The Me Generation of Horror

If you have had any formal education in Film Theory, then you already know of a Mr. Robin Wood (yes HE).  Wood is a famous critic and film aficionado who was written a number of books and essays on all type of genres.  Wood’s famous interpretation of horror revolves around the definition of “the other”.  The other is a person or thing that invades the culture (of the film) to bring about a change (usually negative).  In the Sci-fi films of the 1950’s, the other usually came in the form of aliens who were threatening the way of life of the people on the ground.  An obvious allusion to the threat of nuclear war and the red scare, the 70s however represented themes and ideas more along the line of social and societal freedom thus threatening the conservative culture.  The Reagan era of the 80s let loose slasher films that took all of that internal inaction of the cold war and put it on screen to alleviate some hidden internal feelings.  So where does that leave us today?

I feel that right now, we are in what I’m going to further reference as the “Me Generation” of horror.  The Me Generation of horror consists of films that are not necessarily original or inventive, but are rather geared to individuals in particular along with the viewers unwavering demand for realism.  This could be applied to almost every horror film released today in both remakes and original works.

Remakes pertain to the Me Generation of horror because their very existence banks almost entirely of an already established base of fans.  These are films that are “updated” to bring in the bored teenager market who is looking for a thrill as well as the older generation who wants to castrate the remake by immediately holding up to the insane standard of the original film.  People still go to see them though to prove themselves right when it comes to the opinion that the film in no way lives up to the original.  This isn’t a slam on people who watch remakes (lord knows I have done my share of viewing… and purchasing) but more of a way to show you that this whole concept is all about you.  It’s about finding something that you will feel passionately enough about to go out to the theaters.  Your hate, discontent, and predisposed fandom make you the perfect target for them.  They know you are all going to go and see it.

I could keep going about this, but I’m trying to keep it around 1000 words, so I’ll move on.

Aside from remakes, it’s important to take a look at a few films that have been popular in the last few years.  The first one that comes to mind, being the most recent is Paranormal Activity.  It pulls you into the film with a very realistic documentary style of filmmaking and keeps you there with a couple that are very convincing as two young people that are haunted by the ghost.  Whether you liked or disliked the film, it succeeded because it was so easily identifiable.  It’s not that hard to get involved emotionally into a story that looks like something that anyone of your neighbors shot while keeping the core of the film very based in reality.  That same thinking applies to a number of recent hand-held documentary style films, but what about this whole torture film thing that’s going on?

How do all the recent torture films apply to the theory of the Me Generation?  It has quite a bit to do with the idea of repression and sensationalism that is required of every living person.  In the days of ancient Greece, gladiators tore each other apart in front of thousands of people.  Today is totally different being that now a days we have simulated violence (which everyone knows is fake) instead of real time actual violence.  Sure we have displays of athleticism in sports like Football and Hockey, but they just aren’t the same as seeing two men fight to the death.  Also, who in their right mind would actually sit down and watch two people kill each other?  It doesn’t seem like entertainment to me, it seems deeply disturbing and demented.  But the need is still there, so what do we do?  We watch horror movies.  We study them, we watch terrible things happen to completely innocent people and are left with such statements as “Could you imagine if someone did that to you? I would do this, or I would do that… you are putting yourself in the situation again.  It’s now become entirely about you.  Maybe you imagine someone in your daily life that you absolutely can’t stand in that torture chamber.  Well it’s still about you and what you want to see happen.

Horror has always been about identification, but the Me Generation takes it further than that.  It’s about identification by way of realism.  There has been a very heavy impact on film since the 1970s regarding the need and want for realism.  Everything has to be as real and believable as possible in order for it to be even seriously considered as part of the genre.  If it’s not realistic, we think it’s a bad film.  How many times have you personally been disgusting with a film because “that could never happen”?  Why should we even care if it could ever happen?  It’s a movie, isn’t it?

This is an extremely loaded topic that I could easily expand into an essay, or possibly even a book.  What you are getting is the bare bones look at why I feel that right now, in horror cinema, there is a heavy emphasis on personal identification and realism and it’s necessity to make a good horror film.  I haven’t come to the conclusion yet if this is a good thing or if it’s a bad thing.  Whichever side of the fence I inevitable fall on, there is no arguing that the genre has almost abandoned original thought on how to approach a film over the formulaic and time tested money making techniques.