Last autumn I did a brief blog-text titled "Thoughts on Horror," wherein I attempted mapping certain horror genres into a more-or-less coherent mindmap; the effectiveness, or "closeness" of various types of horror as to how they relate to the human experience. While on the surface level somewhat accurate, this description was left lacking in some aspects, mainly the juxtaposition of "Escapistic" vs. "Confrontational" nature of certain works... and so, in this graph I attempted rectifying some of that, mapping things in the aforementioned axiis with the additional "Disheartening" or "Pleasant" added as vertical.
This graph, like the earlier, is of course subjective, even though I think of it as containing a degree of objectivity. There are some notable 'disagreeable' examples such as Cormac MacCarthy's "The Road", of which I'm not quite sure where it would belong. While certainly disheartening at its nature and not "enjoyable" in the traditional sense, does it nevertheless remain in the realm of "escapism" or "confrontationism"? In the end I ended up placing it more into the escapist-category, mostly due to its bleak-but-somewhat-distanced post-apocalyptic future. Furthermore, I think that works such as "The Sunset Limited" by the same author are much more grounded, exploring the human condition in more a confrontational manner... and thus the distinction you see on the map. It should also be noted that this scale is not intented to convey a work's inner "quality", or at least the perceived nature of it; rather, it's meant to show the intention of the author - for example, the Twilight can hardly be considered a work of exceedingly high-quality, yet nevertheless the author's intention was that of "fantastical escapement for teenage girls with the aid of regurgitated horror tropes", and thus, it retains its place on the scale, quite accurately where I intented it, I think, firmly adjoined to the circle of blandness, yet leaning on escapism & questionably enjoyable fantasy. Nonwithstanding this apparent discrepancy of genreical confusion, Twilight is useful as an example for another reason as well; namely pointing out how loosely defined horror is in the contemporary society. In all fairness though, rarely anyone considers Twilight as "horror", per se... but at the worst of situations a conversation might ensue between two horror enthusiatists, wherein both express their infatuation to "The Horror Genre", only to realize that the other person is referring to the Ligottian nightmare... and the other Twilight's boy-vampires. The very least a substantial gulf stands between those who remain firmly in the mainstream realm and the types of cosmic horror fans. The "normal folk" will have difficulties perceiving, let alone understanding, the disheartening side of the genre due to its very confrontional, oftentimes truthful and off-putting nature. These normal folk will have, at most, heard of the "The Atmopsheric Fright" side of things, and perhaps enjoyed it to some degree, but will most likely shudder & shun away after hearing of the "Horrific Truth" if openly and honestly presented to them in all its straightforwardness.
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A.K
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