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I've been mulling this one over for some time. I have always been an avowed gore hound, & rare is the kill that makes me cringe. Used to be, regardless of who the victim was, or the method of their demise (in MOST cases), I could watch Any w/o batting an eye. Lately, though. . . .
I admit I'm getting a little squeamish in my old age. And this got me to wondering what the cause of that may be. I can think of two possible reasons. One is that, as I get older and acumulate more experience unto myself, my ability to empathize / the onscreen plights (& ultimate demises) of the victims in horro movies has increased. As an admittedly callow & therefore insensitive youth, I couldn't really relate to serious physical suffering, or the concept of one's own mortlity. But as my own gets closer & closer to eye level, it's easier to picture staring it down. I have, in recent years, lost close family members & even a friend not much older than me. I & friends, relatives & co-workers are getting diagnosed with age related maladies (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, etc.). My work has me dealing with those who have been klled or seriously injured in accidents. My joints creak a hell of a lot more in the morning. I and most of my contemporaries are now parents. And so on. In short, I have sen more of life, and becom more acquainted w/ its end, than I had when I was a youth, and was first developing my taste for horror.
Or could it be the fact that I now have a child? Lik any parent, I want above all to protect him from harm. And as much as I have advocated the increased use of violence vs children in horror as tearing away one of the last taboos in horror, I find myself, as I'm reading or watching stuff these days, thinking things like: "Shit, I hope he doesn't kill the kid!" They say becoming a parent changes everything. In this regard, at least, I guess they're right. More than any of the other factors I enumerated above, I can relate very strongly to the fear of harm befalling one's child now that I have one of my own. And as much as I applaud the audacity of a filmmaker who's wlling to go there, I admit it makes me squirm.
None of the above implies I enjoy horror any less. Quite the contrary; I think it adds a new dimenson to my enjoyment of horror, allowing me to finally appreciate it by actually being scared & disturbed once in awhile, which was previously a very rare thing. Since that's what it's supposed to be all about, it doesn't detract from, but adds to my experience.
So I'm curious what you all have to say about this. Have you noticed either geting older, becoming a parent, or both changing the way you view horror films or books? And has it been a change for the better for you? Or have you noticed anything else (like the tendency toward escalation of the violence, gore or feeling of insecurity in torture porn, for example) changing your experience and making you cringe more? And has any of the above caused you get turned off to horror, whereas you previously ate it all up w/ a spoon & asked for seconds? Is this strictly a young person's genre, and are we no longer the target audience? Is it too loud 9or are we too old)?
I admit I'm getting a little squeamish in my old age. And this got me to wondering what the cause of that may be. I can think of two possible reasons. One is that, as I get older and acumulate more experience unto myself, my ability to empathize / the onscreen plights (& ultimate demises) of the victims in horro movies has increased. As an admittedly callow & therefore insensitive youth, I couldn't really relate to serious physical suffering, or the concept of one's own mortlity. But as my own gets closer & closer to eye level, it's easier to picture staring it down. I have, in recent years, lost close family members & even a friend not much older than me. I & friends, relatives & co-workers are getting diagnosed with age related maladies (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, etc.). My work has me dealing with those who have been klled or seriously injured in accidents. My joints creak a hell of a lot more in the morning. I and most of my contemporaries are now parents. And so on. In short, I have sen more of life, and becom more acquainted w/ its end, than I had when I was a youth, and was first developing my taste for horror.
Or could it be the fact that I now have a child? Lik any parent, I want above all to protect him from harm. And as much as I have advocated the increased use of violence vs children in horror as tearing away one of the last taboos in horror, I find myself, as I'm reading or watching stuff these days, thinking things like: "Shit, I hope he doesn't kill the kid!" They say becoming a parent changes everything. In this regard, at least, I guess they're right. More than any of the other factors I enumerated above, I can relate very strongly to the fear of harm befalling one's child now that I have one of my own. And as much as I applaud the audacity of a filmmaker who's wlling to go there, I admit it makes me squirm.
None of the above implies I enjoy horror any less. Quite the contrary; I think it adds a new dimenson to my enjoyment of horror, allowing me to finally appreciate it by actually being scared & disturbed once in awhile, which was previously a very rare thing. Since that's what it's supposed to be all about, it doesn't detract from, but adds to my experience.
So I'm curious what you all have to say about this. Have you noticed either geting older, becoming a parent, or both changing the way you view horror films or books? And has it been a change for the better for you? Or have you noticed anything else (like the tendency toward escalation of the violence, gore or feeling of insecurity in torture porn, for example) changing your experience and making you cringe more? And has any of the above caused you get turned off to horror, whereas you previously ate it all up w/ a spoon & asked for seconds? Is this strictly a young person's genre, and are we no longer the target audience? Is it too loud 9or are we too old)?
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