Introduction
For over a century now, the film industry has revolved and changed from many different perspectives, especially, due to the fact that it has been viewed as a common tool of entertainment, with less education and rebuking. This is unlike in the early twentieth century, whereby movies served the sole purpose of education and correction, as well as impacting of knowledge upon people. In this case, the movies and films focused specifically on specific themes, which were consistent throughout the entire movie or film. However, the trend has been consistently changing over time, whereby different types of movies take a specific line of the art, with their focus lying either fully on entertainment or education (Skene 116).
The twenty first century has also, seen a lot of classification of movies, especially, looking at the themes that the movies and films support, as well as the messages and impressions that they seek to put across to the audience. One of these includes the horror movies. Horror films, by definition and explanation, are the movies whose sole purpose and prevalent themes support and seek to elicit a negative attitude and emotional reaction from the audience and the viewers. One of the most essential things to note concerning horror films is the fact that their main goal is to deal with the viewers’ primal fears, such as the fear of death, blood and the various beliefs that the viewer’s develop through their lives, as a result of various reasons, such as the societal beliefs and perceptions towards various aspects that affect our day to day living (Konow 113).
One of the most essential things to note and understand concerning the horror films is the fact that different people have had different perceptions towards them. As much as horror films are primarily meant for entertainment, there have been different approaches from which people have looked at them, based on the societal, personal and social beliefs, perceptions and outlooks towards the various factors and aspects that coexist with human beings in the world.
One of the factors to note in this case, include the fact that death is an aspect that every man tries to avoid, and that grieves people, in normal societal setting. As a result, this is one of the areas that the horror films concentrate on, especially, in making people believe that coming into contact with death is one of the most fateful things that can happen to a person. By so doing, they effectively pass along the message that they seek to pass, in the line of death (Oltion 36).
Humanity and horror films
Essentially, it should be noted that horror movies seek to deploy a negative outlook towards life, since they are based on a pessimistic approach towards the establishment of life. At the same time, they seek to pass the message of vanity to life, based on sub-thematic approaches such as suffering, unfairness, injustice and lack of control over one’s life. One of the most essential areas that the horror film directors have focused on, especially in directing the movie (and also the script writers during their development of the script) is the fact that horror films basically, and in a large way, concentrate on both the conscious and the subconscious mind of the viewer.
For instance, by playing with the subconscious mind, the viewer will be able to understand certain outcomes in the movie, even without the director having to necessarily, openly draw out the point that he seeks to put across. This is one of the reasons why the horror films have been characterized with a lot of suspense, and negativity in the storyline, especially since they do not have a happy ending. At the same time, it is necessary to note the fact that humanity has been a major topic that has been addressed in the horror movies, in which cases, most of the themes in the movies seek to contradict with various religions. This is due to the fact that horror films seek to differentiate and draw a line between humanity and religion, and establish both aspects as two independent disciplines, which do not need the approval of each other, for their sustenance (Skene 55).
Humanity, by definition, is the collection of the psychological characteristics, as well as behaviors, that are common across the race of human beings. Humanity focuses entirely on developing a strategy through which the people, irrespective of their race, beliefs and other differences that might come up as a result of the differences in the organization of our cultures and our living settings come together and identify as one, with life and meaningful living being the common denominator to the essence of living.
However, horror films have had various impacts on the essence of humanity, particularly from an analysis of how different people treat each other, as well as the opinions and approaches that they have towards each other. In this case, therefore, in the views of various analysts and human rights advocators, horror films have over time led to the division of humanity, especially, based on race and religion. The main reason behind the drift created among humanity by horror movies is due to the fact that humanity, as a living aspect, is based on belief (which to a large extent includes religion and traditions), as well as coherence (which in this case, is based on oneness across all people, irrespective of their races, tribe and regions of origin).
