An Examination of Change as a Recurring Theme in Horror Films
P.J. Worsfold, 8/8/2005
The horror film hinges upon a cause and effect relationship between change and fear, two facets of life that we all experience. This is not to say that we are afraid of change, there is much more to it than that. Change and fear stick with us from cradle to grave, working with the rest of life's experiences to shape who we are. Change affects us from the outside and fear affects us from the inside. Although fear need not always follow change, when it does, the results range from a startled jump to paranoia, suspicion, anxiety, panic, and rage; everything a good horror film should be about. No matter if it is fear that makes you "hold your date a little closer" (Golden 93) or if it is an unsettling fear that sticks with you long after a film's credits roll, the creation of fear is what unites successful horror films. Change in a horror film can embody anything from character transformation, as in The Fly, to social change as a film's inspiration, as in George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, to changing themes between works of the genre, as in the sense of 'otherness' in James Whale's Frankenstein compared to the sense of 'internal struggle' in Friedkin's The Exorcist. If fear is the horror film's desired result, then change is the means to it. My contention is that change, of one kind or another, is often the inspiration for horror, always a component in its production, and an important contributing factor both to a horror film's success as art and as entertainment.
This position seeks to expand upon Paul Wells' assertion that a horror film is, "always about the shifting parameters of good and evil." (Wells 34) Following a discussion on the horror genre and the unique way its narrative embraces and embodies change, my analysis will move to an in-depth exploration of Wells' statement. By considering Wells' concept of shifting parameters in terms of horror's social commentary my analysis will illustrate the value of change within the genre and underscore its role in creating films that both entertain and provoke thought. While I believe that change is an integral part of the horror film, my analysis has led me to consider that our attachment to horror may actually point to a universal constant, and that this may be where the real horror of the horror genre lies. My conclusion will present this observation in more detail. Engaging the viewer's imagination early is crucial to creating a successful horror film. In that spirit and as an introduction to the myriad of ways the concept of change appears in the genre, I invite the reader to consider how the following synonyms for the word 'change' relate to their favourite horror films: adapt, alter, convert, evolve, merge, metamorphose, mutate, reform, regenerate, remake, replace, shape, shift, tamper with, transform, and warp.
Both the flexibility of the horror narrative and the role of the viewer's mind in creating successful horror make the genre particularly well suited to approaching subject matter involving change. In order to address these characteristics of the horror genre, and to facilitate clear discussion, the boundaries of what defines a horror film must be established. At the highest level, "horror films effectively center on the dark side of life." (Dirks) They deal with themes such as nightmares, alienation, fear of the unknown, fear of death or dismemberment, loss of identity, and sexual anxiety. Many of the characteristics that typify a horror film are carryovers from the genre's roots in the English Gothic novel. These include such horror stalwarts as decrepit old houses, dark forests, demented maniacs, ghosts, mad scientists, demons, young lovers, and the possessed. More recent additions to the horror genre include wisecracking, over-the-top bad-guys, such as Freddy Krueger or Pinhead. Due, in part, to the many formulaic and commercial horror productions of the last 30 years, what defines the horror genre to most people today amounts to little more than the aesthetics of a teen slasher flick.
There is no denying the entertainment value, commercial success and cultural impact that characters such as Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger have created. However, the cycle of their respective films and the innumerable knockoffs that they have inspired has placed much of horror filmmaking into a downward spiral of one-upmanship. This trend has vastly narrowed the scope of the horror genre and has perhaps taken away from its appeal to filmmakers and audiences alike. Over the years many horror films have been produced that, for various reasons, do not support the arguments made in this paper. It is important to note that my position is not based on the characteristics of all horror films; rather it is a look at how some films within the genre illustrate a recurring theme. By referencing a number of different horror films, my argument illustrates what the horror genre has been and can continue to be, rather than what it always is. Horror has the potential to access and manipulate our deepest emotions in a way that no other genre can, but when horror only tries to shock, it is at its most conservative (Wells 35). To understand what makes a horror film one must consider its narrative and the viewer's role in the creation of fear.
