WEBVTT - The Horror Movie Aphrodisiac 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.120 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:13.760 Works dot com. Hey are you welcome to Stuff to 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.640 Blow your Mind? My name is Robert Lamb and Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:22.320 what did your history with horror movies and dating? Horror 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:27.560 movies and relationships? So it goes way back because I 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.240 remember my brother and I staying up late and watching 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:35.120 the Jack the Ripper and I'm like six maybe, and uh, 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.640 it made a huge impression on both of us. And 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:39.600 I remember, even though he was older, he was like, 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:41.440 you gotta walk me down the hall, you gotta look 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:45.240 behind the shower curtain. And so I began to really 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:49.199 have that feeling like something was out there lurking. But 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:51.440 I gotta say, in terms of dating, it wasn't like 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.120 a you know, a fifties drive in. I wasn't like, oh, 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.200 let's go watch something. It wasn't like the beginning of 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:00.360 the Thriller video, which I was like, oh it's scary 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:06.160 hat here. Well. Um, Interestingly enough, I anytime my wife 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.360 and I are trying to determine how long we've known 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.880 each other, we have to look up the Saw movies 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.479 on on Internet movie database. Um not because the Saw 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:18.720 movies are particularly near and dear to our heart. Um, 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.600 you know, the first one was okay in some respects, 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.080 but it's you know, it's not something I cherished. But 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:27.760 we shortly after we met each other, we went and 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.080 saw the first Saw movie in the theater, so we 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.200 know that if we can determine for a while, they 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.160 were putting out one a year, so we knew that 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.280 we could see which which Saw a movie they were on, 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:38.440 and that would tell us how long we've known each other. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:40.880 But now we have to do a little math. But 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.440 we have to find that starting point by answering the 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.959 question when did the first Saw movie come out? Wow? 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.120 So that just shows I think it's very reflective of 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:53.960 your deep history with horror movies and that genre in general, 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:55.880 because my husband and I would probably look at the 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:57.760 Coen Brothers movies and be like, Okay, which one was 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.200 the one that we saw together but didn't know it's 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.080 at the beginning of the relationship. But you yes, that 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.240 vast history of the genre. Well, even though I you know, 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.840 I certainly hold the Cohen Brothers films far above most 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.560 bits of horror that I've seen, But for some reason, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.120 a horror movie that I don't even particularly like all 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:19.280 that much is the signifier. But but you know, from 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.400 an early age, I remember being hit over the head 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.280 with that trope though of if you're going on a date, 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.000 what do you do? You take the person to a movie, 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:31.840 and and generally it needs to be a horror movie 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.360 because you saw this. You see this in films. You 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:38.440 see this. I horror movies as well, especially the older 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.359 ones that would come on, you know, on TV in 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.359 the middle of a Saturday. You'd see these old films 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.240 which would show uh, people in the nineteen fifties and 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.040 sixties going to the drive in, right, going on dates 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.000 and seeing a horror movie. Yeah, I mean, you're right. 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.639 This is something that has actually sort of woven into 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.200 our cultural fabric and it's a rite of passage in 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.240 a way. And so I love that you guys that 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.079 you and your wife's first date was a horror flame, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.240 because we're gonna talk about the ways in which it 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:12.400 might influence our amorous feelings for others out there. Yes, 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.640 and leading to the big question, does this actually work 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.880 as an aphrodisiac? Does the haunted house actually empty into 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:25.920 the bedroom? Uh, etcetera. So so we're gonna back up 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.959 just a little bit and and talk about the effects 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.200 of fear on the body, on the mind, because at 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.000 every basic level, Uh, this should come into no surprise 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.440 to anyone. We did not evolve to watch horror movies. 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:43.440 Horror mos, we didn't. We we evolved to deal with 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.280 frightening and or dangerous stimulation. But the horror movie in 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.800 many cases stands as an example, as an example of 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:54.040 supernormal stimuli, and and it's also a simulation. So we 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:58.680 we have this unreal experience with fear that plays on 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.600 our minds and on our bodies in the same way 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.400 that actual lethal threats to do. Right. So you have 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.000 a tiger, which is an actual threat and at one 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.600 point when humans were part of the food chain, would 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.880 have been a real problem, right, And we have bodies 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.039 that can respond to that. On the other hand, we 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.200 have the paper tigers of our mind, which come to 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.640 life in the form of movies, and sometimes in mind 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:26.479 is like, hey, I can't distinguish between the two. So 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.720 we should talk about what's happening in the mind. And 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:33.400 we'll also get to who this might be affecting the most. 