A Psychoanalytic Approach to Horror - Essay Example

How useful is a psychoanalytic approach to horror? Discuss with reference to 2 films from the horror genre. You may also consider the science-fiction/horror genre hybrid. Name: Lecturer: Course: Date: Introduction The genre of horror has been defined differently. The psychological definitions of horror film genres have traditionally highlighted the fear of particular tentative threat to existential nature, where the threat is imposed by a form of supernatural being (Hutchings 2014). On the other hand, writers of horror films have attempted to describe the genre by using definitions that are short of being practical, something they compensate for, using colourful imagery (Balmain 2008). In many cases however, horror film has be defined as a fictionalized account intended to elicit fear on the audience using an inferred incidence or occurrence of supernatural forces (Walters 2004; Balmain 2008: Hutchings 2014; Prince 2004). Horror films tend to have hidden meanings that are laced into a film so that the audience can absorb in subconscious messaging. The messages may be communicated using signs and symbols that explain certain undertones, like death, fear, or danger (Carrol 1992). The psychoanalysis theory contends that the instincts of “Eros” and “death” are the causal factors of all forms behavioural patterns. While the Eros instinct preserves unity in relationships, the death instinct destroys connections (Beystehne 1998). However, in horror movies, the two instincts tend to repel. However, the repulsion is important for horror films in different ways, which this paper seeks to explore. Based on this backdrop, this essay argues that the psychoanalytic approach serves to contribute to an understanding of viewers’ interest in and response to horror films. This paper explores the significance of a psychoanalytic approach to horror by referring to two films from the horror genre: “Carrie” (1976) and the “Dressed to Kill” (1980). Background of “Carrie” (1976) and the “Dressed to Kill” (1980) “Carrie” (1976) is American horror film that Brian De Palma directed in 1976, although it is basically adapted from Stephen King's 1974 novel titled “Carrie.” In the film, a teenage who is a victim of bullying experiences a high school prom prank. However, after she discovers her telekinesis capabilities, she transforms from an innocent victim into a vengeful tormentor, which makes her a survivor. The monster appears to be the driving force of the films plot. However, although the monsters are basically created to provide some form of moral dilemma, a female monster chiefly exists to offer a commentary on social pressures, including female suppression. In the film Carrie, the social pressures of a teenager, who is a victim of bullying, is suppressed by the society around her, which causes her to resort to applying her supernatural capabilities to terrorise her initial tormentors. In particular, her moral dilemma is rooted in her decision to use her capabilities for evil course, as she is incapable of enduring public humiliation (Shearer 2013). Dressed to Kill (1980) is an American slasher/horror that Brian De Palma directed. It is a story about the murder of a sexually frustrated housewife Kate Miller. In the movie, Kate has visited her psychiatrist in New York called Dr. Elliott. During her therapy, she complaints to her doctor about her sexually unsatisfied life. She attempts to seduce Dr Elliot, but he rebuffs her. Afterwards, she goes to the Metropolitan Museum where she is supposed to meet her husband. On the way, she meets a mysterious strange man who leads her to a taxicab, where they begin to make out. Kate forgets her pant in the taxi. They later have sex in the man’s apartment. After the sex, she finds out that the stranger who she slept with has a venereal disease. However, this information becomes useless when a blonde woman wielding a razor slashes Kate into smithereens inside an elevator on her way out of the stranger’s apartment. Later, a blonde prostitute called Liz who had a glimpse of the murderer ultimately become the key suspect and another target of the murder. Liz later gets together with Peter, who is Kate's son, to catch the killer while seeking to get the police of her back. Analysis The psychoanalytic approach is anchored in the idea that people tend to be unaware of the range of factors that influence their emotions, relationships, and behavioural patterns. Within the context of horror films, such unconscious factors potentially lead to “unhappiness” in the films, which in turn is expressed through varied relevant symptoms, such as disturbing personality traits of the characters, how some characters have self-esteem problems, or find difficulty in relating with other characters (Beystehne 1998). Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who conceived psychoanalysis theory, opined that instincts are the decisive cause of all forms behavioural patterns. In his view, the two basic instincts include “death instinct” and Eros (love) instinct. While the Eros instinct preserves unity in relationships, the death instinct destroys connections. The two instincts may repulsion or attract. Unlike in the dramatic film genre where the two instincts attract, in the horror film genre, the two instincts repel (Beystehne 1998). Engendering tension Through the repulsion of the “Eros” instinct and “death” instinct, the psychoanalytic approach engenders tension in horror films, which sets the genre apart from the dramatic, adventure of action films. The psychoanalytic approach enables horror films to appeal to a sense of gross abnormality or supernatural force on the audience’s psychology, which makes the elements of gross abnormality or supernatural force fundamental features of horror films that appeal to audiences. As Walters (2004) explains, the tension that the psychoanalytic approach generates in horror films is what enables the audience to differentiate them from dramatic, adventure of action films due to the occurrence of eerie, inhuman, or unearthly forces. A film like “Carrie” reflects sagacity of the supernatural where “Carrie” has an instinct to kill. In “Dressed to Kill,” a strong sense of inhuman monstrous female killer with an ‘death instinct” is reflected. The tensions that make “Carrie” and “Dressed to Kill” to appeal to an audience is drawn from the audience belief that something extraordinary beyond their normal experience or ability is bound