Horror Is Comforting, Not Scary: How Horror Comforts The Disturbed (And Disturbs The Comfortable)
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- čas přidán 24. 08. 2024
- So I’ve loved horror for a long time, but most people just simply do not get it, so I wanted to talk about why I find it comforting and why I find horror to just be quite nice, honestly.
Video by Noah McAlister
Thanks for watching!
Timestamps --
0:00 - Comforting The Disturbed
Music used --
Silent Hill 3 OST - “I’ve Been Losing You”
Cry Of Fear OST - “Chainsaw Reaction”
Signalis OST - “Train Ride”
Silent Hill OST - “Fear Of The Dark”
Silent Hill 2 OST - “Promise (Reprise)”
Cry Of Fear OST - “The Other Side”
Silent Hill 3 OST - “Sickness Unto Foolish Death”
Silent Hill 2 OST - “Theme Of Laura”
Silent Hill 4: The Room OST - “Hollow Melodies”
Shin Megami Tensei IV OST - “Self”
Silent Hill OST - “Tears Of…”
Silent Hill 3 OST - “I’ve Been Losing You” (thought it’d be a nice intro/outro)
I've really begun to think of the way I consume horror as a kind of "productive rumination", which I now realize watching this might just be another way to phrase "shadow work" 🤔
The ‘wa-ah-ah-ah’ had me cackling
Bro this was deep. I also found myself come away with more of an understanding of why people enjoy horror while I may not. Thx
Reasons why I relate to horror is it’s relatable in a way. I’m neurodivergent (six different diagnosis), have had surgeries and medical appointments my whole life constantly, never really had any friends, grew up around death and medical problems of all sorts. These are just a few examples of why I relate. I’m also queer and in the LGBTQ community, as well as being goth. Horror is just something that relaxes me 🖤🦇
Got your Video recommended by r/horror. Great watch!
I wrote my Bachelor about Shadow over Innsmouth and touched briefly on what Horror is and what goal it is. My conclusion was that Horror is a medium to play out your worst fears and articulate what worries you. Which plays a huge role in virus outbreak movies or Frankenstein monster for example where scientist play God. The more on the nose themes of course. But there are many more which adress fears like being alone in the woods (animal) or family turn on you (ready or not). But it has a really broad spectrum with really dumb and really intelligent products and both are fun as you said haha
I had my first run in with Lovecraft with the story "The Outsider" and I never before related to a story on this level. And that is what horror is for me. Something I can relate, enjoy and communicate freely within the medium without being held back. It is something were I see myself and be understood and seen. The Ritual is my alltime comfort movie. Because it depicts my trauma and depression in a form I never could articulate before.
Sorry for the rambling, it's pretty hard to articulate my thoughts in english. I just love little loveletters for the genre like this.
this is such an underrated and relatable video
this video helps a lot, i never really understood my attachment with horror but now i get it 🤦🏼♀️
Horror is the only thing that doesn't scary me.
Just a great video,summed up my feelings perfectly.Since I was a kid,I was very attracted to this genre,to an extent I used to say i have ghost friends haha.The real horror was within the 4 walls I was living,a marriage that shouldn't have existed in the first place.Due to constant transfer of my dad's job,we had to move out frequently,changed 9 schools,had to keep up with grades or else I won't be able to get into next school in other city during admission tests.
I was very social,always wanted to make friends,now I am left with none,everybody moves on you know,long distance friendships only work to certain extent.I think I still break into tears every time my dad screams despite I am high school passout now,it just reminds me of his alcoholic and abusive past,it took him 18 years to recover from it.
I was always good kid,they never got divorce despite the physical abuse which fucked my mental health,I kept up with my grades because mom used to say that I am the reason she has to stay with dad.I tried to contact relatives,neighbours and even reached out school counsellor but they told me to stay strong and there's nothing we can do,even police can't do anything(our country doesn't take child safety or domestic abuse seriously and makes it seem like norm).I always tried to stay silent,pretended my family is normal but deep inside I was scared.
