Stories That Haunt Us

What are you afraid of? Global warming? Bird Flu? War? Snakes? Whether our fears are rational or irrational, of personal or large scale threats, we all get afraid. And I think most of us would agree that there are many things in our world to be afraid of. What happens to you when you get scared? Does your heart start pounding? Do your palms sweat? Does your digestive system go wacky? Not very pleasant symptoms, right?

So why is fear such a popular element of our entertainment and literature? It seems like something people would avoid, rather than seek out. But fiction that specializes in scaring people—what we in the library world call the horror genre—is immensely popular. Horror dominates popular culture today, in movies, computer and role playing games, television, music, theater and fashion, as well as in books. This isn’t a new phenomenon. Aspects of horror have always been found in our storytelling, in legends and myths, in everything from fairytales to religious works. As the Horror Writers Association points out on its website: “…the best selling book of all time, the Bible, could easily be labeled horror, for where else can you find fallen angels, demonic possessions, and an apocalypse absolutely terrifying in its majesty all in one volume?”

This morning I am going to talk about what horror is, why it is popular, and perhaps most challengingly, why, if you don’t like horror, you should care. Let me back up a bit first and explain how this talk came to be. As I mentioned, I’m in the library ‘biz, and work as the Teen Services Librarian at the Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center. In March of this year, two co-workers and I presented a program in Boston on horror fiction and teen reading interests. After our talk, we were approached by an editor of School Library Journal, and an article based on our talk will be published soon in an upcoming issue. We presented our program and wrote the article because all three of us are horror fans, which is rather unusual in the library profession. Although they might not admit it publicly, librarians can be very judgmental about the public’s reading tastes. Most librarians like mysteries, but usually other popular genres, especially romance and horror, are regarded as rather trashy. Anyway, this talk is largely based on my previous work-related presentation and article. I figured most of the talk was already written, and that convincing skeptical UU’s that horror is interesting can’t be that much harder than persuading librarians, right?

Let me also spend a little more time in clarifying what I mean by the horror genre. Librarians can spend hours debating the finer points of fiction classification, but for today I’m defining horror as: “fiction that creates and explores experiences of fear, dread, apprehension, aversion, and other “dark” emotions. Horror can come from an external threat such as a monster or killer, but characters may also deal with the horror of internal demons such as guilt and anger.” Since the experience of horror is very subjective, there are few hard and fast rules about what makes something horror.

Speaking of subjectivity, now seems like a good time to confess a few things. While I love the horror genre, my tolerance for being scared is quite low. Actually, I'm a big wimp. While I can watch and enjoy most horror films, I pay for it later. Think of it as a horror hangover. I saw "Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1986 and it still scares me. When "The Exorcist" was rereleased a few years ago, the tv ads for it creeped me out so much that I couldn't go down in the basement alone for weeks. I don't actually believe in the existence of ghosts or Satan, so I can't rationally explain why these ideas scare me so much. I'm just very sensitve to being freaked out, which can be both a good and a bad thing. Practically speaking, it means Chad has pretty strict rules about what horror movies I'm allowed to watch, because he doesn't want me to have nightmares and wake him up.

Elements of horror frequently lurk in other genres such as mysteries, romances, thrillers, and general fiction. Most horror fiction contains supernatural elements, but sometimes the threat may be from a very realistic killer. It’s helpful to keep in mind that there are many books with supernatural characters that aren’t really scary. The centrality of the emotion of horror is the defining quality of this fiction, not the subject, characters or setting.