Campbell argues that horror is "less like a discrete genre than an effect which can be deployed within any number of settings or narrative patterns." (Campbell 11) He goes on to say that, "like comedy, tragedy, and the musical - and unlike the Western, the War Film and the Gangster movie - horror as a genre defies the fencing- in of definition." (11) A discussion of the films Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Taxi Driver (1976), and Flatliners (1990) will help to illustrate the protean nature of the horror genre.
Set in a small California town in the 1950s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers tells the story of Dr. Miles Bennell and his fight to escape assimilation by alien beings, that one-by-one have replicated his fellow townspeople. Taxi Driver on the other hand, is a dark depiction of Vietnam War veteran turned cab driver, Travis Bickle, as he struggles against the monster of New York City's mid-1970s urban decay. Lastly, Flatliners follows a group of medical students as they use their knowledge to temporarily stop their hearts in an effort to glimpse the afterlife. These films demonstrate widely varying usage of generic horror devices and revolve around uniquely different conflicts. Moreover, they support a variety of readings, most of which are markedly different from those of the other two films. For instance, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Taxi Driver, and Flatliners could respectively be seen as commentaries on McCarthyism, society's celebration of violence, and the perils of taking science where it should not go. However, these works are united in their use of fear to deliver meaning. Generic devices such as set, lighting, and sound both act as a conduits and support for the horror of these works, but the root of their fright lies in the intangible element of what these films are saying about their particular subject matter. Thus, the one criterion I will use to define the horror film is that it employs fear to communicate its message. Whether it is fear for fear's sake as in Friday the 13th, fear as a warning as in Frankenstein, or fear to explore gender roles as in Alien, fear is what defines the genre. This simplicity gives the horror film its adaptability. It is then logical to conclude that a genre predicated on change would be particularly apt to tackle stories of change. However, horror cannot exist on its own, like the zombies in The Return of the Living Dead; it needs our 'braaains'!
"No director could ever come up with a scene to equal what the individual human mind can conceive. All he can do is to plant the suggestion - and rely on the individual viewer to create what to him, personally, is the most horrifying visualization of the suggestion." (Everson 3) No film in recent past demonstrates this thought better than The Blair Witch Project. The film's climactic ending scene in the basement of Rustin Parr's old house, in which the camera simply drops after the audience sees Mike standing in the corner, is one of the most disturbing scenes of any film that I have ever seen. After watching The Blair Witch Project, rather than sleeping, I spent the night thinking about what was about to happen to Mike and I am quite sure that I am not the only who had a similar night after seeing this film. By engaging the mind, a horror film can leverage the limitless possibilities, countless interpretations, and never-ending replays that we can create in our heads. Horror's mutable nature has its perfect foil in the audience's capacity for infinite visualizations, and vice versa.
To introduce the concept of change as it relates to the social commentary of the horror film, I am drawn to a notion posited by one of the 19th century's most eminent thinkers on social transformation, Karl Marx. In his concept of the dialectic, Marx suggested that society is constantly changing because of the new ideas created through the conflict of opposing thoughts. This idea of a collaboration, of sorts, resulting from conflict is something that both the creation and the analysis of horror films is closely connected to. Through its adaptability to ever-changing subject matter and its ability to provoke such raw emotion in the viewer the horror film both records and contributes to the dialect. While change creates the conflict that is often the horror film's subject matter, it is by articulating this conflict, often through characters that embody change, that the genre perpetuates itself. By creating works that deal with our most primal fears, the horror genre contributes to societal evolution. I find this inspiring.
"The history of the horror film is essentially a history of anxiety in the twentieth century." (Wells 3) The horror film and modernity are characterized by adaptability and fear. Thus, the horror film is, in many ways, an ideal medium for commenting on society in modern times. It allows exploration of deeply disturbing themes, yet it can always leave the door open for a hero to save the day. Social change in areas such as politics, spirituality, and human rights, and advancements in science, technology and medicine inspire the stories of horror both by appearing as plots and as metaphoric meaning. This process allows for the creation of films that are, in a number of ways, relevant to the times and to the future, though perhaps for different reasons. As the world around us changes, so do our values for good and evil and, as Wells' observation suggests, the horror film is there to mirror these changes in character, plot, and theme. An exhaustive analysis of how the events of the last century have influenced the horror genre is well past the scope of this essay. However, exploring a selection of horror films from the 1920s to the 1990s will offer valuable insight on the interdependency of themes of change both onscreen and off.