to happen, and that such experience are rooted in grossly inhuman, abnormal or supernatural instincts for death. The killer blonde in “Dressed to Kill” is grossly inhuman, while Carrie has supernatural powers. In the same vein, Walters (2004) invokes the idea of grossly inhuman or supernatural as capable of creating tension by distorting natural forms. Hence, the psychoanalytic approach enables horror films to invoke a sense of gross abnormality or supernatural force on the mind of the viewer, which makes the two a fundamental feature of horror films that appeal to audiences. Universal fears The ability of psychoanalytic approach to bring about universal fears by evoking the “death instinct,” which in turn invokes the themes of danger and death, is what makes the horror films relevant to an audience. According to Walters (2004), one fundamental reason for watching movies is that they have to initially engender interest among prospective audiences. Logically, while interest may be triggered using many differing ways, relevance is among the commonest avenues based on which an audience develops interest in a film. However, as Goldstein (1998) explains, the relevance of horror films tends to be less apparent compared to other genres and can be found on four differing scales: personal, cultural, subgroup and universal. According to Walters (2004), the universal relevance of a horror film is the extent to which it relates to the ubiquitous features of fear and terror, because they relate to the themes of death, danger, and darkness. Danger is signified by the unknown, such as the audience preoccupation with what would happen to Kate in “Dressed to Kill,” and what would happen to Carrie and her next victims in Carrie. On the other hand, both movies show scenes of death. As showed in “Carrie” and “Dressed to Kill” horror films rely on psychoanalytic approach to impose fear and mystery on the audience. To the audience, fear dominates throughout the films. The mention of fear, therefore, hints to psychoanalytic approach to definition of horror. Horror films like “Carrie” follow the principle that the main character is suspicious of her surrounding and seeks to find out more. On the other hand, “Dressed to Kill” uses a ‘startle response’ technique, where “characters tend to recoil stealthily at hearing eerier noises. According to Goldstein (1998) death and danger are two aspects of universal fears that depend on the psychoanalytic approach to be integrated into horror films and are what make the films relevant to an audience. Many psychoanalytic thinkers likes Schneider (2010) have also agreed that universal fears are what make horror films particularly relevant. According to Dodds (2011), horror films centre on underscoring the unconscious fears, urges, and desires in the audience. Such hidden meanings are laced into the film so that the audience can absorb in subconscious messaging. The messages may be communicated using signs and symbols that explain certain undertones like fear and mystery. Cultural and historical fears The ability of psychoanalytic approach to bring about cultural and historical fears by depending on the repulsion between “Eros” instinct and “death” instinct, also makes the horror films particularly relevant to the viewers. Cultural and historical fears are instrumental in the relevance of “Dressed to Kill” and “Carrie” in the same way as universal fears. As Walters (2004) argued regarding the “societal concern model of horror picture appeal,” horror films tend to reflect the relevant historical events and cultural shifts in the society. For instance, in “Dressed to Kill” (1980), Kate’s fixation with sex and the stranger with venereal disease reflect the universal fears of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and the rising rate of dysfunctional American families of the time (Williams 2014). On the other hand, “Carrie” (1976) reflects the American concerns over the rising rate of juvenile delinquents during the mid-1970s. The concept of relevance can also be interpreted in term of the relevant filmic characters that are victims to abnormal characters, or monstrous characters, in the society. In regards to relevant cultures, naturally, the basic human instincts would make the male a more powerful instrument than the female, and the male audience to objectify the visual effect of the female. Viewers would expect such scenarios in normal films. However, abnormal characters would include ambiguous cinematic situations where female characters are depicted as monsters. Some scholars like Schneider (2010) have argued that horror film monsters have traditionally delineated male, with females as their key victims. In normal cases, it is essentially the sexuality of women, which makes them desirable yet pose a threat or some form of dread to men. Likewise, some scholars like Creed (1998) have attempted to examine the ambiguous cinematic experiences of the audience in addition to the capacity of female monsters that trigger the anxiety of male audience, they often included the varied forms of anxiety and ambiguity in “patriarchy.” According to Creed (1998), horror films tend to defy the rite that is targeted at purifying the abject while simultaneously separating the symbols from the aspects that threaten its stability, specifically mothers and what their universe symbolises. For these reasons, horror films have turned out to be basically instrument of patriarchal ideology and female oppression. Psychological distance from the horrors The psychoanalytic approach is what provides viewers of horror movies with psychological distance from the horrors depicted in the cinema and the real situations, hence enabling them understand that what they witness in the film are unreal. Horror films depict unreal situations of repulsion between “Eros” instinct and “death” instinct, which provide the audience with psychological distance from the horrors. As discussed earlier, “Carrie” has supernatural elements. Once she discovers her telekinesis capabilities, she transforms from an innocent victim into a vengeful tormentor with a ‘death instinct. In “Dressed to Kill,” the manner in which the strange blond slices Kate inside the elevator shows she has gross inhuman characters or abnormality. Normally, a viewer would view Carrie’s traits to be unreal. Walter (2004) also argues that it is the aspect of unreality functions as a protective feature in the viewers mind as unreality enables viewers to cope with the