What do horror movies soap operas and porn all have in common?
More than you might think.
Hi, I'm Jenna. I have a master's degree in media and
culture and I've spent years studying horror media and videogame cultures
Which is why I'm here to talk to you about melodramas and hardcore porn.
And horror! Because all three of these styles overlap in interesting ways and the more
you know about how they overlap, the better you'll understand how emotion is
depicted across cinematic genres.
Horror, porn and melodrama all fall under the
subheader of body genres, which, are broadly speaking, genres that
privilege physical sensational response. If you want to get technical about it,
there are four things that really define the body genre.
The first is an emphasis on emotions.
Most movies follow a similar formula; there's a plot, goal, or character
arc that's motivating the action. Body genres may still have those, but usually
they're very shallow, trope-reliant versions of them. By contrast the
focus in body genres is on developing the core emotions- fear, sadness, arousal-
not on narrative closure. That's why, for example, The Cabin in the Woods works as
a commentary on horror movies; a set of stock characters enact cliche plots, but
those cliches still engage viewers because complexity is not the point of a
body genre. The point is to reinforce the emotional core, and you don't need
extravagant plots to do that.
It's not enough to just show these emotions.
For body genres, it's equally important that the people watching them
feel the same emotions. A character screams when the audience should scream,
[Scream!]
cries when the audience should cry,
and, well...
you know...
I mean a horror movie that
doesn't scare you is generally considered a bad horror movie, right?
But try to remember the last comedy you saw that actually showed characters laughing
at each other's jokes. Most of the time they don't even react.
They just barrel on to the next gag.
You ever heard David Beckham speak? It's like he mouth-sex a can of helium.
[Silence]
You think Ryan Reynolds got this far on a superior acting method?
The audience is supposed to laugh, because the jokes are funny
not because they're mimicking the actors. When watching a body genre, you're meant
to replicate the on-screen emotions. That's the whole point.
They are spectacles of excess. Characters are overwhelmed with emotion, to the
point that they're incapable of rational thought. Scared out of their minds,
weeping senselessly, overcome with arousal. They scream, they cry, they moan
because they're too emotional to use language. Which goes hand in hand with a
lot of gendered ideas about who exactly is allowed to feel strong emotions.
Body genres almost always star women because we perceive emotional excess as the
domain of women. Horror, melodrama and porn are often stories where women are
rendered senseless and powerless, entirely unable to reason, because of
emotion. This both reflects and reinforces the idea that women
experience emotion to excess, and that men experience no emotion:
two ideas that are as ridiculous as they are dangerous.
Even though body genres are hugely
popular, they're considered the lowest of low culture. It's part of the reason
horror movies are rarely nominated for Oscars. Body genres are essentially, by
definition, low quality. That's largely because they depict emotional access and
because we perceive that excess as a bad thing, despite evidence that emotional
release has a positive impact on health. Choosing to provoke that release by
watching horror, porn, or melodramas isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's
important to be aware of the messages- especially about gender-
that you might be receiving when doing so.
So how do these ideas transfer from cinema to video games?
Well, body genres don't really exist in video games because players
don't need to have emotions mediated in the same way that spectators do.
When you watch a horror movie, you derive fear from identifying with the character
experiencing terror. In a game, you are the character experiencing terror.
As such, survival horror games are usually more visceral because there are fewer
layers of mediation between you and the experience.
Of course you don't have to
know any of this in order to enjoy horror, porn or melodramas, but hopefully
you've gained insight into how emotion is mediated.
Even low culture media contains messages about our society and they're often
overlooked or taken for granted. You don't always have to be analyzing these
messages, but it's good to tune in every once in a while and ask yourself "What is
this trying to get me to think or feel, or not think and not feel?"
Or you can just tune in next time and I'll tell you to the best of my abilities what hidden
messages lie in the heart of the media you consume.
The information in this video was derived from the works of Carol Clover and Linda Williams.
If you enjoyed it go ahead and like and subscribe to Polygon, and maybe share it
with any friends you have that are into like... horror or cultural analysis or cool jackets.