However, various horror movies have been instrumental in supporting humanity across human beings. These are some of the movies and films that view humanity from the aspect of human beings versus the higher power and higher authority, and the only way the human beings can succeed against the higher powers or authority is by honoring working together as a team, otherwise, drifting will be futile. This part of the paper will look at various movies, and their perception towards humanity, as well as how humanity has been supported or neglected in their scripts (Oltion 77).
The Silent Hill
Produced by Samuel Hadida, Akira Yamaoka and Don Carmody and directed by Christophe Gans, Silent Hill is a 2006 horror film production, which has a lot of concentration through its theme on the connection between human beings and the higher authority. Its story line is based on Sharon, a 10 year old girl who has been adopted by Rose and Christopher Da Silva. However, the young girl keeps on acting strangely, since she keeps on uttering ‘silent hill’ as she sleepwalks in the house. This raises concern from her parents, since her foster mother realizes that there must be a connection between her and the higher authority, which makes her link two things together, which she, as a young girl, is not aware of.
As it had earlier been mentioned, it is necessary to note that human beings connect to the spiritual world through their subconscious mind, as this is the main way through which the spiritual world uses to communicate with humanity. This is one of the reasons why young Sharon does not remember anything or manage to link anything between her life and silent hill in her conscious mind, for example, when she wakes up, as a result of this repeated, strange behavior, Rose, her foster mother, decides to go with her to a city called Silent Hill, in order to determine whether or not she can lay an understanding on why her daughter keeps uttering the same.
At the same time, this will assist her in determining whether or not there is any connection between her adopted daughter and the spiritual world, which will in this case, be the only party that has been communicating with her, and linking her to silent hill. It is at this point that Rose decides to take Sharon to the city and being at night, she is pursued by police and suddenly a child appears on the road. As she attempts to swerve the car in order to avoid any accident, she engages it in a crash, which renders her unconscious. Upon waking up, she realizes that Sharon is missing, and goes ahead to look for her across the streets of the town.
One of the most essential things to note at this point is the depiction that the film has towards the impact that the spiritual life has over humanity. For instance, it is able to control all the aspects that take place across the human race, in order to have things its way. This is the reason why it subconsciously distracts Rose as she drives, by seeing a child on the road, which will automatically make her to swerve, as she attempts to avoid any accidents. At the same time, this provides a chance for Sharon to disappear, and as Rose walks around the city in search of her daughter, she comes into contact with a lady, Dahlia, who is also looking for her daughter. It turns out that Dahlia is the real mother of Sharon, and has been looking for her since she disappeared years ago.
One of the humane observations that are made in the film, in this case, is the attachment that the two mothers (the foster mother as well as the real mother) have towards the child. They show sympathy and concern for the child, who on the other hand, seems to be living in the spiritual world. For instance, Rose is so concerned about the child’s happiness and welfare, which she offers to take her to Silent Hill, in order to try understanding what the reason for her daughter’s utterance could be. On the other hand, Dahlia, who is the real mother to the child, is similarly concerned about the child’s welfare, that she seeks to look for her ten years after she disappeared. This does not only show sympathy, but also the attachment that each of the mothers have towards children.
Lastly, destiny is an essential aspect to look at in this film, and the desire for man to achieve and arrive to his destiny, as purposed by the lives that they live. In this case, for instance, the reason Sharon’s subconscious mind keeps on uttering silent hill is not because she remembers anything concerning her stay in the city as a young girl. Rather, it is due to the fact that the communication between her spirit and the higher authority through the subconscious mind is not too raw and real, and this is the major reason that leads her to retracing her origin, and she has done this through the help of her subconscious mind.
At the same time, the movie effectively and vividly brings out the oneness that is developed between human beings, as a result of being tormented to similar circumstances. For instance, Dahlia and Rose eventually end up being friends, since they have one common denominator, which is in this case Sharon. As a result, human beings tend to come together and coalesce, especially, in cases whereby they are tormented towards the same or similar circumstances.
