Dark Thoughts: Philosophic Reflections on Cinematic HorrorSteven Jay Schneider, Daniel Shaw Is horror a fundamentally nihilistic genre? Why are those of us who enjoy horror films so attracted to watching things on screen that in real life we would almost certainly find repellent? Do monster movies have a deleterious moral effect on their viewers? In seeking to answer such questions, as well as a host of related ones, Dark Thoughts reveals that our fascination with horror cinema, and the pleasure we take in it, is in the end simply a natural extension of a philosopher's inclination to wonder. This is a collection of highly engaging and provocative essays by top scholars in the increasingly interrelated fields of Philosophy, Film Studies, and Communication Arts that deal with the epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and genre dynamics of horror cinema past and present. Contributors include Curtis Bowman, No l Carroll, Elizabeth Cowie, Angela Curran, Cynthia Freeland, Michael Grant, Matt Hills, Deborah Knight, George McKnight, Ken Mogg, Aaron Smuts, Robert C. Solomon, and J.P. Telotte. Over the past several years, one of the hottest topics in the realm of philosophical aesthetics has been cinematic horror. The emotional effects it has on audiences, the mysterious metaphysics of its impossible beings, the controversial ethics of its violent contents-these are just a few of the concerns to have drawn the attention of scholars and students alike. . .not to mention the genre's legions of fans. Since the publication of No l Carroll's groundbreaking study, The Philosophy of Horror; or, Paradoxes of the Heart (1990), and including most recently Cynthia Freeland's The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror (2000), a plethora of articles have been authored by seemingly normal philosophers about the decidedly abnormal activities of the antagonists of fright flicks. |
Contents
The General Theory of Horrific Appeal | 1 |
The Mastery of Hannibal Lecter | 10 |
Trauma Anxiety and the Ethical Aesthetics of Horror | 25 |
Aristotelian Reflections on Horror and Tragedy in An American Werewolf in London and The Sixth Sense | 47 |
Heidegger the Uncanny and Jacques Tourneurs Horror Films | 65 |
Matters of Time Space Causality and the Schopenhauerian Will | 84 |
Of Invisible and Hollow Men | 105 |
On the Question of the Horror Film | 120 |
Disbelief Mitigation and Spatial Experience | 158 |
Aestheticizing Violence in Modern Cinematic Horror | 174 |
The Slashers Blood Lust | 198 |
Horror Satire Aesthetics and Identification | 212 |
Real Horror | 230 |
265 | |
281 | |
About the Contributors | 291 |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic Alfred Hitchcock American Psycho American Werewolf anxiety argues art-dread art-horror artistic audience Bateman Blair Witch Project body Cambridge Carroll's characters Cinematic Horror cognitive creature cultural Cynthia Da-sein David death depicted desire diegetic discussion disgust effect emotional response entity Essays evil evokes example experience fact fascination fear feel film's Freeland Freud Hannibal Lecter haunted house Heidegger Henry Hollywood horrified horror cinema horror fictions horror films horror genre Ibid imagination invisible Irena killing London Matt Hills metaphor monster monstrous moral murder narration nature Noël Carroll Norman Bates novel object Oxford Philosophy of Horror pleasure plot Psychoanalysis question real horror realist horror reality representation role Routledge scene Schefer Schopenhauer Se7en seems serial killer sexual slasher space spectacle Steven Jay Schneider story suggests supernatural terror theory things thought tragedy tragic trauma uncanny University Press vampire victims viewers violence visual watching werewolf Wittgenstein York