Not so Funny Games

In the film "Funny Games," fear is a very apparent theme throughout.  I had never seen this movie before and what I saw what not what I expected. I was confused by the title originally because I did not understand its relation to the film itself. After finishing the movie, I understood a little bit but still felt it odd. I also was uneasy throughout the whole movie. I felt very uncomfortable by the two boys in white, Peter and Paul. Obviously, Ann, George, and Georgie experience extreme fear. Fear causes the irrational to seem reasonable. For example, the fact that no one suspects these strangers in the neighborhood that we find out has killed at least one other family and potentially more.  Another example of this irrational seeming reasonable can be seen when Ann attempts to run for help instead of finding a phone somewhere nearby. Her first instinct was to run down a car that obviously ended up bringing her back to her own home. Fear is also paralyzing. The first family that is murdered never asked for help when Ann and George arrived. They did the same when the neighbors came from across the lake. They were too afraid of the repercussions of their actions if they did ask for help.

In “The Paradox of Horror” by Carrol, the question of why we watch horror films is addressed. We want to understand the world around us; therefore, in horror films, we want to understand why someone is doing something or why something is happening. In this film, we do not fully get an answer to this question. We do not know why Peter and Paul are killing these families. We can assume it is for the money because Paul warns Peter not to ruin the rug in the home; however, it seems as though they move on to the next family without collecting any money or items from the home. Not only do we want to understand what is going on, we want to experience the emotions of fear and horror. This movie does a great job with expressing those feelings of fear to the audience because we all can imagine someone coming into our homes like Peter and Paul did. We have neighbors that come to borrow eggs and this movie feeds into the fears that we all have with our surroundings. You do not really know what someone is capable of until they do it. 

Funny Games that Don't Follow the Rules

As humans we long to find meaning in all things. Perhaps what makes Funny Games (2007) so terrifying is the complete lack of meaning. Other than maybe boredom Paul and Peter give no reason for playing these sick games with the family. In his essay “The Paradox of Horror”, Carrol attempts to discover what draws viewers to the horror genre. One possible reason is that we as viewers get to experience what the characters are feeling without being in any real danger. The problem with this film is that it leaves you more and more unsettled until its end. Then there is nothing. 

Throughout the film Paul continues to break the fourth wall. He often looks directly into the camera and will ask the audience questions. Breaking the fourth wall has become somewhat of a taboo in most movies. There is a clear separation between the fictional film and the reality of the audience that we come to expect. For me personally, Paul continuing to make eye contact made me increasingly uncomfortable and the film itself is extremely off-putting. Most of the more gruesome scenes, such as Georgie’s death, occur off camera and what we get are the reactions of the characters. Obviously Peter and Paul torturing the family is horrendous, but the realization of what Paul’s ability to break the fourth wall means is what makes Funny Games truly terrifying. When Ann finally takes control of the situation and kills Peter with the shotgun, the film finally gets a sense of purpose. As viewers, we expect there to be some sort of triumph at the end. 

Then Paul rewinds the scene. 

Paul is in complete control of the situation. He is all about fairness and playing the game correctly. When Peter breaks the rules and shoots Georgie, Paul chastises him because that isn't how they play. But there is no fairness. Ann and George never even have a chance because Paul has the ability to literally rewind the movie so that he can always win the game. This film is terrifying because there is no meaning behind it. In his essay “Violence + Media”, the director Michael Haneke states that the film is a commentary on violence in the media. He presents a movie that is incredibly violent, but otherwise pointless. The family doesn't stand a chance and Paul doesn’t play by the rules. The horror isn’t our ability to feel what the character’s are feeling as Carrol suggests. The utter meaninglessness of the film and its violence is what makes it true horror. 

The Game of Horror and Fear

On a personal level, I have never, ever, enjoyed the experience of watching horror movies. Although, per our in-class discussion on Monday, the concept of ill-rational and rational fear brings a very interesting point into why and how people of our age continue to watch horror movies so regularly.

In the essay “The Paradox of Horror” Carroll notes that people watch movies in the horror genre because of the unrealistic factors that it entails. This is the factor that makes the sub-genre of paranormal horror so sensational. For an everyday sensation, having complete fear of in an unrealistic situation like a non-physical threat as a ghost, witch, or apparition that by day-to-day standard is completely unrealistic.