horrors they witness in the films. In this way, psychoanalytic approach provides viewers with a sense of control. Indeed, according Goldstein (1998), the fictional aspect of horror films is what provides viewers with a sense of control as it places psychological distance between what is real or unreal, or between them and the violent acts they witness. Walters (2004) also contends that a majority of viewers would understand that the events in the films are not real, which ultimately provided them with psychological distance from the horrors depicted in the film. According to Walters (2004), several factors would naturally underpin the fictional aspects of cinematic events of horror films. These include the psychopaths or supernatural abilities of the characters with “death instinct,” which sets them apart from the characters with “Eros instinct.” This argument is based on the idea that horror films like “Carrie” rely on terrifying the audience with Carrie’s supernatural powers, thus ensuring that they are kept in suspense. Indeed, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the audience are entrenched in the dynamism of shock, dread, suspense, and desire (Hills 2005). In the film “Carrie,” Chris and his friends seek revenge on Carrie. They then kill a pig whose blood they drain into a bucket. However, Carrie becomes monstrous and revenges telekinetically as a result killing many students, including the twins Katie and Karissa Strain, Heather and several members of staff. Carrie is also bullied around during the prom, something that compels her to use her supernatural powers. Some psychoanalytic theorists of horror films have relied on the conception that women in the horror genre, specifically mothers, have often been depicted as being monstrous who portend a fatal danger to men (Roy 2015). Barbara Creed (1993) argued that the horror film genre has often attempted to bring disagreement with the abject (the corpse, bodily wastes, the monstrous-feminine) in order finally to eject the abject and restructure the boundaries human-being and supernatural beings. As a form of modern defilement rite, the horror film attempts to separate out the symbolic order from all that threatens its stability, particularly the mother and all that her universe signifies (Creed, 1993). Conclusion The psychoanalysis theory contends that the instincts of “Eros” and “death” are the causal factors of all forms behavioural patterns. While the Eros instinct preserves unity in relationships, the death instinct destroys connections. However, in horror movies, the two instincts tend to repel. As seen in two films from the horror genre “Carrie” (1976) and the “Dressed to Kill” (1980), the repulsion of the instincts of “Eros” and “death” is important for horror films as it shows how psychoanalytic approach serves to contribute to an understanding of viewers’ interest in and response to horror films. Through the death instinct, the psychoanalytic approach engenders tension in horror films, which sets the genre apart from the dramatic, adventure of action films. The ability of psychoanalytic approach to bring about universal fears by evoking the “death instinct,” by invoking the themes of danger and death is what makes the horror films relevant to an audience. Additionally, the ability of the approach to bring about cultural and historical fears by depending on the repulsion between “Eros” instinct and “death” instinct, also makes the horror films particularly relevant to the viewers. It also provides viewers of horror movies with psychological distance from the horrors depicted in the cinema and the real situations, hence enabling them understand that what they witness in the film are unreal. The ability of psychoanalytic approach to bring about cultural and historical fears by depending on the repulsion between “Eros” instinct and “death” instinct, also makes the horror films particularly relevant to the viewers. Reference List Balmain, C 2008, Introduction to Japanese Horror Film, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press Beystehne, K 1998, “Psychoanalysis: Freud's Revolutionary Approach to Human Personality," Personality Research Papers, viewed 10 July 2016, Carrol, N 1992, “Cognitivism, Contemporary Film Theory and Method: A Response to Warren Buckland," Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, vol 1 no 1, pp.199-219 Cherry, B 2009, Horror, New York, Routledge Creed, B 1993, The monstrous-Feminine, New York, Routledge Creed, B 1998, Film and psychoanalysis, Oxford, Oxford University Press Dodds, J 2011, "The Monstrous Brain: A Neuropsychoanalytic Aesthetics of Horror," PSYART Journal, February 14, 2011 Goldstein, J 1998, Why We Watch: The Attractions of Violent Entertainment, Oxford, Oxford University Press Hills, M 2005, The pleasures of horror, New York, A&C Black Huang, H 2007, “Monsters, perversion, and enjoyment: Toward a psychoanalytic theory of postmodern horror,” Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, vol 3 no 1, pp.88-110 Hutchings, P 2014, The Horror Film, New York, Routledge Prince, S 2004, The horror film, New York, Rutgers University Press Roy, S 2015, "A study of popular horror films through feminist lenses," Research Journal of English Language and Literature, vol 3 no 1, pp.80-84 Schneider, S 2001, Psychoanalysis in/and/of the Horror Film, viewed 20 June 2016, Schneider, S 2010, Horror film and Psychoanalysis - Freud’s worst nightmare, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Shearer, L 2013, “Victims and Monsters: The Role of Female Characters Within Horror Narratives," Next Projection, viewed 20 June 2016, Walters, G 2004, "Understanding the popular appeal of horror cinema: An integrated-interactive model," Journal of Media Psychology, vol 9 no 2 Williams, T 2014, Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film, Updated Edition," Univ. 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Dressed to Kill (1980) is an American slasher/horror that Brian De Palma directed. It is a story about the murder of a sexually frustrated housewife Kate Miller. In the movie, Kate has visited her psychiatrist in New York called Dr. Elliott. During her therapy, she complaints to her doctor about her sexually unsatisfied life. She attempts to seduce Dr Elliot, but he rebuffs her. Afterwards, she goes to the Metropolitan Museum where she is supposed to meet her husband. On the way, she meets a mysterious strange man who leads her to a taxicab, where they begin to make out.