Horror encompasses a wide variety of story types, or subgenres, to use more librarian lingo. Let’s look now at some of the most popular ones.
Vampires remain a perennial favorite, perhaps because the sexy and romantic anti-hero/outsider character of the vampire is so appealing. The Goth subculture, popular with some teens, can be linked to a fascination with vampires. Vampire fiction often explores themes of sexuality and mortality.
Werewolves and other shape shifters experience powerful and terrifying transformations, and frequently struggle with balancing their opposing human and animal natures. Shape shifting is a wonderful metaphor for the struggle to control the “monster” that lurks within, and for the adolescent journey into the adult world.
Dark Fantasy uses characters from traditional fantasy such as fairies and elves, but has a bleaker, scarier feel. Fantastic creatures or powers often interact with our modern mundane world to gruesome effect.
Ghost stories feature some type of encounter with the spirits of the dead. Ghosts frequently need to avenge a wrong or to complete unfinished business before they can rest. Related to this, paranormal fiction focuses on characters with psychic powers such as the ability to speak with the dead or sense other worlds. These stories explore concepts about death and the possibility of an afterlife, and the remarkable potential of the human mind.
In the scary science subgenre, a doctor, scientist, government agency, or some other powerful authority figure must be stopped from corrupting the natural order. Fans enjoy these stories because they prey upon plausible fears about technology and science. They tend to appeal to readers who like more realistic fiction.
Magic-makers such as witches, warlocks or sorcerers use magic to control the elements of nature. Stories featuring magic-makers often focus on the battle between good vs. evil and the moral ambiguities of power.
Psycho killers may threaten heroes in very tangible, physical ways in this subgenre closely related to true crime. Readers may even enter the terrifying mind of a murderer. Consider these novels to be the equivalent of a “slasher” film.
Ancient evil or mythic beings can be especially disturbing adversaries because they are immensely powerful and totally unfathomable to humans. Mysterious entities such as gods, demons and angels populate this subgenre. H.P. Lovecraft’s classic writings about the Cthulhu mythos tap into these archetypes.

Now that we are all at least a little familiar about what is going on in the world of horror, let’s look at what makes it appealing to readers. People enjoy horror for many of the same reasons that people read fantasy fiction, such as the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Like all so-called speculative fiction, which includes fantasy and science fiction, horror is all about opening yourself up to possibility. But unlike most fantasy, horror usually has a contemporary, realistic setting. For example, Chad loves reading traditional fantasy. He’s perfectly comfortable with books about people wearing tunics, and he takes it as a good sign if a book has a map on the inside cover. I, on the other hand, much prefer stories where fantastic things happen in our world. I love the idea that there is magic and mayhem lurking just beyond our everyday perception. I like reading about characters who dress more or less like I do, (jeans or leather miniskirts, but no tunics), and I hate maps whatever reality they portray.

Perhaps the most unique appeal of reading horror is that being scared, and sometimes grossed-out, can be fun. Reading a horror books or watching a horror movie can be a powerful emotional experience. Although we usually think of it as a "negative" emotion, fear is exciting. Reading horror is rarely boring. As an added bonus, parents, teachers, librarians, and even UUs, often disapprove of horror, which makes it even more appealing to teens and other rebellious types.

Reading or watching horror can also be empowering. Horror explores many of the fears we all face daily, either literally or figuratively, and allows us to vicariously deal with them. This is one reason horror is so popular with teens, as adolescence especially is often a time of anxiety and fear. Teens may feel on the brink of a new and frightening world, namely adulthood. Horror fiction taps into this by featuring teen protagonists who often discover new powers or encounter danger when puberty hits.

And there is more to being grossed-out than just the thrill factor. In their book The Attention Economy, authors Thomas Davenport and John Beck argue people are naturally more drawn to things that they either find physically beautiful or repulsive. Being attracted to beauty seems obvious, but think about how most of us are attracted to blood and guts, even if we don’t want to be or don’t morally approve of what we are seeing. Horror is often criticized for being too violent, and it is an important issue to consider. There is a huge range in the level of violence that is found in horror. Some horror has barely any blood or violence, while some is extremely graphic. Is being exposed to such graphic displays of violence somehow harmful? Maybe, but I have yet to see any research that supports that theory. I think it comes down to a question of personal taste, moderation, and common sense. Just like anything that is taken to extremes, watching slasher movies 24 hours a day may not be the healthiest thing in the world, but most fans of gory horror are probably not going to turn into psycho killers.

