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 life time. What kinds of social of 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?

In the 1960s, changes were abundant concerning control over a woman’s body. In 1960, ‘The Pill’ was released in the public market, a drug with the ability to contain a woman’s hormones to prevent pregnancy. IUDs were released into the market in 1968. And then in 1973, abortion was legalized. Many horror films in this period also featured “evil children”. These children were prevalent in films of this era precisely because of the increasing fear regarding children, birth and pregnancies. Children in these films were “evil” in various ways, whether they were feral, ghosts, possessed or a result of monstrous births (Renner, 2016). However, in most of these pieces, the children were merely vessels of evil, they were faultless and absolved of sin (Renner, 2016). Though the blame most often lied with demoms/devils, often blame lies on absent or neglectful parenting. This brings up fears in parents. Especially with new medicines and technologies regarding children, inner fears were raised as to whether these could result in long-term harm to children. Some iconic evil children in media during this time period include the baby from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1968), Damien from ‘The Omen (1976), the children in ‘The Brood’ (1979) and Regan from ‘The Exorcist’ (1973).

The 1970s had a rise in horror films of two genres, the haunted house genre and folk genre. The early 70s was the height of the hippy movement, with many people forsaking traditional religion and leaving “city life” for a more rural existence. This spawned the existence of folk horror, which usually involved an ancient rural cult discovered by an unsuspecting visitor (often from the city). Some famous movies from this genre are ‘The Blood On Satan’s Claw (1971) and ‘The Wicker Man’ (1973). The haunted house genre became prominent in the late 70s. Janicker (2014) says the haunted house is “a byword for the dark side of domesticity and the underbelly of normal society”. In the time this genre became prominent, there was rising unemployment and a national recession. There were anxieties regarding class, mortgages and equity. The ideology of the “perfect” family was obsolete. Some iconic media from this genre includes ‘The Sentinel (1988) and ‘The Shining’ (1980).

In the 70s and 80s, more woman were moving into the workforce. Because of this, their children were often sent to childcare, raising anxieties as to their children’s welfare, especially considering that the workers were usually strangers. This anxiety and paranoia was a major trigger for ‘satanic panic’. It involved hundreds of accusations that devil-worshipping paedophiles were operating America’s white middle-class suburban day care centres (Hughes, 2017). Most of these accusations were unsubstantiated, and was simply the result of mass hysteria. The panic both reflected and shaped a cultural climate dominated by the overlapping worldviews of politically active conservatives (Hughes, 2017). As a result, this time period was bombarded by films and novels based around satanic rituals, cult and possession. Some iconic media from this genre is ‘The Exorcist’ (1973), Possession (1981) and Poltergeist (1982).

There are two current trends in horror. There has been a surge in folk horror, in films such as ‘Heriditary’ (2018) and ‘Midsommar’ (2019). This could be linked to environmental and global warming concerns, and more citizens turning to a ‘green’ lifestyle. There has also been an increase in apocalyptic horror, such as ‘A Quiet Place’ (2018) and ‘Bird Box’ (2018). This also attributes to uncertainty about humanity’s future, due to both environmental and political reasons.

References

Jackinder, R (2014) The Literary Haunted House: Lovecraft, Matheson, King and the Horror in Between. McFarland & Company.

Hughes, S (2017) American Monsters: Tabloid Media and the Satanic Panic 1970–2000.  Journal Of American Studies. Vol. 51, no. 3. 691-719.

Renner, K (2016) Evil children in the popular imagination. Palgrave Macmillian.

3. Carroll (2003) and King (2010) discuss how the “monster” is really a defining feature of a horror story. Using references, explain in your own words how a monster in horror differentiates from monsters in other popular genres.

Monsters as a defining feature of horror is something that can also be said for several other genres and subgenres outside of horror, such as science fiction, fairy tales, myths and odysseys (Carroll, N., 2003). However, both Carroll and King agree on the way in which the monsters in horror stand out and display three distinct themes: the terror, the horror and the disgust (King, S., 1982). Where the monsters in science fiction are often described and portrayed as species whose origins are placed in far away galaxies, undersea societies or communities deep within the earth, the monsters of horror are distinct in the way in which they are both familiar and unfamiliar (Carroll, N., 1990).

