While movies are generally seen as meant for escapism and entertainment, they are capable of so much more than that. Movies can give audiences important messages and lessons to learn through the use of themes and imagery in the story. For many viewers, it can be difficult to see these other “political” ideas embedded in the cinematic narratives – especially in certain genres such as horror.
Most people see horror as a genre that is only meant to give you a good scare. They make you face your fears and sometimes even unlock new paranoias, but that’s all horror is, right? In reality, horror movies have always been a tool to share political and important messages with viewers. They can convey so many important ideas through metaphors, themes and haunting images.
Conversation between government and race
Horror movies have been used as a reflection of the state of government and society. The 1956 horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one that is scary enough at first glance, but has a much deeper meaning when viewed through the lens of its time. The story involves spores of alien plants that fall to Earth and grow into pods, which have the ability to create an identical copy of a human to replace them. It soon becomes unclear who can and cannot be trusted. The only noticeable difference is that the pod people are emotionless. Viewers at the time saw it as a reflection of society in the clutches of McCarthyism and Communism, where people felt that their government was infiltrated by the ideals of outsiders, and that they had no influence or influence over it. They felt their voices being taken away and everyone trapped in an unwanted conformity.
Horror movies also had reports of racing long before Jordan Peele got into the spooky scene. Moviegoers may remember the release of candy man this past year, which is a sequel to the original 1992 horror film. The original candy man focuses on a college student doing a thesis on urban legends and how she discovers and angers the titular villain. The Candyman character himself is an early 1900s black man who fell in love and had a child with a wealthy white woman, only for her father to send a lynch mob after him. They cut off his hand, attached a honeycomb to him and had him swarmed by bees and sting him to death. Even though he had been successful and wealthy when he was alive, the fact that he was black still made him an enemy of the wealthy whites. Depicting racism as the true and brutal horror it is, the film creates an urban legend of a black man who comes back more powerful than ever in the name of revenge.
Conversation about sex and gender
In addition to these themes, horror is also great at exploring ideas about sex and gender. The film rosemary baby is a prime example of this. In the film, Rosemary is seen as a loving housewife and a classic “perfect” wife. She’s in a era of outdated ideals where women are objectified and have no identity outside of their husbands and family. Even though they planned to have a baby one day, her husband sexually assaults her when she faints and forces her to become pregnant; meanwhile, the neighbors in their building are all snooping on her business and life, luring her and lying to her to have her and her baby as part of their sinister occult plan. The film focuses on Rosemary’s struggles with her neighbors, husband and herself as she becomes increasingly isolated and paranoid. It addresses many of the expectations placed on women (then and now) and the trauma they suffer to keep themselves going.
feminism and queerness is also being investigated in the more recent movie, Bit. The story revolves around Laurel, a transgender girl who tries to start a new life as her true self after high school. She is dragged into a powerful all-female coven of vampires who kill and feed evil and violent men. Laurel falls in love with one of her fellow vampires, but her morals and identity are questioned when their leader forces her to do increasingly ruthless things. By its end, Laurel has overthrown their hypocritical leader and become the new head of the coven, working to create equality of power among the girls in the coven. The film has a more unique and diverse take on feminism, not only because it examines femininity through the eyes of a trans woman, but also because it explores the idea that women are powerful and take their lives back without being as cruel as the men who injustice. have done. them.
Even though you can enjoy almost any movie as an interesting story, and any horror movie can be entertaining for a few good scares, the important messages in it cannot be ignored. More and more horror movies are exploring impactful themes and lessons to show the audience. Some films make these themes clearer than others, but political reflection in horror is nothing new. Horror has always reflected the world around us.