Horror films and its potential threat to society
and to the next generations
A
Research Paper Presented to
The
Faculty of the English Resource Centre
College
of Accountancy and Business
Asia
Pacific College-Magallanes
Magallanes,
Makati
In
Partial Fullfilment
of
the Requirements for the Course
ERESWRIT-Research
Writing
Kevyn
Mikko B. Palad
December
2013
Horror films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden fears, often in a terrifying shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. Watching horror films are said to be one of the usual hobbies most people do, specially after a long and tiring day this can be the best option a group of friends or a family can do. (AMC filmsite written and edited by Tim Dirks from http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html)
To be frightened and scared are the challenges people would want to overcome, and these factors can be seen while watching horrific types of films. Most people are usually in for challenges and they wanted to prove something they also wanted to free themselves from work and other things that causes stress and boredom. Horror films provides the sensation many would want to feel. Horror also provides entertainment and takes away the anxieties that we are facing in the real world for a moment. Because of this, watching horror movies becomes the best option a person could choose to spend their free time with. (Access Science from http://www.accessscience.com/studycenter.aspx?main=18&questionID=5338)
The challenge of being able to withstand the pressure of being devoured by the despair that we can get by watching horror film is really a tough thing to do. The blood sheds, violence and the creep that we see can most likely affect on how we behave and how we see life. Children who frequently watch horrors are the most evident to violence, because as they grow old they bring the actions or scenes they saw from a film into their lives. A child's behavior changes depending on what they can see in their environment or what they actually see in televisions, these are the triggers to a violent child.
One of the common reasons why a person watches horror is because they are pressured. Most people work for a living and they usually work for more than 8-10 hours a day and of course, after a tiring day our goal is to take a rest and have some relaxation that is why most of us watch movies and horror is one of the many genres of films that is being chosen. While a person is sitting and watching horror they somehow feel relieved and at the same time enjoys the film without having to think about everything they need to do.
Also a person watches horror because it has lots of incentives. Most people watches horror with partners, they usually spend their precious time together with their loved ones and horror films can make their relationship stronger and more effective.
Although horror films brought happiness and entertainment to most of us, we should also consider its psychological effects specially to children. Therefore more people should know the effects of watching horror to our body and to our society. having knowledge about this matter can help us understand more about on how it may be beneficial or a threat to humanity.
This paper mainly focuses about knowing the effects of watching horror films to psychology and at the same time on how will it be a serious threat to next generations.
B. Statement of the Problem
This study aims to answer this questions:
1. What are the effects of horror films to our psychology?
2. How can it be a serious threat to future generations?
C. Significance of the study
Parents - This research can help parents guide their children to grow old properly and not becoming a violent person. It aims to provide knowledge about how dangerous a horror film can be and its effects to the brains of the youth, in that way they can teach children what is right and wrong and reality from fantasy.
Teenagers - These research aims to give knowledge to youth that horror can actually be good for the body because it burns calories also,these research aims to give awareness to teens because they are the ones who usually becomes violent these days. This study aims to persuade teens to behave in a proper manner and not easily be affected to what they are seeing on medias or in films. To be able to have a good future teens should be disciplined and become a realistic person that is why they should be knowledgeable about this matter.
Children - This research aims to protect children at a young age from wrong beliefs and violence. The research aims to help kids to grow realistic and well mannered, for them to know what are the dangers of too much watching of horror.
D. Scope and Delimitation
This study focuses on the effects of watching horror films to one's body and on how it can be a threat to the next generations. Watching horror have been considered one of the most favored pass time hobby of lots of people which is why it can greatly affect one's behavior.
Due to time constraints, this study will be emphasizing the effects of watching horror film to a person as well as to the society. How the films are done and the types of film people watches will no longer be discussed.
E. Materials and Methods
The research intends to find patterns and connections to horror films and psychology. The research also aims to make future predictions about the potential threat of horror to the society and to the next generations. It will be informing about the reasons why people watches horror and its benefits, also it will be informing people the potential threat that it carries to the society and its effects to children.
F. Definition of terms
Horror - An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust
Film - A story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images shown in a cinema or in a television.
Psychology - The scientific study of the human minds and its functions.
Threat - A person or a thing likely to cause damage or danger
Advantage - A condition or circumstances that puts one in a favorable or superior position.
Chapter 2
DISCUSSION
How can watching
horror film be a serious threat to the society and for the next
generations?
I. Definition of Horror Films
Horror films are
unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and
alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying,
shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same
time in a cathartic experience.Horror films effectively center on the
dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events.