Carroll mentions that monsters seen in horror are often portrayed as abnormalities, a mutation or a “disturbance of the natural order” (Carroll, N., 2003). The monster is identified as being an extraordinary creature in a mediocre and ordinary world and this is shown through the means of which that the human characters of the story behave and react in the face of the discovery of such a creature. The human creatures will experience the initial terror and fear of the monster they are witness to, a primal reaction to an impossible threat (King, S., 1982) which is shortly followed by the horror at the realization that such a thing could exist at all in ordinary society to only then to finally experience the last of the trademark reactions to a monster from horror, which is the disgust (Carroll, N., 2003). The revulsion and the nausea that the characters experience, and the inevitable recoil from the monster’s physical contact with the characters. There are numerous examples of this revulsion, but we see it in Harker from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in which Harker shudders when he is touched by the Count.

As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which do what I would, I could not conceal.

Carroll argues that monsters within horror are “impure” (Carroll, N., 2003), that they are not so removed from reality that audiences cannot find something familiar in them, but see it as perverted or twisted by the monstrosity of it. Hanscomb provides examples within his study Existentialism and art-horror: living and dead (vampires, zombies, Frankenstein’s monster), human and beast (werewolves, the Fly), human and supernatural entity (demons, omens), the innocence and corruption/insanity (child possessions and poltergeists), and others (Hanscomb, S., 2010).

King goes further, arguing that what makes a horror monster is the reactions that it elicits from its audiences, the readers or the viewers of the horror tale. The emotions and reactions of the human characters within the creative text of horror must reflect the emotions and reactions of the audience, when a character withdraws into themselves as the monster approaches, the audience must also withdraw. When a character experiences the nausea and the revulsion at the sight of the creature coming towards them, the audience must also experience the same feelings of disgust and discontent (King, S., 1982).

References

Carroll, N. (1990). The philosophy of horror: Or, paradoxes of the heart. Routledge.

Carroll, N. (2003). The nature of horror. Blackwell Publishing.

Goss, T. (2012). What the freak and monster tell us. Conjunctions.

Hanscomb, S. (2010). Existentialism and art-horror. Berghahn Books.

King, S. (1982). Danse Macabre. Everest House.

Sauchelli, A. (2014). Horror and mood. North American Philosophical Publications.

3. According to Joshi (2007), a tale from the Cthulhu Mythos has several defining features that occur regularly throughout Lovecraft’s work. What are these features and how are they used in The Shadow Over Innsmouth? Furthermore, can you see any of these features being used in The Colour out of Space?

Joshi mentions that there are several defining features that can be seen explicitly within Lovecraft’s Mythos. The imaginary New England topography used throughout Lovecraft’s works, the study of occult books, both old and new, by academic researchers, the mention or the explicit interactions between humanity and the “gods” and the perception of the cosmic fear (Joshi, S. T., 2007). These themes can be identified within Lovecraft’s works of The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour out of Space.

Innsmouth was described by Lovecraft as a depopulated seaport in which the neighbours believed it to be “an exaggerated case of civic degeneration.” (Lovecraft, H. P., 1936). Lovecraft goes on with the ticket agent who spends a lengthy amount of time recounting Innsmouth’s history, landscape and geology, focusing upon the Devil Reef where the elderly of the neighbouring Newburyport told stories about devils which could be seen beneath the water “darting in and out” (Lovecraft, H. P., 1936) of the reef tunnels and caves. Furthermore, within The Colour out of Space, Lovecraft describes Arkham and its surrounding terrain in vivid detail, from the rising and wild hills, the valleys of deep woods and the narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically. Lovecraft uses the descriptions of roads overgrown and replaced and the way in which the old had been replaced by the new (Lovecraft, H. P., 1927). By doing this, Lovecraft has used the extensive descriptions of imagined New England to establish feelings of otherness and isolation, creating a framework in which the small and narrow world of his topography becomes a character and an antagonist within itself without personifying it completely.

In The Shadow Over Innsmouth, the protagonist is a studious man on a journey to explore New England as his coming of age, we follow him as he spends an entire evening pulling up as much information on Innsmouth as he can at the Newburyport Public Library as well as attempting to interview locals at stores, open garages and even the fire station in the hopes of discovering more about the mysterious seaport town but is met with cold shoulders and “obscure suspicion” (Lovecraft, H. P., 1936.) throughout his quest of discovery, demonstrating the second theme seen within Lovecraft’s works of the use of both ancient and modern occult books or study and the way in which the protagonist is demonstrated as having an inquisitive and rational mind. Meanwhile, the protagonist of The Colour Out of Space is a surveyor sent to study the new reservoir of Arkham where the locals told him stories about the legends of witches and evil that plagued the area (Lovecraft, H. P., 1927). This protagonist is once more described as a level-headed and rational man, who’s interest in the area stems from an academic or scholarly perception.