Kate forgets her pant in the taxi. They later have sex in the man’s apartment. After the sex, she finds out that the stranger who she slept with has a venereal disease. However, this information becomes useless when a blonde woman wielding a razor slashes Kate into smithereens inside an elevator on her way out of the stranger’s apartment. Later, a blonde prostitute called Liz who had a glimpse of the murderer ultimately become the key suspect and another target of the murder. Liz later gets together with Peter, who is Kate's son, to catch the killer while seeking to get the police of her back.

Analysis The psychoanalytic approach is anchored in the idea that people tend to be unaware of the range of factors that influence their emotions, relationships, and behavioural patterns. Within the context of horror films, such unconscious factors potentially lead to “unhappiness” in the films, which in turn is expressed through varied relevant symptoms, such as disturbing personality traits of the characters, how some characters have self-esteem problems, or find difficulty in relating with other characters (Beystehne 1998).

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who conceived psychoanalysis theory, opined that instincts are the decisive cause of all forms behavioural patterns. In his view, the two basic instincts include “death instinct” and Eros (love) instinct. While the Eros instinct preserves unity in relationships, the death instinct destroys connections. The two instincts may repulsion or attract. Unlike in the dramatic film genre where the two instincts attract, in the horror film genre, the two instincts repel (Beystehne 1998).

Engendering tension Through the repulsion of the “Eros” instinct and “death” instinct, the psychoanalytic approach engenders tension in horror films, which sets the genre apart from the dramatic, adventure of action films. The psychoanalytic approach enables horror films to appeal to a sense of gross abnormality or supernatural force on the audience’s psychology, which makes the elements of gross abnormality or supernatural force fundamental features of horror films that appeal to audiences.

As Walters (2004) explains, the tension that the psychoanalytic approach generates in horror films is what enables the audience to differentiate them from dramatic, adventure of action films due to the occurrence of eerie, inhuman, or unearthly forces. A film like “Carrie” reflects sagacity of the supernatural where “Carrie” has an instinct to kill. In “Dressed to Kill,” a strong sense of inhuman monstrous female killer with an ‘death instinct” is reflected. The tensions that make “Carrie” and “Dressed to Kill” to appeal to an audience is drawn from the audience belief that something extraordinary beyond their normal experience or ability is bound to happen, and that such experience are rooted in grossly inhuman, abnormal or supernatural instincts for death.

The killer blonde in “Dressed to Kill” is grossly inhuman, while Carrie has supernatural powers. In the same vein, Walters (2004) invokes the idea of grossly inhuman or supernatural as capable of creating tension by distorting natural forms. Hence, the psychoanalytic approach enables horror films to invoke a sense of gross abnormality or supernatural force on the mind of the viewer, which makes the two a fundamental feature of horror films that appeal to audiences.

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