The Ring
The Ring, on the other hand, is one of the movies that have focused on curses, and how they affect humanity, especially, in cases where humanity fails to honor them. In this film, for example, this is the case that affects Katie and Becca, two friends who happen to watch a cursed tape, whereby every person that watches it dies after seven days. Although they initially take this as a joke, they realize that it is actually real, after Katie confesses that she had watched it with her boyfriend, and she dies a tragic death, in full view of Becca. This leads to Becca’s admission to a mental hospital.
As a result of the mysterious death, this leads to Rachel, who is Katie’s cousin, to investigate on the mysterious circumstances that led to the death of her niece. With the encouragement from her son, Aidan, she embarks on finding the root cause that led to the death, and with her skill as a journalist and assistance from Noah, her ex-boyfriend, they realize that the movie wasn’t shot with an electronic device; rather, something different was used to do the same. However, after closely investigating the images in the film, she discovers that it was shot in Moesko Island, and that the woman in the tape committed suicide after the death of her horse. She later discovers that Aidan has watched the tape too. However, he watched the copy that she copied, and the only way one can get away from the curse is by giving someone else the copy to watch, and develop it into a cycle.
At the same time, the film portrays humanity, whereby close people, such as family, relatives and friends, are concerned with each other’s welfare. Through Aidan, for example, Rachel is compelled to look into what might have led to the mysterious death of her niece Katie, as well as the institutionalization of Becca under mental care facility. The same is also portrayed, through her reaction towards her child’s watching the tape, since she is aware of the possible consequences that will result from the same. This shows the close-knit establishment of people who have something in common, characterized by humanity, love and respect for each other, as well as care and concern, which are some of the basic principles and characteristics that support humanity.
The Shining
In this horror film, Jack Torrent asks for a job as a hotel keeper during winter, since he seeks to use the time to work on a book that he has been writing, due to the fact that the environment will provide a quiet time for him to accomplish his purpose. What he doesn’t know, however, is the fact that the hotel is haunted, and he does not take seriously the piece of information he receives concerning the previous hotel keeper, who killed his family and committed suicide, after developing cabin fever. The hotel is haunted because it is located next to a cemetery.
Over time, he starts having hallucinations, which makes him start attacking his family. He also lacks peace at mind, and this renders his failure towards writing and completing his book. After talking to various people, such as his mother, they told him that they have memories concerning the hotel, some of which are not so good. This makes him realize that there might be something wrong with the hotel.
One evening as his son Danny and his wife Wendy are exploring around the hotel, Jack’s wife become concerned about a number of telephone lines that she sees, and they start searching for jack within the hotel. Upon finding him, Jack acted hysterically, saying that he had been attacked by a random woman that he didn’t recognize. It is after this incident that Jack came into contact with a woman’s ghost in room 237 of the hotel and that is when he realized that the hotel is indeed haunted. This leads to a lot of disagreements, as his wife insists that they should leave the hotel immediately, to which he doesn’t concur.
Relationship between the movies
However, it is clear that human beings tend to be united when fighting against a common enemy, but disintegrate when they introduce their personal interests. This is the case in Silent Hill, whereby Dahlia and Rose unite as they look for Sharon; The Ring as Katie’s relatives seek to understand the reason behind Katie’s death and in The Shining, as Jack’s family and the society seek to understand the mystery behind the hotel being haunted. At the same time, one aspect that stands out across all the horror movies is the fact that man does not have any control over the superior powers. However, humanity is compelled to act according to the Supreme Being’s wishes; this is the main body behind everything that action that human beings are involved in.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this is the reason why horror movies have mainly focused on separating humanity and religion as two distinct aspects and disciplines, because viewing the day to day aspects and outcomes that affect humanity from this dimension will create a better and clearer understanding of why things take place the way they do, and this will also help man in accepting the outcomes of life situations and the impacts that the world has upon humanity (Hutchings 44).
Works cited
Hutchings, Peter. The Horror films. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
Konow, David. Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Oltion, Jerry. Humanity. 3rd edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Skene, William. Theater arts. London: Rutledge, 1990. Print.