Furthermore, throughout Lovecraft’s Mythos is the perception of “cosmic fear” (Sederholm, C., & Weinstock, J. A., 2015) which is used often to negate the idea of human exceptionalism in the face of the immensity and power of the unknown. In Lovecraft’s essay Supernatural Horror in Literature, he says “the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” (Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror 12). This is demonstrated within The Shadow Over Innsmouth with the introduction of the undersea hybrid creatures known as The Deep Ones which acts as the sense of otherness, difference and alien unknowing that is prevalent within the Cthulhu Mythos. Now, while The Colour Out of Space does not cite creatures from the deep sea, it does exhibit the crashing of a meteorite which lands on a farmers property in which a mysterious entity or entities begin to manipulate and change the landscape and those whom reside upon it eventually leading to the mental instability and final death of the humans that had come into contact with it (Mastropierro, L., 2009). The sense of the otherness corrupting that which was once normal and right into something maddening and otherworldly is another demonstration of one of Lovecraft’s trademarks within his Mythos.

References

Joshi, S. T. (2007). Icons of horror and the supernatural: An encyclopedia of our worst nightmares. Greenwood.

Lovecraft, H. P. (1927). The color out of space. Amazing stories.

Lovecraft, H. P. (1936). The shadow over innsmouth. Visionary Publishing Company.

Lowell, M. (2004). Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, The Explicator, 63:1, 47-50, DOI: 10.1080/00144940409597257

Mastropierro, L. (2009). The theme of distance in the tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Hippocampus Press.

Norris, D. (2018). The void. Hippocampus Press.

Sederholm, C., & Weinstock, J. A. (2015). Introduction: Lovecraft now. International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.

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 life time. What kinds of social of 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?

As put simply by Grady Hendrix in Paperbacks from Hell: ‘More than any other genre, horror fiction is a product of it’s time’, and this trend can be seen clearly when examining horror fiction throughout the 20^th century. (Hendrix, 2017) The 30s, a time of intense economical hardship for many, especially Depression-era America, saw a boom in horror, both written and in film. The decade following, however – torn apart and left scarred by WWII – saw interest wane and nearly die off completely. Similar is seen when comparing the sixties, a time of civil and international unrest with a similar disinterest in horror, to the seventies and eighties, which once again experienced a horror boom. ‘These periods almost always seem to coincide with periods of fairly serious economical and/or political strain, and the books and films seem to reflect these free-floating anxieties,’ said Stephen King in describing the cycle in The Danse Macabre, ‘They have done less well in periods when the American people have been faced with outright horror in their lives.’ (King, 1981)

Being a child of the 2000s (2000, to be precise), I have grown up in an era arguably defined by one thing more than anything else: the internet. While the internet existed prior to the new millennium, it is during the two decades since 2000 to now that it has become ubiquitous, ever-present in almost all of our lives, and a force more powerful than perhaps anything else. Accompanying it, from 2010 onwards came the rising force of social media, connecting everyone to everything almost all of the time, for better or for worse.

Aspects from horror media of the past have made reappearances since the millennium – from Warner Brothers’ lacklustre attempts at monster flicks with Dracula Untold (2014)and The Mummy (2017) and the massive resurgence in the popularity of vampires with Twilight, although perhaps the series would be considered horror of a different kind. Internet, however, and it’s presence whether literally or through allegory, seems to be one of the unique aspects of horror in the 21^st Century, especially within the latter decade.

There have been a multitude of horror films to have come out that have focused upon internet and social media. 2014 saw the release of Unfriended, which focused on the haunting and torturing of a group of teenage friends through Skype by a classmate who had been cyberbullied into suicide. While the film’s story was generally panned by critics and audiences alike, it was positively commended for it’s innovation in the incorporation of the internet, both in it’s extensive online marketing, the use of various online applications such as Skype and Chatroulette within the film as storytelling devices, and the theme of cyberbullying and reckless internet usage itself. (Debruge, 2013) While the ‘antagonist’ in the film is represented as the ‘ghost’ of their dead classmate communicating to them through Skype and other applications (‘billie227’), it is clear that this ‘monster’ is more of a representation of the internet in general. As said by King, ‘the tale of horror, no matter how primitive, is allegorical by it’s very nature…it is symbolic’. ‘billie227’ knows almost everything about you; she, he, it, has access to information, images, media, that you forgot or didn’t know you had shared, or perhaps thought was safe in the hands of a single other person; it can expose you with these things at any time should you go against what it asks of you and ruin your life; it can follow you from platform, to platform, to platform – just like the internet.