They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares,
our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the
unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or
fear of sexuality. (AMC filmsite written and edited by Tim Dirks from
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html)
Horror films are
known to be one of the favorite genres of films that most people
watch because of their unique style of entertainment and on how they
are giving impact to the audiences. Horror films has began since the
year 1990s and has evolved into a more fascinating and to a whole new
different type of film. Through the years horror films becomes even
more realistic which is why most people are attracted to watch this
kind of film. There have been numerous horror films which portrayed
as a ideal horror film and those are (The Last Exorcism, The
Conjuring) which made the horror industry well knowned. Horror movies
provide a unique space for free discourse about the moral, political
and societal shifts in our communal paradigms.
II. Watching horror
can affect a person's psychology
It is a proven fact
that most people love to be scared by horror films. They simply love
the terror and blood gores they are seeing in the movies they watch.
Watching such films is quite acceptable provided that you know the
precautions you need to know because you will never know when and how
you would be affected by such movies.
More and more people
are enticed to watch horror films, whenever they have free time or
they feel bored they usually take watching horror films as one of
their favorite pass time. Most people watches these kind of movies
not knowing that there can be an effect to them psychologically.
Whenever they are watching horror films they can be more aggressive
and agitated which makes way of the secretion of chemicals in the
brain which is good for the body but it also has an effect on how we
behave and how we look into life.
In the article the
researcher have read written by Lisa Merriam entitled "Psychological
effects of Horror movies" she discussed there the following:
When a person watches
horror it hypes them up to take risks the same way the characters in
the movie portray, they are having this satisfaction of doing risks
because they feel greater happiness after doing such activity hence,
it creates an illusion which makes them think that what they are
doing wrong is logical and acknowledged by other people.
"Repeatedly watching gory horror movies can desensitize a person to violence, which could theoretically alter a person’s behavior. People might also develop changes in there startle reflex’s, either being startled easier or startling less easier because they are used to more high anxiety situations. Horror movies could, for some people, be effective tools for treating fears and phobias”(from http://diminishthestigma.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/psychological-effects-of-horror-films/)
She mentioned that
when a person usually watch horror films it may actually affect them
on how they think and on how they behave. They might become violent
or they can become a person who thinks illogically. Watching horror
films can also trigger one's fear, it may bring trauma which can
really affect on how they act and behave.
Watching horror film
can also bring sleeping disorders to a person. Right after watching a
horror film the gores and blood-shedding experiences they saw from
the movie will not always be easily forgotten. They will bring that
experience until they sleep. Some persons are usually thinking about
what had happened before they even sleep and so the terror of the
film they watch continues to scare them while they are trying to
sleep which makes them unable to do so. They might even experience
certain phobias because of these horrors they have watched from the
past which can really make them change their behavior.
A.
It may affect children's behavior
Watching horror films
are popular to most children they choose this kind of movies rather
than watching movies for kids. Children nowadays are prone to action
and suspense type of movies which is why they are the ones who are
greatly affected by the changing of behavior towards life and to
other people they meet.
In this article the
researcher encountered that is entitled "Scary
movies can have lasting effects on children and teens, study says"
Written by Bernie Degroat says that:
In their study "Tales from the Screen: Enduring Fright Reactions to Scary Media," U-M researcher Kristen Harrison and colleague Joanne Cantor of the University of Wisconsin found that 90 percent of the study's participants (more than 150 college students at Michigan and Wisconsin) reported a media fright reaction from childhood or adolescence. Moreover, about 26 percent still experience a "residual anxiety" today.
It
just shows that horror really does have an effect to us whether your
an adult or not, but mostly they youths are the ones who experience
this fright reactions because they are more vulnerable compared to
the adults.
They
also stated the following:
"This may not
be surprising, but the proportion of participants--one in four--who
reported fright effects that they were still experiencing indicates
that these responses should be of major concern," says Harrison,
assistant professor of communication studies. "These effects
were more serious than jumpiness at a slammed door or the need to use
a nightlight. They ranged from an inability to sleep through the
night for months after exposure, to steadfast and continuing
avoidance of the situations portrayed in the programs and movies."
Various effects may
be seen through watching horror films that may really affect children
on how they live. They may become more violent than before, they can
experience traumas which may affect on how they interact to people
and on how they see life in general.
III. It can be a
potential threat to the next generations
Although horror film
is one of the most known genres that people usually watch, it is
still advisable to know the limitations that these kind of movies
carries. Films may greatly affect the behavior of kids, once they are
into the movie they tend to somewhat absorb the scenes and may
sometimes apply it to the real life. Once children are used to
watching these kind of movies they will also act the same way as the
character in the movie they watch portray may it be action, suspense
or horror, and once they are into this kind of film they can be
causing violence to themselves and to other people.
Children are most likely to be adaptive to what they see and hear from their surroundings and that is the reason why most teens as they grow becomes a little violent. One of the reasons of this is watching horror film. They usually become violent because they want to express their thoughts through their actions, because these actions are also made in the movies they saw not knowing that the courses of actions they are taking are wrong.