The horror genre makes the most of our fascination with the repulsive, and often with beauty, too. The classic Hollywood vampire is a perfect example of this: the suave, sexy, irresistibly handsome character who charms his victims, only turning into an ugly monster when he kills. In some horror, the experiences of beauty and revulsion are simultaneous. Skilled writers can make the violent death of a character both horrifying and sublime. This may be seen as a glorification of violence, and while that certainly does happen in horror, it’s also often a realistic and sophisticated understanding that beauty and horror are deeply intertwined. In our society we tend to like to clearly define things as “this” vs. “that,” but real life is often much more fluid. Back in my undergraduate days I learned how other religions celebrate a concept known as the “coincidence of opposites,” which means that two seemingly mutually exclusive ideas, such as beauty and repulsion, are often both simultaneously true and real.

Along with exploring the subjectivity of beauty and ugliness, horror often explores the ambiguity of moral questions and the uncomfortable idea that concepts of good and evil often depend on perspective. Who are the heroes? Who are the villains? Who decides? In contemporary horror, traditional bad guys, such as vampires, ghosts, and witches, are often heroic. Even when vampires and other monsters are characteristically monstrous, they are still sometimes sympathetic, and the reader is given a chance to see things from their perspective. Author Laurell K. Hamilton’s does a compelling job of exploring moral ambiguity in her popular series about vampire executioner Anita Blake. In the first book in the series, Anita sees the world in clear black and white terms. Vampires are evil, case closed. But as the series progresses, Anita finds herself in love with a powerful vampire, and as her own supernatural powers grow, she begins to question her way of seeing the world. Yes, Anita still encounters and kills many barbaric vampires, but she also battles human enemies who are just as monstrous.

As I mentioned earlier, stories with ancient and mythic beings are often the most thought-provoking and frightening, because they deal with entities that aren’t simply immoral, but amoral. These stories wrestle with the age-old question of how do humans exist and find meaning in a universe that is fundamentally nonhuman?

Horror can satisfy our desire to impose meaning and order on the world by giving us a reality with clear rules. Figuring out those rules and contrasting them with the rules of our own world, or other works of fiction, can be great fun for horror fans. Even though in real life I don’t like most games because I’m too impatient to learn the rules, I enjoy reading a horror book and discovering how its reality works. For example, when I crack open a new vampire book, I’m full of questions. Will vampires in this world be destroyed by sunlight? How does one become a vampire? Are vampires able to have sex? Horror stories also often contain a mystery. Sometimes it’s a large scale mystery, such as how did werewolves evolve? Or sometimes it’s a personal mystery about a character, such as how did Spike, from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” become a vampire and why is his name Spike?

Obviously I enjoy horror, but let’s talk a little bit before I finish about why people who don’t like horror should be interested in horror, or at least not immediately dismiss it as meaningless. Horror frequently deals with big issues, like morality, sexuality, and mortality. These are spiritual questions. It’s no coincidence that horror often uses characters and settings that are mythic and folkloric. Vampires, werewolves, and ghosts have been around forever because, as a people, they speak to us. They interest us and make sense to us, even if it’s at a subconscious level we don’t really understand. Maybe as our religions get both more literal and less traditional, we need symbolic stories that have deep roots, yet also change with our times.

Perhaps the enduring popularity of horror also offers a lesson to Unitarian Universalists that we sometimes need religion that is scary, wild, and unpredictable. I think it’s wonderful that our religion is predominantly rational, peaceful, and gentle, but I think there is also a good reason why the Bible is both an effective religious text and a horror novel, and why many Hindus worship a frightening goddess such as Kali. Now I’m not advocating the implementation of blood sacrifice on Sunday mornings, but I think we should consider how we can deal with the scary side of life in emotionally satisfying and even entertaining ways. Another thing I remember learning during my undergraduate days is that Rudolf Otto proposed a very influential definition of religion as the experience of the holy. And by holy he didn’t mean morally good, but rather something that creates a deep and profound sense of wonder, awe, reverence and even fear. I’m not equating enjoying horror with a religious experience, but good horror can stir feelings of awesome, fearful wonder within us. So keep an open mind, maybe try to catch an episode or two of a Buffy rerun, and try to convince my husband that he should let me watch more horror, even if it does give me nightmares.