This, yet again, leads into the conversation from Monday of the topic of irrational fear vs. rational fear. But, unlike ghosts, goblins, and whatever comes from movies like Paranormal Activity, comes the film Funny Games (2007). This film is a wild ride, literally and figuratively. Funny Games shows the completely rational fear of human violence for no distinct reason. As Carroll again distinguishes, “[that monsters, ghosts and the like], do not defy predication, but mix properties in nonstandard ways. They are not wholly unknown, and this is probably what accounts for their characteristic effect—disgust” (9). In viewing a film with a monster is creature as the root of the fear, people become afraid of what they think and have seen happen before.

For the film Funny Games, the fear lies in two rather average looking boys who show no human compassion. And unlike an (almost) predictable non-human monster, these boys show the rational fear of another human beings’ harm upon another. Most notably, when the father of the family being terrorized by these boys asks: “Why are you doing this?”, the boy's response with nothing other than: “Why not?”. This demonstrates the true terror that this film entails; there is no predictability and no reason upon this terror. In movies like The Blair Witch Project and others like it as monster and creature horror films, the viewer is in a constant state of curiosity for what, why, and how these actions are occurring to the protagonists. But for both The Blair Witch Project and Funny Games, these questions never get fully answered. The viewer is to be more scared after the films ends because the questions of reason of motivation and implication of terror are never answered fully.

This idea becomes practically terrifying when one realizes that nothing is exactly stopping these scenarios from happening to the viewer. The film is made to show an incredible realistic family and situation that precedes the terror. As it is common practice to critique the actions of protagonists in horror films, the actions displayed in this film show nothing unrealistic from the main protagonists. This becomes terrifying for a viewer because the victims of this terror become completely defenseless in the face of terrorization and eventually, death.  

Funny Games Wasn't Funny... at all

          One thing that has never crossed my mind is why people enjoy horror movies. At its very base, horror movies contain some of the most gory and grotesque events imaginable to the human mind, and yet people get a thrill watching these movies. I think we can all agree if that a machete wielding maniac showed up at our door, thrill would be the last thing we feel. Some people cannot stand the sight of blood, but when a scary movies on that goes right out the window. But why do people get an exhilarating rush watching scary movies? Is it because they know it is not real and nothing in that movie can harm them? But while this is physically true, we do know for a fact that any form of art can be real for a specific person- a sort of stimulation of the mind.

          This concept is discussed by Carrol in his writing, "The Paradox of Horror," and in it he talks about the various reasons people enjoy the horror genre. At one point during his essay, he cites H.P. Lovecraft and states that within people lies a form of cosmic fear (almost like a fear of the unknown that peaks our curiosity) and the only way to tap in this feeling is through the gore and grotesqueness within horror. But this view is only a part of the spectrum of why people enjoy horror films. Another reason is that we are allowed through film to feel the emotion of the characters without the danger they are in, which in turn allows us to feel the adrenaline rush of being scared without having to fear for our lives. Another source of our horror sensation that we discussed in class and that I found interesting is that feeling of understanding why the antagonist is doing what it is doing, or even who the antagonist is exactly. We wish satiate our curiosity and know everything to know about the thing bringing about our horror.

          Most movies satisfy these reasons of why we enjoy horror movies, but others go against the norm. One such movie is Funny Games. In this movie, two psychotic maniacs hold a family hostage and kill them one by one (and it is even shown that they have done it recently and are about to do it again). But what makes this movie so messed up was not the horror necessarily, but the fact that the horror did not tap into anything inside me to bring about an emotional response. There was nothing in the form of plot development, and the movie goes out of its way to ensure that the main characters, the family, die. At one point, the mom musters up her strength and steals a gun and shoots one of them, only for the movie to "rewind" and her act is undone. When she does it there is a feeling of "Yes! Thank you for doing something to end this madness! Get those guys!" But when it is rewound, all emotional attachment is gone. Also, this movie does not satisfy our curiosity of who the two guys are and why they do what they do. So overall this movie did not draw me in and give me the exhilaration an average horror movie usually does. But in a sense, this movie is truly horrific because the events that transpire are truly inhuman and messes with a person's mind. But since it does not give us that emotional rush that usually given in a horror movie, we are not drawn into the movie and the experience is not overall as enjoyable.