Most of the time of
the youths are consumed in front of media which is why they are the
ones who are most affected by these threat every registering scenes
in a child's mind can actually have a really great effect in their
lives as they grow old, they may bring this in their puberty stage
and may become violent which can affect the society.
Children sees line and fantasy blurred. They live in the magical world of Santa clause and Easter bunny while the images of monsters,ghosts, human predators, bodily mutilation and blood and gore can feel just as real and can be emotionally absorbed as easily as the image and positive emotional impact of Santa.Which is why they believed that horror is reality and that can be the cause of violence.(http://www.tidewaterparent.com/2013/10/22/can-watching-horror-films-harmful-children/)
When children becomes
prone to a horror type of film they become so violent that they
sometimes hurt others. They continously become aggressive which may
be a cause of bullying. Most children who are being bullied becomes
weak emotionally and have lesser self-esteem compared to other kids
which can cause attitude problems towards their academics and to how
they see life.
A. Bullying can
cause long lasting effect on children
In the article written by Girlwithalessonplan entitled "How does bullying affect a child's development" says that:
"Bullying can have long-term mental effects on children. Typically, bullied students are already physically and emotionally weaker, and the bullying only compounds these already present emotions. Intense bullying can be linked to anxiety and depression before physical violence is ever (IF ever) involved." (http://teamteachers.tumblr.com/post/5526295745/how-does-bullying-affect-a-childs-development-how)
Which means that the
results of bullying can really affect the development of a child. If
they are often bullied by people who are violent their
self-confidence will really be degraded which can actually harm the
society as well. If more children are being involved with violence
more children as well will be bullied and that will be a major
concern for the industry because if more people who has low
self-confidence are produced it will greatly affect the society's
welfare.
The effect of watching
horror films does not only affect the psychology of people but also
it has an extremely negative effect to the society as well if not
properly guided. There are various reasons of why it can be a problem
to the society as well
B. It can affect
the economy
In
the article entitled “Violence and economics” from Cure violence
they stated that:
"The
psychological costs of violence equally contribute to this economic
quicksand. Children who witness violence are more likely to perform
poorly in school, suffer cognitive and emotional disorders, lack
motivation and have increased susceptibility to violence themselves.
Anxiety and grief from such tragedies further result in lost hours,
lost wages and limited opportunities.Not only does violence
negatively impact the financial opportunities of those directly
involved in a conflict—hospital costs, medical treatment, lost
wages, missed opportunities, investigation and court costs—but it
also hinders an entire communities’ potential to grow." (From
Cure violence
http://cureviolence.org/violence-interruption/violence-and-economics/)
If more of these
children becomes prone to violence it will only contribute to the
increase of crime rates and unemployment that is why parents should
really be considering the effects of watching horror films to their
kids because nobody knows when and how they can be affected by these
behavioral changes.
CHAPTER 3
Summary,Conclusions,
and recommendations
SUMMARY
This paper attempted to determine the possible psychological effects of watching horror films and at the same time to know how will it become a potential threat to the society and for the future generations.
The research design used in this study is the descriptive method where different articles and sources are read by the researcher to find the answers to different questions that is stated. The research findings are the following.
1. Watching horror can have psychological effects to a person which can greatly affect on how they live.
2. Children can become more violent and aggressive if they are often watching horror films
3. Horror films may be a potential threat to the society and to the future generations in a way that it may produce violence and misbehavior of people specially the children.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. There are several psychological effects of watching horror films that can totally change a person's behavior and lifestyle.
2. It may be a potential threat to the society and for the next generation if children are not properly guided and oriented by the possible side effects of watching such films.
RECOMMENDATION
After drawing the conclusions, the researcher hereby states the following recommendations.
1. For those who will be watching horror be sure to be prepared for the effects and consequences that it may bring.
2. We should not let the terror and the wrong doings of what we watch enter our lives, violence is not the answer for violence.
3. Parents should always be guiding their child so as for them to be secured from any harm and threats that horror may bring to their lives.
REFERENCES
A. Electronic media
Cure Violence, "Violence and economics" from
From Cure violence http://cureviolence.org/violence-interruption/violence-and-economics/)
Ross, Lawrence PhD " Can watching horror films be harmful to our children? " From http://www.tidewaterparent.com/2013/10/22/can-watching-horror-films-harmful-children/
Merriam, Lisa " Psychological effects of horror films." From http://diminishthestigma.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/psychological-effects-of-horror-films/
Girlwithlessonplan, " How does bullying affect a child's behavior." from http://teamteachers.tumblr.com/post/5526295745/how-does-bullying-affect-a-childs-development-how
Degroat, Bernie " Scary movies can have lasting effect on a child's behavior." from http://ur.umich.edu/9899/Mar29_99/9.htm
