There's a website out there, which I won't name here, that I can't stop visiting, no matter how horrible their journalism is. I won't name the site because I have spoken with one of the staff a few years back, before a merger took place, and I don't want to dissuade their audience on whatever their abilities might be.
But to the point, they have run a handful of articles about various people defining horror. It's finally made its way under my skin, and now I have to explain something.
Ask somebody to tell you about love. They are likely to give you some verbs, but the conversation ultimately end with something like "You'll understand when you're there." In other words, you have to experience love for yourself, because it transcends what we can do with the English language, as complex as it might be. That's not to say that you wouldn't understand love when it hit you, it's recognizable, and all those verbs that were used to describe it suddenly snap into focus.
How does a stake taste? I can tell you about it, but not adequately. Same thing happens with wine. I can read all the tasting notes I want, but there's nothing like actually trying it. Only then do the tasting notes make sense.
So how do you define horror? You don't. Or at least you shouldn't. Lets go back to the analogy about love, what if you give they gave you some expectation when they were describing it to you? Love that two story home with a dog and kid in the yard and a tire swing. Watching the sun set with someone who treats you well, that sort of thing. Then you fall in love, and it's not what you think it is. There are arguments, disagreements. The two story house is actually a ranch home and the dog in the yard turns out to be a cat. I'm being pathetically simple here, but hopefully you see my point.
Horror works the same way. Just look at the western culture in movies and games. Is there any horror left? Not much, or at least not the distilled form of it. Riddley Scott's Alien was terrifying. The sequel was not. In fact the sequel is a dissolved form, incorporating heavy action to keep the viewer watching, where as the first movie gave you a brief glimpse of the monster. The reason the sequel has to the take the route it takes, going from a strict horror and terror building formula to a more action oriented presentation, is only because we know what the beast looks like. We know what is does. Yes it's a human/insect/mechanical hybrid, we know that already. Trying the same thing again won't work, because now we're jaded by it.
So that those lines of thought and apply them to the general subject of horror. If you know what it is and how it works, it looses it's luster. Not unlike how describing love does. The first time you rode a roller coaster it was probably terrifying, though you know a great deal of work went into safety. The second time, not quiet so scary.
Love and horror have some similarities, both are a matter of chemistry. Your brain recognized something it likes (Love) or something it doesn't like (Horror), and reacts to it. The proper concoction of hormones is prepared and injected into your system.
But once you've gone on the Rollar coaster ride, when you get home that night, look up the fight or flight syndrome. study it for a while. Remind yourself that it's all chemistry. That your body is trying to protect you. That the sunken hallow feeling in your gut is actually the blood leaving your organs to reinforce your extremities. Then go back on that rollar coaster ride, and when it takes off, remind yourself all those things you learned about it. The ride won't be nearly as thrilling.
So if you are going to create horror, don't try to understand it. Don't try to explain it. Just make it happen and subject other people to it. If you want to experience horror, don't research it.
Some things are best left to being experienced, not understood.
But to the point, they have run a handful of articles about various people defining horror. It's finally made its way under my skin, and now I have to explain something.
Ask somebody to tell you about love. They are likely to give you some verbs, but the conversation ultimately end with something like "You'll understand when you're there." In other words, you have to experience love for yourself, because it transcends what we can do with the English language, as complex as it might be. That's not to say that you wouldn't understand love when it hit you, it's recognizable, and all those verbs that were used to describe it suddenly snap into focus.
How does a stake taste? I can tell you about it, but not adequately. Same thing happens with wine. I can read all the tasting notes I want, but there's nothing like actually trying it. Only then do the tasting notes make sense.
So how do you define horror? You don't. Or at least you shouldn't. Lets go back to the analogy about love, what if you give they gave you some expectation when they were describing it to you? Love that two story home with a dog and kid in the yard and a tire swing. Watching the sun set with someone who treats you well, that sort of thing. Then you fall in love, and it's not what you think it is. There are arguments, disagreements. The two story house is actually a ranch home and the dog in the yard turns out to be a cat. I'm being pathetically simple here, but hopefully you see my point.
Horror works the same way. Just look at the western culture in movies and games. Is there any horror left? Not much, or at least not the distilled form of it. Riddley Scott's Alien was terrifying. The sequel was not. In fact the sequel is a dissolved form, incorporating heavy action to keep the viewer watching, where as the first movie gave you a brief glimpse of the monster. The reason the sequel has to the take the route it takes, going from a strict horror and terror building formula to a more action oriented presentation, is only because we know what the beast looks like. We know what is does. Yes it's a human/insect/mechanical hybrid, we know that already. Trying the same thing again won't work, because now we're jaded by it.
So that those lines of thought and apply them to the general subject of horror. If you know what it is and how it works, it looses it's luster. Not unlike how describing love does. The first time you rode a roller coaster it was probably terrifying, though you know a great deal of work went into safety. The second time, not quiet so scary.
Love and horror have some similarities, both are a matter of chemistry. Your brain recognized something it likes (Love) or something it doesn't like (Horror), and reacts to it. The proper concoction of hormones is prepared and injected into your system.
But once you've gone on the Rollar coaster ride, when you get home that night, look up the fight or flight syndrome. study it for a while. Remind yourself that it's all chemistry. That your body is trying to protect you. That the sunken hallow feeling in your gut is actually the blood leaving your organs to reinforce your extremities. Then go back on that rollar coaster ride, and when it takes off, remind yourself all those things you learned about it. The ride won't be nearly as thrilling.
So if you are going to create horror, don't try to understand it. Don't try to explain it. Just make it happen and subject other people to it. If you want to experience horror, don't research it.
Some things are best left to being experienced, not understood.
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