Stephen King Why Do We Crave Horror

Why Do We Crave Horror? Horror is a genre that has been used by many throughout time, and more often than not, people worldwide enjoy a good thrill. Though the thrill we receive today is a bit more tame than in 246 BC, which was a time when gladiators would fight beasts of nature like tigers or even other gladiators. Many gathered to watch the duels with family as something they all could enjoy. To feel the same enjoyment as everyone else. Today we do just that, though watching a beheading in today’s time would be heinous and traumatizing. Rather we watch classic cabin in the woods films or an average family attempting to ward off a demon. Though the way we view horror has changed, the feelings those films bring us has not. In Stephen King’s
In fact, Paul J. Patterson, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and co-director of Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation Studies at Saint Joseph’s University explains that, “You can see throughout history how each generation has defined ‘horror,’ and it turns largely on the idea of something outside of our understanding threatening us. Books and films allow us to imagine or experience our desire to defeat what is hunting and haunting us on a splashy canvas.” In other words, watching horror films help the viewers face their fears without confronting it physically. More like they’re facing it mentally as they watch characters fight for their lives and face their own demons. As part of the human condition we experience fear, nearly everyone is afraid of the same thing, death. The viewers are really, “daring the nightmare” throughout the movies (King, “Why We” 1).The biggest realization that they too are on the journey of life which eventually ends in death. Though it isn’t likely that you’d be taken down by cannibalistic psychopath but the thought of such things gives keeps you thinking as well as on the edge of your