Uses and Gratification
Uses and gratification theory looks at why and how people seek out specific media/texts to satisfy specific needs. Uses and gratification is an audience-centered approach to understand what the audience wants in a certain piece of media and how to communicate with them through that piece.
As for horror, we must look at what the audience want in horror films and why they watch it. This does connect with my "Why do people watch horror films" post seeing as we do look at the reasons behind it.
Dr. Goldstein:
Goldstein suggests that people watch horror films because they want to be frightened, because otherwise they wouldn't keep going to them. People choose to watch these films because they want it to affect them, and in order to feel satisfied at the end there must be a resolution. Audiences can control how much or how little something will affect them, therefore some people may not be affected at all.
Dr. Walters:
There are many factors that make people want to watch horror over and over again, regardless of the story or whether it includes their fears. This could be because of how tension is built, the relevance of the film towards real life issues, and the unrealism of the actual film. However, people don't want things to be too realistic, which is why there needs to be distance between the events in the film and real life events.
Walters looked at results from a study conducted by Haidt, McCauley and Rozin (1994) which looked at disgust amongst audiences. College students were exposed to three documentaries showing real life horrors. These included cows being slaughtered, a monkey having its skull cracked open with a hammer and a child's facial skin being turned inside out in a surgery. 90% of the students turned off the videos before they finished, yet these same individuals said they would pay to watch a far more disturbing horror film, which does greatly contradict what was recorded in the study.
Dr. Carl Jung:
Jung believed that horror films made primordial archetypes, buried in our subconscious, surface. In which these archetypes are innate characteristics “imprinted” on as a result of evolution. Fear of the dark, or of snakes and spiders are examples that are used in the theory of prepared conditioning; that these fears have come from our ancestors experiences and have been genetically passed through evolution seeing as those who stayed away from these fears or faced up to them tend to survive more. So, it looks at how horror films enables us to face these "innate" fears and allows us to "survive" it the more we are exposed to it. However, theories like this are hard to prove with scientific evidence, so we cannot say whether it's a valid reason to why we watch horror films.
In my short film, I will apply these theories, especially Walter's theory, to my story and production. I will make sure that my production will satisfy the needs of my audience and ensure that the right emotions are induced when watching the film. The reason why I chose Walter's theory is because I agree that people are more likely to watch something that doesn't represent real life to an extent. Personally, I would rather watch a horror film that is unrealistic than a video clip of something that has occurred - knowing that a violent/gruesome clip was a real event will make people worry that it could happen to them, even if the chances are low.
As for horror, we must look at what the audience want in horror films and why they watch it. This does connect with my "Why do people watch horror films" post seeing as we do look at the reasons behind it.
Dr. Goldstein:
Goldstein suggests that people watch horror films because they want to be frightened, because otherwise they wouldn't keep going to them. People choose to watch these films because they want it to affect them, and in order to feel satisfied at the end there must be a resolution. Audiences can control how much or how little something will affect them, therefore some people may not be affected at all.
Dr. Walters:
There are many factors that make people want to watch horror over and over again, regardless of the story or whether it includes their fears. This could be because of how tension is built, the relevance of the film towards real life issues, and the unrealism of the actual film. However, people don't want things to be too realistic, which is why there needs to be distance between the events in the film and real life events.
Walters looked at results from a study conducted by Haidt, McCauley and Rozin (1994) which looked at disgust amongst audiences. College students were exposed to three documentaries showing real life horrors. These included cows being slaughtered, a monkey having its skull cracked open with a hammer and a child's facial skin being turned inside out in a surgery. 90% of the students turned off the videos before they finished, yet these same individuals said they would pay to watch a far more disturbing horror film, which does greatly contradict what was recorded in the study.
Dr. Carl Jung:
Jung believed that horror films made primordial archetypes, buried in our subconscious, surface. In which these archetypes are innate characteristics “imprinted” on as a result of evolution. Fear of the dark, or of snakes and spiders are examples that are used in the theory of prepared conditioning; that these fears have come from our ancestors experiences and have been genetically passed through evolution seeing as those who stayed away from these fears or faced up to them tend to survive more. So, it looks at how horror films enables us to face these "innate" fears and allows us to "survive" it the more we are exposed to it. However, theories like this are hard to prove with scientific evidence, so we cannot say whether it's a valid reason to why we watch horror films.
In my short film, I will apply these theories, especially Walter's theory, to my story and production. I will make sure that my production will satisfy the needs of my audience and ensure that the right emotions are induced when watching the film. The reason why I chose Walter's theory is because I agree that people are more likely to watch something that doesn't represent real life to an extent. Personally, I would rather watch a horror film that is unrealistic than a video clip of something that has occurred - knowing that a violent/gruesome clip was a real event will make people worry that it could happen to them, even if the chances are low.
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