Although the term 'horror film' was coined in 1931 (Campbell 13), the roots of the genre can be traced back to the birth of film itself. The short-films of pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès demonstrate many characteristics that later appear in feature length horror films. For instance, Méliès' films Le Manoir Du Diable (1896) and Un Nuit Terrible (1896) marked film's first use of the vampire and the giant monster respectively. The horror film came to being in a time where, through scientific advancement, many in society were learning more about the world around them. This resulted in an increasingly secular society and, while this lessened fear of the mythological, it brought about an increased anxiety toward what humankind was capable of doing. A comparison between F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) and James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) illustrates this shift. Although both films were adapted from gothic novels, they represent notably different worldviews. Nosferatu, with its old eastern European atmosphere, centres on a binary representation of the struggle between good and evil. The vampire Count Orlok is the occult inversion of the Christian, and happily married Hutter. In an early form of special effects, Murnau expresses this inversion with a negative film image to show Hutter as he rides into the Land of the Phantoms in Orlok's carriage. Nosferatu is very much concerned with man's struggle to bring order to the uncivilized and mysterious world around him. This is demonstrated in the film's central conflict with Hutter and his wife leading the battle to save their town from the predator, Count Orlok, and his insane minion Knock.
Conversely, Whale's Frankenstein tells the story of Dr. Frankenstein's scientific experiment to create artificial life. The Doctor's experiment meets with initial success, as told by his famous line, "now I know what it's like to be God!" Frankenstein's likening himself to God illustrates how science at the time was giving man knowledge that was previously the realm of the Divine. However, it is not long before Frankenstein's monster is no longer manageable. He becomes a threat to the whole village, resulting in disaster all-round. Frankenstein explores society's concern with science meddling in areas in which it should not venture. Arriving over 30 years before Carson's book Silent Spring, Whale's film explores the risk of failed creations of science later becoming a danger for all. While Frankenstein has an undoubtedly eerie feel, settings such as the Goldstadt Medical College and of course, Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory, help to convey the scientific subject matter of the film. Furthermore, the costumes and manner of Elizabeth, Victor Moritz, and Doctor Waldman give the film a sense of worldliness, which lies in stark contrast to the wolves and terrified peasants of Nosferatu.
Adding to the societal change during horror film's early years, was the wave of urbanization and immigration precipitated by the growing industrialization that characterized the turn of the 19th century. Dense population, combined with lack of familiar surroundings and the questioning of religious faith, left many people deeply insecure in their new reality. Clarens notes, "the enemies of the surviving religions have not survived with them; in recent times, witches and demons have lost their hold on us. Everything horrible has been swallowed up by the unconscious - that swamp of self-dread from which there emerge many ambiguous manifestations of itself." (Clarens xi) The atrocities of World War I compounded this situation and left many in the arts community asking themselves how human beings could be capable of such brutality toward one another. The German Expressionist movement, a crucial forerunner to modern horror film, was born out of this reality and many of its characteristics such as sharp lighting contrast, exaggeration, tilted angles, and surrealistic setting symbolize the troubled nature of the times.
The German Expressionist use of the doppelganger is perhaps most relevant to this climate of change and the self-questioning. The word doppelganger literally translated means 'double walker' in German. In film and literature, it is a technique where a character's double, as represented by a twin, a ghost, or psychological split, is used to explore the darker side of the individual. The doppelganger gave filmmakers a vehicle for introspection. To put it in Freudian terms, the changed perspective of a character positioned the monster as a projection of some repressed part of the Self. This technique was vital in allowing German directors to couch modern questions in films that were based on traditional gothic novels. Examples of such works include The Picture of Dorian Gray (1917) and Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde (1920).
