Darkness Falls, a film about an evil tooth fairy
seeking her vengeance upon a small town, introduced me to a world full of
horror. Nosferatu was another
film I watched as a child, when I became especially interested after it was
referenced by Spongebob Squarepants. After
viewing them, both of these films crept into my rampant imagination and I
feared that a monster would appear in my bedroom at any moment. However, I knew that my mother and father
were only one room away. Their love for
me discouraged any reason for panic.
Perhaps this idea of comfort came from the movies themselves. From all of the horror films that I will talk
about in this paper, the audience take-away relates directly to moral
obligation, Christian religion (and I’m sure other religions, Christianity is
what I’m familiar with), and typical Hollywood romance: love solves all and will save us from all
evil.
The Electric House is a movie full of
playful humor. In the film, we see that the electronics created begin to
develop a mind of their own, while the maker strives to maintain control. (This
reminds me of the last Transformers film I viewed; the idea that technology is
going to take over the world has apparently been a thought for some time.) While
the wealthy man who hired the “electrician” becomes upset due to the adverse
consequences of his technologies, he is willing to allow him to drown. However, the infatuation, or love, felt by
his daughter saves his life.
Stereotypical romance existed even in such early films.
In a more religious example, Frankenstein
(in Edison’s Frankenstein) wishes to create a perfect man, breeding the
notion that he can form a human greater than the human creation of God. Although
Frankenstein has only the best of intentions in creating a “perfect man”, his
frightening scientific development grows in a black cauldron and stems from his
evil psychological side, showing the audience that human creation could likely
result in horror, rather than in anything good.
This film fosters a lesson in how even in our best intentions, the
“flesh” easily has the ability to overpower good motives. On top of the subtle religious context and
despite the massive mistake that Frankenstein has made, he, of course, is
comforted by his fiancé.
Although The Unknown doesn’t involve
the fear of advancements in technology, the film concerns an evil love affair
and obsession. Alonzo, driven by his
fixation on Nanon, cuts a limb off from his body and intends on killing her
lover in order to win Nanon over for himself.
However, the film ends with Alonzo’s death, and a romantic Hollywood
ending between Nanon and Malabar.
An exception to my above thesis that I
wanted to mention are some of the Edison shorts that we viewed in class. Although people continued the humdrum of life
in a brainwashed capitalistic society, they at least had the perception of an
escape during the movies that Edison created. The shorts that we viewed provided an
adrenaline rush for the audience, rather than a lesson of compassion. This is clear in “Burlesque Suicide,” “Execution
of Mary, Queen of Scots,” and “The Dream of a Rarebit Friend.” While these films are over a century old, I
even found myself jumping at the camera tricks that were used. As Gunning writes about the phenomenon of
shock the “Arrival of a Train at the Station,” viewers were traumatized by the
image taken to life.
While the horror film represents fantasy,
we continue to live in a world where technology increases and mental illness
prevails. Maybe the fears that are
present due to horror films are more real than we might think! But never fear! If endings in horror films also have a sense
of realism, love will always prevail in the end! The two sides represented in a horror film tie
back into the definite sense of good and evil that defines Christianity, as God
is the definition of unconditional love, and Satan is the ultimate evil. In
most of these movies, it’s romantic love that fixes the problem which
furthermore relates back to God and the heterosexual monogamous relationship
that is love between a man and a woman.
Even so, if you are haunted or in danger, know that your sweetheart will
be there to save you; and if you don’t have one, the good guys always have your
back.
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