Both Hendrix (2018) and King (2010) take us through the horror history of the 60s 70s and 80s. Using references, explain this process in your own words, then think about the current trends of horror movies in your lifetime. What kinds of social or political changes in the world during these times do you think can be reflected in the horror you’ve read/watched/heard from that particular era?
Horror is a unique genre that never seems to go out of fashion. While its popularity may ebb and flow, throughout the last sixty years there’s been a consistency in the genre, and each decade horror has reflected the societal and political atmosphere of the time. According to Prince (2004), audiences never tire of horror because they’ll never stop being frightened about the society they live in. Hendrix (2017, page 9) agrees, saying, “more than any other genre, horror is a product of its time,” meaning the social and political changes within society largely influence the types of horror produced.
The 1960s was a decade defined by its interest in satanism, the occult and astrology (Hendrix, 2017). During the late 60s and early 70s, horror was forever changed with the introduction of three books – Rosemary’s Baby, The Other and The Exorcist (Hendrix, 2017). Every paperback now needed Satan on the cover, and it needed to be compared to these three books in order to sell (Hendrix, 2017).
As the 60s and 70s progressed, the sociological conflict of changing gender roles and the family institute saw a rise in demon or killer child horror (Prince, 2004). The contraceptive pill was invented in 1960, IUDs were introduced in 1968, abortion was legalized in 1973, and the first successful IVF occurred in 1978 (Hendrix, 2017). The changing rules around reproduction and the massive advancements in contraception and fertility saw an emergence of fear in pregnancy and childbirth (Hendrix, 2017). Horrors such as The Omen and The Exorcist reflected these fears, and many books and films revolved around vulnerable women during pregnancy and labor, hospitals experimenting on human fetuses, and doctors warning people about ‘playing God’. The message implied that women should have babies the way nature intended rather than experimenting with scientific advancements (Hendrix, 2017).
The 70s also saw a rise in animal and nature horrors, such as Jaws and The Fog. This was due to several environmental catastrophes that saw a slew of protective laws being passed in the United States, as well as the foundation of Greenpeace (Hendrix, 2017). While it was established that nature needed to be protected from humans, the horror from this time asked who would protect humans from nature (Hendrix, 2017). The 70s were also defined by high inflation, unemployment, the oil crisis, recession, school desegregation and high crime, and horror answered with the haunted house story reaching critical mass (Hendrix, 2017). These stories spoke to people and addressed their anxieties around class, mortage and equity (Hendrix, 2017). Plus, there was nothing more terrifying to a family who had barely scraped enough money for a house for it to end up being haunted (Hendrix, 2017). The civil unrest, riots and increase in crime during this time period also saw approximately six million Americans leave the cities for the countryside. This saw the rise of folk horror such as The Wicker Man, as well as many stories involving America’s rural communities being built on cursed land (Hendrix, 2017).
By the 1980s, a new type of horror in society emerged. The HIV/AIDs epidemic in 1981 heightened fears around human contact and the poisoning of bodily fluid, and from this came Anne Rice’s vampire novels (Hendrix, 2017). Vampires tuned into the fears of swapping blood, but they also humanized the idea of the other and symbolized our attitudes towards outsiders and the AIDs epidemic (Hendrix, 2017). By the mid-1980s the Satanic Panic was in its crux, and in 1985 the Parents Music Resource Center issued their ‘Filthy 15’ blacklist of metal bands they felt were encouraging satanism (Hendrix, 2017). Horror answered with the rise in splatterpunk, offering excessive gore and juvenile nihilism that went hand in hand with metal music as they both rebelled against the conservative authority of the day (Hendrix, 2017).
In terms of horror from my own lifetime, I think there is a definite continuation of films and books reflecting the social and political climate. For example, Get Out (2017) explores the issues of benevolent and casual racism, and exposes just how truly horrifying that racism is (Wilkinson, 2017). Protests against police brutality and systematic racism have been extensive within the last few years, most notably the Black Lives Matter movement, and films such as Get Out explore one of the very real fears of living as a Black person in America, that of being objectified or colonized by another consciousness (Wilkinson, 2017). Duchaney (2015) argues that modern horror filmmakers are exploring the psychological, and instead of preying on people’s anxieties of what could happen, they focus on an already established real-world fear. Get Out does this by showing us the very real fear of racism, and exposes just how prevalent it is in our society and what its horrifying consequences are.
References
Duchaney, B. (2015). The spark of fear: Technology, society and the horror film. McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers.
Hendrix, G. (2017). Paperbacks from hell: The twisted history of ‘70s and ‘80s horror fiction. Quirk Books.
Prince, S. (2004). Introduction: The dark genre and its paradoxes. In Prince, S. (Eds.), The horror film (pp. 1-15). Rutgers University Press.
Wilkinson, A. (2017, February 25). Get Out is a horror film about benevolent racism. It’s spine-chilling. Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/24/14698632/get-out-review-jordan-peele
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