Several important figures in the German Expressionist movement including Murnau, Lang, and Leni would flee Nazi Germany and continue to work in Hollywood. However, it is important to note that, despite the stylistic influence German Expressionism had on Hollywood films, it would be several years before American horror approached the level of introspection attained by early German Expressionist films. As Cohen suggests "the Post-World War I years in Germany spawned not only a period of unusual artistic creativity, but a crushing economic crisis and the Nazi party." (Cohen 17) Perhaps it was only under these brutal conditions that such introspection was attainable. Alternatively, Wells remarks that the lacking introspection of American horror film is attributable to Hollywood's role in American myth building, which dictated that the enemy must always appear from the 'outside'. (Wells 45) Wells' position is certainly inline with much of 20th century American foreign policy.
"In the pages of horror fiction and in the shadow plays of film we see gathered, as if in some sort of game reserve, all the impossible creatures that, in our dreams, represent the panoply of our fears. In horror literature, we find the vast troop of uncreatures - the shape-shifters and the mixed-up beasts, lamias and manticores, part-lion and part-woman; part-lion and part-man; part-woman and part-serpent." (Wolf 1) Filmmakers have long used the mixed-up beasts of horror, whether figuratively or literally, to represent a particular theme or conflict. Cesare, the somnambulist 'monster' of the German Expressionist horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), serves as an excellent example of this. Following Germany's loss of World War I, director Robert Wiene intended the film to be a warning to the German people to never again blindly follow the political will of their leaders. Susceptible in his sleeplike state and under the control of his master, Cesare makes the perfect metaphor for this warning. Moreover, upon considering the etymological origin of the word 'monster', which links it to the words omen, portent, and sign, one finds that Cesare is the quintessential monster. At the end of World War I, it would be easy to interpret his character as art symbolizing popular sentiment, but in relation to much of German society's complicity in Hitler's rise to power just over a decade later, Cesare is indeed a chilling omen. To the frustration of the film's writers, the message in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was diluted by a decision, made during the last stages of the film's production, to frame the story as a madman's flashback. However, this film provides an excellent example of societal change inspiring the horror genre, which in turn demonstrates the horror genre using a character's mutation as a tool to help communicate an idea.
Horror continued to use the monster to voice its concern over current affairs during the Great Depression. As Clarens observes, "while Hollywood ignored the depression, horror of the time in many ways represented it." (Clarens 51) For instance, Cooper and Schoedsack's King Kong (1933) offers a fascinating commentary on the urban life that is the end of the 'god' Kong. While the film supports a leftist reading of ruling class exploitation, in a historical context it communicates the frustration of the time. At a narrative level, Denham's final words, "'twas beauty that killed the beast" are meant to describe Kong's attachment to Ann Darrow as his undoing. However, when one considers 'beauty' as representing the greed, careless spending, and pursuit of riches that characterized the 1920s, and the 'beast' as the uncorrupted American working class, Denham's words become a scathing indictment. In this light, one can certainly empathize with Kong's rampage through Manhattan, a city that represented the source of woes for many. In a time when civilized society and its accoutrements seemed responsible for many of life's troubles, King Kong offered a transformed and larger than life symbol of the natural world with which the audience empathized. This marks quite a departure from Nosferatu, a film made just over a decade before.
The end of World War II brought a new anxiety into the public consciousness, that of atomic technology. Commenting on the change in post World War II horror texts, Wells notes, "transformation is a key theme in these texts, and once more constitutes a re-configuration of the monster."(Wells 57) There is probably no more literal example of a social change affecting film than the atomic age and the creature feature. Films such as Them! (1954), Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), and of course Gojira a.k.a. Godzilla (1954) featured mutants and monsters all of which were the byproduct of nuclear experiments. In a morality that echoed Frankenstein, the monsters of the creature feature offer a warning against over-stepping the boundaries of science.
While the mutants of the creature feature clearly represent the fear and uncertainty associated with the nuclear age, the mutation of everyday insects and animals, such as ants and crabs, into giant super-beasts offers fascinating commentary on the idea of nature reasserting itself against man. This shift of evolutionary dominance represents an important change from earlier horror films, such as The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and The Island of Doctor Moreau (1933), where man is seen as the dominant creature or as above the laws of nature. This move towards a more critical self-view marks an important shift in the structure of horror films, and perhaps it was this shift that opened the door for the deeper exploration of social and psychological issues of later horror productions.