Horror gave me that opportunity,to be scared.Though it never scared me but rather comforted me.Nobody ever understood my obsession with ghost stories,novels,movies,creepypasta,podcasts and bizarre obsession with life and death.But I think they are comforting,knowing there is an end and it's ok to feel things.
I feel I was told to not feel and cry most times,took my basic human rights
I will always find horror as my home,super comfortable and those uneasy feelings makes me feel alr.
I am not into gore or like 24/7 abou ghost and crimes,but I do love this genre and reach out to this genre to feel comfortable every time I am down.
Even today I was searching about horror,when I stumbled upon this video!Absolutely loved this video
You are an A+++ essayist
I more specifically like liminal spaces and the backrooms. The main reason why i think is trauma, in a way. I dont know *why* it would comfort me, because it reminds me of it (im less triggered by it in these contexts but i have had times whre it is.) I find solace in the wrongness of it all, and i can just imagine being in that same spot in the liminal image, dehumanized in a way, like those black silhouettes in weirdcore pictures. Again i have no idea why this would be comforting and i have no wait to understand it. Maybbe its also because i just dont remember, although its something thats clearly happened. I really love this video and the way it also describes the fun in horror games, like the way you can make fun of a dumb movie, saying "look behind you!" And such. thank you for this video, ive quite enjoyed it :]
Great video
So what you're describing when you talk about why humans listen to sad music when they are sad, or seek out horror art when they are dealing with fear, is a mechanism of cognitive dissonance. Fancy words, but basically it means that brains like consistency. Consistency is comforting because it is the foundation of making something familiar, recognizable, and thus manageable. Human brains don't like ambiguity. Evolutionarily, ambiguity is dangerous for humans. It also reduces our sense of control over our environment and self. Like the difference between a highly accurate map and a great, expansive unknown. What you can define, find the borders of, give a name to, you feel that you can control. That can turn even big, unmanageable things (or emotions) into something you feel capable of navigating.
Cognitive dissonance basically means that we like our external stimuli to match our internal perceptions. If they don't match for any reason, we either have to change how we think, or come up with a reason why the external stimuli doesn't match. For example, if a person believes the world is an unfair and cruel place, then it's actually a little comforting when unfair and cruel things happen, because internally they can say "See! I was right." The external world matches their internal perceptions. If that same person has something fair and positive happen, they might actually be suspicious of it, instead of pleased.
Similarly, people with low self esteem (low internal perception of the self) are made uncomfortable by compliments (high external praise), because it's inconsistent. They have two choices: either assume the external praise is inaccurate, like "this person giving the compliment is wrong, which means they don't see the real me; they don't understand me," (which is alienating, making the individual dislike or distrust the complimenter). Or they assume the compliment is correct, in which case it's more like "I am good? If I am good, but don't feel good, that means I can't see myself accurately. Why can't I just see myself the way they do? What's wrong with me?" (which paradoxically could lower self esteem even more). It's a catch-22.
There's no winning cognitive dissonance. It's a schism between the internal and external world that causes discomfort and confusion.
So, finding external stimuli that matches the internal world, no matter how dark that internal world may be, is actually far more comforting. And the impacts of cognitive dissonance aren't limited to what kind of art we consume, but extend to all kinds of thoughts and behaviors-- the kind of people we want to be friends with, the jobs we pick for ourselves, the treatment we accept from others, all the way up to lofty political or religious ideologies.
Not sure anyone will read this, but I hope it helps you give more definition to what you're trying to describe.
As someone else with internal horrors that is comforted by seeing them externalized in art, great video. :)
Spaghetti Hills
Noah where did you get the tee??
Think I got it from Hot Topic a few years back. The NIN site had it, until they didn't, and then it showed up at HT, but I really love that trilogy of NIN records, Not The Actual Events, Add Violence, and Bad Witch. Some of my favorites