From the my notes I have learnt that as time passes,genres evolves and remains to be updated on the trends in which the audiences are favouriting at that moment in time.I realised that they're many forces that have a major impact over the evolution of any genre; specifically speak social and psychological forces.
The horror genre for example has evolved over eight decades due to our society's profound nature to change preferences due to social and phycological aspects playing a toll on our fears ultimately causing the horror genre to adapt to our changes in fear in order to satisfy their audiences with the sensation of fear and discomfort by their films.
Within each decade over time, there has been a specific phobia used to indulge their audience with fear. However, this timeline of the evolution of horror emphasises on the audience's control over the genre dictating it's conventions in order to ensure it remains satisfying to the audience; where as it may become predictable causing the genre to ultimately fade out of trend.
Within my notes, you can depict the various forms of phobias audiences were fixated to in regards to what in fact was believed to have been scary in that decade. However like all trends, they grow out of fashion which in this case the audiences overcame their fear over those phobias.
This provided film-makers with the opportunity to explore various forms of fear to creatively redefine the horror genre once audiences felt the need for an innovative idea.
An example of a film-maker who redefined the horror genre was Alfred Hitchcock. The cinematic masterpiece that is "Psycho" presented the idea that human beings can be as horrifying as monsters due to the fact that the mind alone can be a fearful place to explore. Hitchcock also alluded the idea that that our comfort and safety provided by our homes can violated.
A key scene within this film that best presents this concept is the scene where the lead actress is brutal murdered within the comforts of her own bathroom.
Not only did this scene portray the idea that not the lead character is not suppressed from danger due to her importance of the story; but also that our privacy and safety are all irrelevant due to a human beings deranged and inescapable potential for evil.
This then sparked the imagination of film-makers to produce horror films creatively infusing plot lines that would target audience's fears and comfort areas to toy with them; leading to the creation of the classic "A nightmare on Elm Street" a film where victims would be horrifically tortured and murdered within their nightmares. Yet again causing the audiences to generate a phobia of sleeping.
Within this current decade, the horror genre is overflowing with supernatural thrillers and exorcisms which have grown to be extremely formulaic; films such as "The Conjuring" and "Insidious" all follow similar patterns.They doe however have a deep impact on the audiences due to the compelling nature of the films highlight that society today are not invested in religion in comparison to pervious years. Which is why the productions convey a subliminal message towards the audience to re-invest in the ideas and principles behind religion.
My speculation for the next decade in regards to the horror genre is that it will manifest ideas pre-existing within it's cycle. I speculate that the horror genre will return to the hybrid genres; similar to the innovative combination within both the early 50s and 70s with the sci-fi/horror genre. Due to the exceeding growth of love audiences are having towards the hybrid genres. This is causing studios to once again reproduce films such as Ridley Scott's "Alien" which provided both science fiction infused with horror. I have already witnessed this from various films of hybrid genres teasing its potential to reboot the horror genre. Which is compelling to know that studios are in fact aware of the genre's need of rebooting but justifies it's needs for franchises. This is a marketing technique used to produce films allocated within an existing property in order to ensure financial success. A key example of a studio seizing the opportunity to create a potential franchise is "The Purge" a film that is of a hybrid genre combining conventions and iconographies associated within action/horror/thriller. "The Purge" was a project that had a budget of a small fortune of $3 million and produces $80 million at the box-office providing the studio with a large profit margin. Due to the success of that project, this has lead to the production of a sequel titled "The Purge-Anarchy" which was granted with larger production costs to exceed the expectation and scope set by the previous film at an attempt to provide the audiences with new visual concepts to the story in order to lure the public into viewing it. This strategy was resourceful due to the fact that the sequel expectedly grossed more than it's predecessor; ultimately establishing a potential franchise for the foreseeable future.
Within each decade over time, there has been a specific phobia used to indulge their audience with fear. However, this timeline of the evolution of horror emphasises on the audience's control over the genre dictating it's conventions in order to ensure it remains satisfying to the audience; where as it may become predictable causing the genre to ultimately fade out of trend.
Within my notes, you can depict the various forms of phobias audiences were fixated to in regards to what in fact was believed to have been scary in that decade. However like all trends, they grow out of fashion which in this case the audiences overcame their fear over those phobias.
This provided film-makers with the opportunity to explore various forms of fear to creatively redefine the horror genre once audiences felt the need for an innovative idea.
An example of a film-maker who redefined the horror genre was Alfred Hitchcock. The cinematic masterpiece that is "Psycho" presented the idea that human beings can be as horrifying as monsters due to the fact that the mind alone can be a fearful place to explore. Hitchcock also alluded the idea that that our comfort and safety provided by our homes can violated.
A key scene within this film that best presents this concept is the scene where the lead actress is brutal murdered within the comforts of her own bathroom.
Not only did this scene portray the idea that not the lead character is not suppressed from danger due to her importance of the story; but also that our privacy and safety are all irrelevant due to a human beings deranged and inescapable potential for evil.
This then sparked the imagination of film-makers to produce horror films creatively infusing plot lines that would target audience's fears and comfort areas to toy with them; leading to the creation of the classic "A nightmare on Elm Street" a film where victims would be horrifically tortured and murdered within their nightmares. Yet again causing the audiences to generate a phobia of sleeping.
Within this current decade, the horror genre is overflowing with supernatural thrillers and exorcisms which have grown to be extremely formulaic; films such as "The Conjuring" and "Insidious" all follow similar patterns.They doe however have a deep impact on the audiences due to the compelling nature of the films highlight that society today are not invested in religion in comparison to pervious years. Which is why the productions convey a subliminal message towards the audience to re-invest in the ideas and principles behind religion.
My speculation for the next decade in regards to the horror genre is that it will manifest ideas pre-existing within it's cycle. I speculate that the horror genre will return to the hybrid genres; similar to the innovative combination within both the early 50s and 70s with the sci-fi/horror genre. Due to the exceeding growth of love audiences are having towards the hybrid genres. This is causing studios to once again reproduce films such as Ridley Scott's "Alien" which provided both science fiction infused with horror. I have already witnessed this from various films of hybrid genres teasing its potential to reboot the horror genre. Which is compelling to know that studios are in fact aware of the genre's need of rebooting but justifies it's needs for franchises. This is a marketing technique used to produce films allocated within an existing property in order to ensure financial success. A key example of a studio seizing the opportunity to create a potential franchise is "The Purge" a film that is of a hybrid genre combining conventions and iconographies associated within action/horror/thriller. "The Purge" was a project that had a budget of a small fortune of $3 million and produces $80 million at the box-office providing the studio with a large profit margin. Due to the success of that project, this has lead to the production of a sequel titled "The Purge-Anarchy" which was granted with larger production costs to exceed the expectation and scope set by the previous film at an attempt to provide the audiences with new visual concepts to the story in order to lure the public into viewing it. This strategy was resourceful due to the fact that the sequel expectedly grossed more than it's predecessor; ultimately establishing a potential franchise for the foreseeable future.
What is the state of the Horror genre now? What might we expect next when the genre returns back to our screens?
ReplyDeleteI believe that like I said in my post that the horror genre now consists of a lot of paranormal and supernatural thrillers. I expect that the horror genre in the future will return to consisting of franchises in order to minimise the chances of financial failure.
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