One thing I have learned
this semester is that horror is a huge genre, and can be, well, horrifying.
There is everything from Ugetsu
Monogatori to Deep Red. My wife
and I are being to prepare for children and sending children on their own into
horror, without me, they could end up watching a movie about a spirit mom and
family, or a murder marathon. But with my experience I can help my children
have an important learning and growing experience, and they can benefit from
watching and discussing horror films. I also would be sad to cut horror out of
their lives completely, for they would miss out on being able to discover more
about death, religion, and overcoming fears. Therefore, horror plus me equals
an important experience for my children.
The
Divisions of the Horror Genre
The first step to helping
our children through this sometimes mess of horror is realizing that the genre
can be split up into many sub-genres. Some that found are, the Slasher movie,
the Japanese horror, zombie, horror-comedy, the sci-fi which addresses fears of
technology, and so on. There is also the Classic Gothic, such as Frankenstein
and Dracula. And even perhaps the solemn-horror, which could include such films
as the Spirit of the Beehive and even
Picnic at Hanging Rock. Each week,
our class was divided up in sub-genre of horror, having such weeks as The
Modern Horror, where we watched Carnival
of Souls, and The Vanishing. We
could continue to cut up the genre until each movie is in its own sub-sub-genre.
Now when it comes to us and our children, I am not sure that any one sub-genre
should be avoided so much as it should be recognized for its strengths and weaknesses.
As adults it is easy for
us to see a movie and say to ourselves, “that was sexist,” or “that would never
happen.” But as children it is easy for us to accept what we see as cold hard
fact. I want to have my little girls, at least at the start, looking into horror
films that empower women rather than break them down. Like in my paper, I
talked about how a horror film can show the true power of a woman and a mother
in some sub-genres and not in others. I want them to see women as they really
are and can be and not weak women being hacked to death with no way to save
themselves. I want them to realize that they can be strong, take care of
themselves, and have the potential to be mothers who are able to protect their
children. I also want my sons to see this truth about women. Then when they
know this fact well, perhaps they can look into other sub-genres because by
then they can shake their heads and say, “that’s just a load of crap” because
sometimes it is. Each sub-genre has its strengths and weaknesses and I plan to
guide my children through each sub-genre throughout their childhood.
Our
Participation and Learning
We can’t just say that we
will participate in all films. Just as a book is able to be holy, or devastatingly
evil, so too a film can be holy like unto a vision, or destructive like an
addictive drug. I have in my past few years diligently decided what I should
watch and what I should leave alone. In this day and age it is so easy to find
out exactly why a movie is rated what it is with parental guides. And one of
the greatest discoveries of my adult life is that it is not just sex, violence,
and language that we are trying to avoid, or at least approach in an appropriate
way, but the moral and overall idea of the movie. I may not forbid them to
watch The Golden Compass, but I do
want to help them understand that the story was written by a man who hated The Chronicles of Narnia, the Catholic
Church, and set out to destroy God, the Atonement of Christ, and organized
religion in his books. And this is not the only film that displays attitude,
belief, or desires, in a deceptive light. I want to begin to show my children
how to navigate through this ever-growing world of motion pictures, and that
includes the horror genre.
We must have a discussion
in order to get the most out of these horror films. If we simply turn it on,
show it to our children and then split, they may not know who to sympathize
with or who to identify with. They may have a question that needs to be
answered by someone trusted and experienced. A parent should be that trusted
and experienced person. Being able to say, “that was not appropriate for that person
to say or do, but I can understand why he would in this situation.” I think of Repulsion, where a young woman who
commits murder, one of the most awful sins. However, she was subject to
practically and arguably equally bad sin as a child, rape—personally my least
favorite word in the English Language. We don’t allow her decision to murder
pass as okay, but we do understand how she might have felt that was her only
way to save herself. We talk about how she could have been helped and how death
and tragedy could have been avoided.
We
Are Experienced Children, They are Growing Adults
In class we talked about
the division between adult and child. Even in a world without God people still
recognize the need to protect children from certain things until a more
appropriate age. But I was thinking and while this is true, there is also some
truth that we are nothing more than experienced children, and children are
nothing more than inexperienced adults. There is no time when one suddenly
becomes old enough to learn about certain things. And it is also true that
there are some things in this life that you are never old enough for. Sometimes
when I see an X or NC-17 rating I think, “no one will ever be old enough for
that,” and most of the time I am right. The other thing that I must take into
account knowing the restored gospel is that each child is actually a very old
spirit. What are they ready for at a young age then? I believe they are ready
for anything we are; the only difference is the degree of depth. They are ready
to talk about and learn about murder, death, Satan, and even rape, or course
with minimal detail at first.
In Lovecraft’s,
“Supernatural Horror in Literature” He says that we remember pain more then we
remember pleasure. We sometimes use the word pleasure to talk about viewing
pornography and the like. And pain can sometimes just be growing. But here I
want to stick to a strict definition, pleasure to be a holy and good
experience, and pain to be destructive. For viewing porn actually is pain,
because it leads to shame and embarrassment, and growing actually turns to the
pleasure of accomplishment and achievement. What I want to say here is that
whether we are an experienced child, or inexperienced adult, we should fight to
hold on to pleasure and avoid at all costs pain.
Horror on its own would,
I think, traumatize my children or possibly mislead them. But, if I am there I
will be able to show them a thing or two. Even before this class I wanted to
make horror films and even had a few script ideas for horror films. I want my
children to participate in horror and until they can create a “them plus horror
equals a positive experience,” I will help them along the way.
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