Buffy and Horror
Horror is a genre that has always been successful and has 4 main sub-texts.
VAMPIRE!
GHOST!
WARE WOLF!
THE THING!
However, horror has changed over the years due to the audiences having to be scared more and more as what scared the audience back in the 40's is no longer as scary in the 21st century. When horror movies used to be set in the haunted houses with the corpses and graveyards, we now are more likely to see the setting in a public place, high schools and middle-class American neighbourhoods. this brings the audience closer to the fear in the storyline making it seem a possible scenario to occur within their own lives.
In Ghost horror, we usually see hidden secrets or a fear of the past within the context. Yet I find this subtext to relate more to a thriller genre as the Ghost subtext don't often contain much blood or gore, which i think plays a big part in horror. Such as in the film 'The sixth sense', we see the little boy, who sees dead people who don't always know they are dead. Most of the dead people need this little boys help, such as one example of the little girl who gets him to uncover the real cause of her death to her dad, as her step-mum poisoned her.
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| Creep |
The Thing horrors, involve the characters and audiences fear of the unknown. My best example for a thing horror is 'Creep', where a woman finds herself trapped in the London underground at night and comes across a strange looking 'thing', holding people hostage. this gives us as an audience a fear of the unknown, as it's set in a public place that many of us in London, travel through maybe everyday and we don't know what may go on through the night or behind the walls.
''Morticians are modern priests, working their arcane magic of cosmetics and preservation in rooms that are clearly marked 'off limits'. - ''Is it true that the dead are encoffined sans shoes? How are strangulation bruises hidden? The answers to all these questions are available, but they are not common knowledge. And if you try to make the answers part of your store of knowledge, people are going to think you are a bit peculiar.'' - Steven King (2010, P.158)
This quote relates to 'the thing' horror, as we are allowed to see what someones imagination has created when they have thought about what may be behind the 'off-limits' area which scares yet excites us.
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| Edward Scissorhands |
Ware wolf horror is something i don't see around much in the cinema yet creates a sense of the fear of yourself as the protagonist is usually the ware wolf. Metaphorically, this ware wolf horror then does still pop up, such as 'Edward Scissorhands' which is more related to 'the thing' subtext, yet could go into this subtext with the main character being the character that many are still scared off and sometimes accidentally hurts others with his hands that he cannot control.
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| Buffy |
Finally, we have the Vampire horror, which is widely popular in the 21st century with the teenage 'Twilight' films. The main characteristic in vampire films and what they gain their viewings from is the amount of sexuality used. 'Buffy the vampire slayer' takes on this sex role widely also. this is what makes this subtext the most pleasurable and scary together. I think this is therefore what has made Buffy such a success to have run 7 series over 6 years. Buffy is based on a vampire slayer who is a teenage girl who goes to high-school, which is something horror likes to pick up on with the setting in an everyday place, giving the audience the 'what if?' question. we see Buffy as a strong female lead, killing off the vampires and saving the day, which attracts us to her more so. Buffy is praised by critics for it's brilliant writing, being able to come up with the story lines and create a television series for a horror genre is something we see little of now. I think it's the normal teenage high school narrative and situations that occur such as romance and friendships yet then giving this horror vampire twist into the mix that then creates this artwork.
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| Buffy |
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| Buffy |
King.S, (2010). 'Danse macabre'. 'The modern American horror movie: Text and Subtext'. P.158.
In Ghost horror, we usually see hidden secrets or a fear of the past within the context. Yet I find this subtext to relate more to a thriller genre as the Ghost subtext don't often contain much blood or gore, which i think plays a big part in horror. Such as in the film 'The sixth sense', we see the little boy, who sees dead people who don't always know they are dead. Most of the dead people need this little boys help, such as one example of the little girl who gets him to uncover the real cause of her death to her dad, as her step-mum poisoned her. 
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