Why do you think vampire movies and horror televisions shows are so popular? (You might consider a cultural fascination with death, immortality, predators, violence.)

WHY DO YOU THINK VAMPIRE MOVIES AND HORROR TELEVISION SHOWS ARE SO POPULAR

2006

Entertainment as a diversion

Why do people spend money to watch something that will scare them

Entertainment is defined as an amusement or diversion intended to hold the attention of an audience or its participants , and which in general interact with or depend upon the entertained in some way - normally by audience participation or support (Wikipedia , Entertainment . It should be noted from the definition that entertainment is something that is meant to divert or hold one

's attention . We are entertained when we are distracted - when we are separated from where we are and what we are doing . This is the nature of entertainment

A person will pay money to watch a horror film because it is entertaining to watch something that is above and beyond ordinary human experience but well within the reach of ordinary human curiosity . It 's the very same reason bloody video games very popular with the youth . The violence , the thrill , the excitement are all part of the entertainment package - a chance to suspend reality and escape into an extraordinary world . It is the same reason any form of entertainment is popular Action movies , romance , comedy , animation - they all have one common denominator : they were created to draw the audience to the unknown - to uncharted territory that can only be formed in our minds . While we are restrained by social mores and expectations , our minds are left free to wander and dwell on the what if 's of life . We are offered momentary succor from the things that we are experiencing again and again , day after day . This way , we participate in the stories and explore the alternative world that the filmmakers have created for us

Entertainment relieves us of having to deal with our daily routines by introducing something novel into our lives or presenting something familiar yet unexplainable . To be more particular , there is nothing more unknown or misinterpreted than the things that scare us . These myths or beliefs of supernatural beings (usually evil ) draw people toward them These stories make people curious of the possibilities that they do not completely understand . Like little children , we never lose our thirst for aliens , werewolves , ghosts and all the things that we never experience in life . By separating ourselves from the real world and focusing our attention on something that could be possible , we are diverted - we are entertained

A Feminist Approach

A feminist point of view would point out the fact that men enjoy their horror films because women are usually portrayed as persons who are dominated , tortured , or otherwise victimized in films (Clover generally ) like in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper ) or Bram Stroker 's Dracula (Coppola ) and this is how they see women in real life Feminist theories posit that men are entertained by the fact that they see women `put in their place ' and that horror films reinforce any attitude of superiority that they harbor . This interpretation...