny. Don't do it." But also another part of me was saying, "Do it Danny. Open the door." I believe the 'paradox of horror' that Carrol is talking about can be effectively exemplified by that iconic scene.
In Carrol's essay The Paradox of Horror, he ultimately seeks to discover the underlying reasons as to why human beings are attracted to the horror genre. He explores the 'paradox of horror' which "amounts to the question of how people can be attracted by what is repulsive" (160). This attraction is evident by how horror films produce fear, disgust, and repulsion, which are inherently distasteful emotions, yet the horror genre is massively popular. As Carrol is seeking to understand the 'paradox of horror' he declares the morbidly unnatural (the repulsive) evokes a type of fear called 'cosmic' fear. He says this fear is "attractive because this kind of awe responds to or restores some sort of primordial or instinctual human intuition about the world." He says that we seek the morbidly unnatural in horror to experience awe, a cosmic fear with a visionary dimension that corresponds to instinctual, human views of the universe (163).
In The Shining, one can see this 'cosmic' fear having a pivotal role in the film. Throughout the film, Danny experiences psychic phenomena. An example of this would be in the beginning of the film, where he has a vision of an elevator full of blood opening up. The Shining also gives ample evidence of what Carrol writes in his essay about the importance of curiosity in relation to the horror genre. Carrol says that the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity, and that it engages the audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation. He then says that doubt, skepticism, and the fear that belief in the existence of the monster is a form of insanity are predictable foils to the revelation (to the audience and/or characters) of the existence of the monster. This ultimately leads us with a desire to know steeped in curiosity (182).
Room 237 in The Shining is a perfect example of this type of curiosity causing the audience to become engaged and possessed with a desire to know. Earlier in the film Danny is explicitly told by Hallorann to not go into Room 237. This instantly made me fascinated and curious to know what is the truth or secret behind Room 237. Hallorann commanded Danny to not go in there, but I wanted proof and the exact reason as to why Danny shouldn't go in there. So once Danny stopped by Room 237 as he was cruising around on his tricycle, I was bombarded with conflicting thoughts and emotions. I remember kind of saying to myself, "You shouldn't go in there Danny. Don't do it." But also another part of me was saying, "Do it Danny. Open the door." I believe the 'paradox of horror' that Carrol is talking about can be effectively exemplified by that iconic scene.
I absolutely agree with your last paragraph. The first time I ever saw The Shining, I remember thinking the EXACT thing. I didn't want him to innocently open the door and cause mayhem, but I DID want to know what was in there. I wanted my own personal curiosity to be satisfied regardless of the fact that it wasn't supposed to happen.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely fall into the pit of curiosity in horror movies. I can't name one time when I haven't thought "go check it out" even when I know the monster is around and probably waiting to kill the victim. I mean, if you think to the Friday the 13th movies, you always HEAR something and you think "don't go out there" but then you're also like "okay go out there" because you can't stop the curiosity in knowing whether that actually is just the wind scraping the window or some other entity waiting to pounce.
It's hard to control curiosity. Maybe that's the whole reason curiosity killed the cat :P
The desire to know who the antagonist is and why they do what they do is one of the main reasons we get so attached to a movie. And when we find out why said person is killing people or who the killer actually is, it is so satisfying. Almost as if we just solved a difficult equation. And when this feeling is depraved of us, we lose that connection to the movie and the storyline (such as in the Blair Witch Project).
ReplyDeleteGoing off of what Destiny said, curiosity is hard to tame. If I wasn't so scared of horror movies, I'd be curious to know what's in that room, or any room that someone told me to avoid. However, I am not that curious and I am that scared.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "Curiosity killed the cat" saying, that's actually not the whole thing. It's "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back," which to me, is quite obvious. We won't be satisfied until our curiosity is taken care of, just like Danny's in "The Shining." Now, I don't know if curiosity was ever culled, but if it was, I hope bad things didn't come of it.
I also wrote about The Shining. I think this film is exactly what a horror film should be like. Not just blood and gore but this sense of mystery and confusion. I said I'm class earlier in the week that I enjoy the psychological thrillers the most and I believe this film does this well because you really need to think about it to understand. Carroll describes this cosmic fear and the impossible and supernatural and how we as humans have the desire to know.
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