Friday, February 15, 2013

Hungry for Horror

As a society, do we use fear for a different purpose than the one it was meant to serve?

Instead of a defense mechanism invoked by physical danger, fear has become a primary source of entertainment. Whether it is a haunted house, a roller coaster, or watching a terrified prank victim, entertainment is getting scarier and scarier.

Because of society's increased desensitization to shock, amusement is changing the threshold of terror.

What will it take to satisfy our culture's appetite for fear?

1 comment:

  1. Great. Excellent context and questions. The next step will be to figure out some answers. In particular, as a reader, I'm wondering whether or not this is a positive or negative things for individual psychology or for society as a whole--what are the consequences of this rising threshold on different populations and different aspects of life?

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