The move in American horror film from the 'Us vs. Them' format to a more introspective model is probably history's most important instance of the genre adapting to meet society's shifting values. Not surprisingly, this move has created some of the horror genre's most disturbing work. Case in point is George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, (1968) which pits seven people trapped in an old country shack against an onslaught of zombies. While at first pass, this may seem like a typical 'Us vs. Them' scenario, the zombies are in fact the re-animated corpses of the newly dead. In this film, Romero modifies the classic American horror monster to express his view that the enemy of the time was the lack of communication and the lack of understanding amongst the masses. Romero's zombies are a strong reminder of Wiene's Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The conflict in Night of the Living Dead is not concerned with danger posed by 'Them', it is concerned with danger we pose to ourselves and to each other. Events of the day, such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, created a very polarized culture in the United States and as Romero points out, the film "came out of the anger of the times" (80). As a representation of current events, Night of the Living Dead paints a grim picture, one that is typified by the hopelessness of the film's ending. Although the group inside the house could perhaps have survived the night, they were defeated by their own inability to work together. For anyone trying to affect social change the message of Romero's classic horror film is clear; communicate effectively both amongst yourselves and to the world around you or else you will be divided and conquered by "the silent majority." (81)
Wrapped in the story of F.B.I. agent Clarice Starling's journey to stop a deranged serial killer, The Silence of the Lambs (1991) represents a convergence of this essay's most important observations on the horror genre and the social commentary it provides. As an element of the characters, the plot and of the greater meaning, change is a constant theme throughout The Silence of the Lambs. To begin with, Buffalo Bill, the serial killer who agent Starling is after, is a character replete with desire to change. He wants to transform himself into a woman and character traits such as his cross-dressing and his obsession with the metamorphosis of the butterfly all help to support this desire. The film's portrayal of Buffalo Bill led to criticism from various gay rights groups who felt that director Jonathan Demme's film was perpetuating negative stereotypes. It is interesting to note the subject matter Demme would tackle just two years later in Philadelphia.
The obviousness of Buffalo Bill's efforts to transform himself in some ways mirrors Agent Starling's growth as a character. For as Starling gets closer and closer to stopping Buffalo Bill, she is forced to explore her inner demons in more detail. By altering horror's typical hero figure, Thomas Harris, who wrote the novel that the film is based on, is able to use the story to comment on the difficulty many women feel when working in a male dominated field. This change communicates one of the film's most crucial themes and adds tremendously to its suspense and intrigue. For instance, Agent Starling's youth, small stature and the fact that she lost her father at an early age all underscore the obstacles she faces in a male dominated world, yet it is these same qualities that endeared her to Dr. Lecter.
The many films this essay has examined clearly demonstrate that the horror film is indeed about the shifting parameters of good and evil. These shifting parameters, whether as an element of the film or as an element of the world that inspired it, play a vital role in the creation of successful horror works. However, in studying this notion one begins to see a constant emerge, a consant that becomes all the more obvious when one considers the link horror has with modernity and introspection. Through my own examples and through referencing the thoughts of others, I have posited that the best works of the horror genre combine modernity with introspection. This connection strikes to the root of the horror in the horror genre. When a horror film tackles subject matter such as serial killers or nuclear accidents, part of what scares the audience is that these subjects are, to some degree, creations of our own society and are thus, our own fault. Exploring these troubling ideas ultimately leads to an introspective evaluation of what constitutes good and evil. As this cycle repeats, and as values for good and evil are readjusted, there arises a certain suspicion that these values are arbitrary.
Horror critics have often referenced the philosopher Nietzsche in their interpretation of the genre. Wells notes, "Nietzsche's relativist stance implies that there is no certainty to existence; that humankind lives in an amoral universe, merely subject to a series of conflicts and confrontations, a process of imposition upon another, without any true consensus." As much as the horror genre is about the values of good and evil, its continuing ability to express change in these values suggests that the more we attempt to make sense of the horror film in terms of good an evil, the less definitive the words good and evil become. The change noted in the collective works of the horror genre seems to agree with Nietzsche's relativist stance. The comfort of good and evil is only a construct of the mind and underneath it exists the true horror of the horror film, the suggestion that we do live in an amoral universe.
Works Cited
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