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Hedonic Ambivalence: The Paradox Of Horror Film

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The movie industry is a main factor of each society in the new world; no country around the globe lacks movie theatres, TV channels specialized in broadcasting movies, or, naturally, the Internet where you can access any movie in the history of cinema. Various studies have been done on the emotional and behavioral effects movies from all genres can cause to their audiences who differ in age, interests, social stance and other significant variations. However a specific genre has predominantly gained most of the attention in researches and it is that kind of movies that show unpleasant events and how they attract a large base of audiences. Keisner (2008) discusses a specific subgenre which is called slasher, a category of horror cinema typically …show more content…

Despite the fact that pain is a feeling that we as humans naturally loathe, when put in specific contexts, we tend to be attracted to it. "Hedonic ambivalence" is the name of the phenomenon of finding pleasure in something one perceives as painful. There are two types of ambivalence, weak ambivalence and strong ambivalence; weak ambivalence refers to the enjoyment experienced of something that includes painful portions while strong ambivalence refers to the enjoyment that is essentially based on the painful portions. Weak ambivalence is not hard to grasp as for example you can enjoy a fast and energetic action movie even though it might cause you a headache. But it is different with strong ambivalence, as when you enjoy any food filled with spices or take a ride on a terrifying roller coaster while screaming madly, the enjoyment is boosted by the fact that you experience pain. There is a similarity between how masochists experience pain as they welcome the feeling mainly because they enjoy the thought of pain infliction on them and the previously mentioned example. And it is the same with horror; sometimes when taking a painful feeling and putting it in a certain context, it becomes welcomed. We might not enjoy the spices if we are not eating that particular type of food and we might not enjoy the feeling of falling from a building even though it is the same idea of a roller coaster because we feel safe and assured on it, hence the context is essential for this concept to be applied and for pain to be

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Everyone has experienced pain, but we all deal with it differently. Some people try to avoid experiencing pain, for they are scared; while others accept their punishment and agony. Moral people tolerate their pain and trauma by making their traumatic experience meaningful and important. They learn from their punishment and try to provide insight. In the stories of Antigone and Boycott, Letter From Birmingham Jail, righteous people fought for their beliefs without violence and dealt with their suffering without hesitation.

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He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.” He is claiming that man is the only animal that inflicts pain on others for his enjoyment. Further proving that man commits the act of violence and torture for his pleasure. Making man a person that enjoys the pain of other human beings. Another example of man being cruel to others is in the Nanking massacre on December 13, 1937.

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Pain, discomfort, suffering, depression, does not exist. Citizens of this world are conditioned from a young age to seek pleasure above all: to be satisfied with where they are, to be addicted to a drug that takes away all negative emotions, to be “happy. ”When young they are conditioned to like certain things, like outdoor sports, but have a disdain for other things, such as flowers. In this situation, people would enjoy the recreational use of the outdoors, but dislike it enough that they want to come back to the city. Essentially, they are conditioned to ultimately “consume manufactured articles as well as transportation”(Huxley 23).

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We can’t act like were okay all the time as if we didn’t have any problems of our own because than sooner or later we’ll have to let them out. We might not know how to deal with our anxieties and fears. That’s why King believes that the horror movies help us with them. We are able to portray ourselves as the monster, letting us have some sort of psychic relief. Klosterman gives an example with horror as to how our society is turning.

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There are multiple people who are intrigue and love horror movies without knowing the reason. In Stephan Kings essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” he does his best to find an answer to the question “why do people crave horror movies?” Throughout his essay he came up with certain key points to answer the question. At the beginning of his essay, he makes a bold statement that “we are all mentally ill.” He motions that people just watch horror movies to portray their fearlessness while suppressing their true emotions.

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Conclusively, the ‘Experience Machine’ has illustrated an intriguing counter-argument to the hedonistic claims. By illustrating the concerns and problems of the machine Nozick in turn reveals flaws in the belief that the maximisation of pleasure and minimisation of pain is all that is required for one 's wellbeing. However, it is (arguably) equally as easy to find flaws in some of Nozick’s claims too. In this way, the ‘Experience Machine’ can be considered effective in the sense that it questions the hedonist and the concept of pleasure as holding the most intrinsic value yet still not fully convincing enough to fully dismiss the

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In the article “Why Do We Crave Horror Movies” King shows the idea of why humans crave to watch horror movies. To watch horror movies, people show to others that they have no fear of these things. King’s argument is that the horror films is a way for people to get the sense of normality. King believes that “We also go to re-establish our feelings of essential normality; the horror movie is innately conservative, even reactionary” (King 16). Re-establishing our feelings of essential normality allows us to release our emotions and enjoy our time watching horror films.

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It is important for the body to feel pain because nerve cells let out pain signals to indicate something is wrong. It is also important for the body to feel emotions so the person can feel the tendencies to run for their life or a sense of importance. As a result, these physical qualities of the body can allow unhappiness when one feels too much pain that is unbearable, or when one cannot sleep because they are too stressed. The second way the body brings unhappiness is through the sense of beauty, where “beauty presents itself to [people’s] sense and [peoples] judgment” (Freud 53). People’s sense of beauty to themselves or others is perceived through their own

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Is it because why like the thrill of it? Stephen king thought, “i think we’re all mentally ill” (king, Why we crave ). King might have an idea of why we crave horror. He states that maybe all of us have that one feeling of murder or horrible. “When we pay our four or five bucks and seat, we are daring the nightmare’’, (king, why we crave 1).

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