Home→Forums→Spirituality→does horror damage us? is it bad to be interested in horror?
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February 23, 2016 at 8:54 am #96892
WisdomParticipanti really love horror movies. i think they’re fantastic. not so much gore, but just the trip it gives you, it’s…fun. but is that bad for us spiritually? what does this do to us spiritually? to just watch a movie. i don’t really know how to explain how i feel but i like horror movies, but i’m afraid of the dark so at night it’s awkward to sleep or try to sleep rather haha! and i feel sort of watched. or unsafe. it could be simple anxiety. plain ol’ anxiety. but does this damage us? watching horror movies or feeling fear and anxious? i’ve already tried looking it up for myself to see what i could find about it online but i either couldn’t get an answer or i came across these lengthy christian rants that did say “yes” or “no”. should i feel bad for liking horror movies? does this make me like…a certain kind of person?
February 23, 2016 at 11:37 am #96914
AnonymousGuestDear Wisdom:
I too used to love horror movies, not the really terrible gore, but scary. I used to derive lots and lots of pleasure from scary movies. I would still watch maybe psycho scary movies, movies like the original Psycho that started me on the path of scary movies to the later Fatal Attraction to others. There is a neurological relief or release- for an anxious person- to watch such movies, similar maybe to the pleasure many derive from going on scary theme rides!
I don’t think at all you should feel bad about liking horror movies. I don’t think you should feel bad for anything at all that we feel. We don’t choose our feelings, they just happen, so what is the reasoning behind judging ourselves for what we do not choose, for what we do not have the ability to choose? We are not able to choose what we feel, only what we do.
Watching scary movies while I was a very anxious person, was paradoxically a release, a way to make myself feel better. I am not in touch, in my own mind at this moment, with the science behind it, but I know there is a very scientific explanation to it. Maybe someone reading this thread is aware of it!
anita
February 23, 2016 at 12:30 pm #96925
JoeParticipantHi Wisdom! This is an interesting topic here!
I used to love all kinds of horror movies but now not so much. When I say horror movies, I mean the more extreme, graphic stuff – extreme blood and guts, demons, you name it…I’m still very much into the macabre genre of things – I love spooky stuff and I do have a morbid sense of humour at times but only at a Tim Burton level of spooky. The only horror movies I love watching are the trashy old B-list horror movies (Revenge Of The Killer Tomatoes), Elvira Mistress Of The Dark and like Anita, I also love psychological thrillers like Fatal Attraction and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.
I studied media studies when I was 17 and we had to explore why horror was so popular – people are just curious about horror because it’s a release thing, it’s a safer way of exploring darker subject matter without actually partaking in any of that kind of thing. I also read a movie magazine which suggested that as humans, we are naturally driven to horror and fear on an evolutionary level and that’s why we love watching horror films so much.
Maybe we just love watching horror as some kind of release or escape from reality – who hasn’t imagined or thought about what they would do if they were caught in a zombie apocalypse?
February 23, 2016 at 2:21 pm #96936WisdomParticipantanita and joe –
i’m so glad i wasn’t the only one! i feel WAY better than i did before about the whole thing. i think what really did it for me was texas chain saw massacre. i saw it for the first time just two days ago and i felt so bad for liking the movie so much (esp. because it was based on a real thing). that one movie was out of my boundaries, i usually stick to the shining and anything else that’s more of a psyche trip. i like the idea of liking whatever we should like without a pause and maybe a lot of people mistake their anxiety for “whoa what’s happening to me right now/what am i bringing to myself and is this what i really want?” but in this case, maybe it could be fictional. maybe it is just us enjoying our natural way of feeling fear.
would you guys say that maybe that brings a balance for us? like how it’s not necessarily realistic for us to be happy all the time. sometimes we’ll feel sad or mad because of whatever may happen. so maybe this is the same? fear being the opposite of us feeling neutral or in total control?
February 23, 2016 at 2:46 pm #96941AnonymousGuestDear Wisdom:
Indeed you are not the only one. After all there wouldn’t be horror movies produced if it wasn’t for millions of people willing and interesting in spending the money to see these movies. Yes, The Shining, big fan. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: I think of it when I have chili…that chili competition. And yes, fear, sadness, anger, all the feelings we feel, we feel them because we are supposed to. We are born encoded to feel all the feelings that we do. Let yourself feel them all without judgment.
Fear is the opposite of feeling in total control, absolutely… although I don’t remember ever feeling in total control and I know I never was in total control of my person and my life and never will.
Excellent topic and thread, Wisdom! I think this counts as the daily assignment, third day!
anita
February 23, 2016 at 3:00 pm #96944WisdomParticipantthis could stand for the thrid day of the assignment! i’m glad you challenged me to do something new and different everyday anita!
February 23, 2016 at 3:02 pm #96945AnonymousGuestDear wisdom:
My pleasure! I sincerely like the way you are developing and expanding! I am thrilled to witness you expanding!!!
anita
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