References

Debruge, P. (2013, August 3). Film Review: ‘Unfriended’. Retrieved from Variety: https://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-cybernatural-1201274261/

Hendrix, G. (2017). Paperbacks from Hell. Philadelphia: Quirk Books.

King, S. (1981). Danse Macabre. New York: Everest House.

The philosophy of cosmicism developed from the materialistic nature of Lovecraft, an american writer. Lovecraft’s works consisted of cosmic horror stories that integrated weird phenomena of alien miscegenation and astral possession.  As a result of Lovecraft’s materialistic nature, the philosophy of cosmicism developed. The philosophy is “a fundamental indifference to humanism and a lack of belief in a God, akin to atheism, recognizes death as an inevitability; for at the center of Cosmicism is a belief in a universe indifferent to the concerns of humankind (Price, “Lovecraft’s Artificial Mythology” 248). According to Lovecraft’s fiction, humans are but part of an ongoing cycle, they are not the last species on planet earth. Lovecraft also states “my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large” (Joshi, 2007, p. 103).

Lovecraft uses cosmicism to create body horror within the ‘Shadow Over Insmouth’ through ‘the deep ones’. The deep ones are a race of human-fish hybrids that are stripped of their humanity, until they essentially look like fish. They are referred to as the other, following the interbreeding with them.  The characteristics of the deep ones include the ability of being immortal.  Their features are repulsive with bulging eyes. Reyes describes body horror as  “fictional representation of the body exceeding itself or falling apart, either opening up or being altered past the point where it would be recognised by normative understandings of human corporeality.” (Reyes, 2014) The narrator as well as protagonist shares family ties with the ‘deep ones’ which boggles his mind, unable to come to terms with  his bond to the ‘other’, resulting in his insanity. (Snyder,2017) Accordingly, cosmiccm is depicted through the protagonist as well as the readers, who experience a feeling of dread as the protagonist despises his transformation into the ‘other’. He begins to question who the other really is, and whether he has been the other all along. The unfathomable is something the readers now have to fathom, they are filled with apprehension when realising they are one with extra terrestrial and gruesome creatures. Once again, Lovecraft makes readers aware of the unknown and the endless unknown creatures, and dread that the unknown brings.

The purpose of cosmicism is to reinforce  dread and terror that already exists according to the laws of science. Lovecraft didn’t write supernatural horror as  he believed that the cosmos within science was terrifying enough. The Color Out of Space uses cosmicism through hinting at signs and images of death and the unknown.  Within ‘The Color Out of Space’ the fate of the patriarch of the Gardner family suggests an outcome worse than the fear of death; the fear of the unknown. (Davis, 2018). The fear of the unknown is exhibited by the meteorite that landed in Arkham, in which residents are completely unaware of its existence or purpose, depicting a force or entity  from the unknown; outside the earth. Human beings have limited understanding of the cosmos evidence for the insignificant place we hold in the grand scheme of the universe (Stableford, 2007). The overwhelmingly colorful appearance of the meteor causes destruction through environmental mutations, and feeds off the energy of living things, eventually leading the  members of the Gardner family insane to the point of perishing.  This sort of event derives from the philosophy of cosmicism in which there is a suggestion that the universes outside of earth contain far more superior entities that humans can not fathom, such as the meteorite. The implementation of colors beseech a hostile cosmic force that is extremely difficult to comprehend on a human-level, thus the first response it is met with is far from fascination, and awe but rather  a sense of fear and dread of the oblivion, ultimately resulting in insanity. (Slaten, 2016). This event perfectly sums up feelings of dread and terror, as one tends to feel substantially insignificant in comparison to a universe filled with unknowns that we have no knowledge of. 

The fear of the unknown is a recurring theme that Lovecraft uses within his works. His philosophy of cosmicism is used within ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’ and ‘The Color Out of Space In order to portray the unknown inevitabilities of the universes, while ingraining terror and dread within the hearts of readers.  

References

Lovecraft, H. P. (1927). The color out of space.

Jones, N. (2020). Lovecraftian Horror Video Lecture. Retrieved from AUT Blackboard.

Lovecraft, H. P. (1936). The shadow over innsmouth.

Reyes, X. (2014). Body Gothic: Corporeal Transgression in Contemporary Literature and Horror Film. University of Wales Press.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). The shadow over innsmouth. Retrieved october 5, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_over_Innsmouth