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:35.719 All right, So let's just let's just run through what happens. 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:37.960 You're in the You're in the movie movie theater. You're 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.080 and and therefore you are in the movie in a sense, 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.560 you're immersing yourself in the experience. You're you're watching these 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:47.520 fearful sights, you're hearing fearful things. Um, maybe you're spelling 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.280 something fearful, depends on what kind of gimmick the the 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:52.880 theater is throwing at you. But for the most part, 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.000 we're talking about your ears and your eyes. So horror 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.600 is running into your ears and your eyes to an 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.360 almond shaped clump of neurons called the amygdala. There is 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.080 located front and center in the brain, and it's vital 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:09.600 to instantaneous emotional processing, especially surprisingly enough, love and pleasure. 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.039 Uh So we've we've conducted in the past spring experiments 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.280 on rats that have shown that damaging the amigola interferes 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.960 with their capacity to feel fear as well. And this 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:24.120 suggests an overlap between these seemingly opposite emotions of pleasure 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.360 and fright. And we've touched on this before. Um and 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:29.760 and when we see this kind of dual purposing a 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.280 lot because because ultimately with the brain, uh, you know, 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.480 some some cases you can point to a certain region 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:38.239 of the brain to say, well, this is this lines 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.880 up with this. But in many cases we see double duty. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:44.080 You see that that the different areas are involved in 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.800 the processing of different different feelings, etcetera. So it shouldn't 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.600 come as any surprise that we see, um, we see 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.800 love and pleasure, we see fear and tear wound up 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.359 in the same mechanisms. Yeah, we talked before about how 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.840 the amingela processes pain, emotional pain and physical pain, and 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.640 that the two are just so bound up together. So 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.120 again there's there's no big surprise here that there's an 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.760 overlap and pain and pleasure as well. So if you 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.640 think about Freddie emerging from behind the door, or that 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.280 chainsaw getting closer and closer to your neck, you think 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.560 about your magdala getting all juiced up, unleashing a brain 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:24.800 embody energizing cocktail of hormones energizing. Remember that you know, 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.640 and while all this is happening, you also have your 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.760 prefrontal cortex getting in on the game and saying it's okay, 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:34.960 it is just a movie. And the result of that 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.400 is a just kind of wave of pleasure because you 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.920 know that you're in this domain where you're not actually 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.080 going to get hurt, and yet you're you have all 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.480 those energizing hormones and chemicals flowing through you. Yeah. All 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:52.240 in about three seconds, You're amgala is is unleashing this 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:57.120 this hormone cocktail. UH is prompting an already already busy 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:00.680 adrenal glands to turn out cortisol, the stress hormone. High 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.120 levels of cortisol can't impede insulin, causing a rising blood 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.880 sugar a little extra fuel if case you need to 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.720 punch something in the face or run away in the hills, 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.440 You're you're gonna you know, breathing faster. You're taking in 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.160 more oxygen. That way, your heart is racing to get 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.960 that oxygen into your muscles. UH. Your your appetite stalls 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:21.760 because you know the energy your body would use for 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.000 digestion is diverted towards getting away from the mass maniac 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.640 UH in your mind, if not in real life, You're 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.840 you're potentially starting to sweat. Pupils are dilating, and the 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.480 car the cortisol has saturated your blood stream at this 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.000 point and feeds back into the amgala to boost the 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.480 perception of danger. UH. So in this way, you know, 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.480 reinforcing memory for the of the initial fright sittings may 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.640 end up actually feeling a little jumpy afterwards. So anyway, 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.240 all this is hitting within three seconds, which which really 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.440 makes you look at the horror movie or any kind 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.440 of artificial scare in a way. It's it's kind of 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.920 like a drug. It's this artificial stimuli we take in 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:05.120 and it and it causes these these physical responses. Yeah, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:09.000 and one of the more counterintuitive findings in the science 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.920 of fear is that the stronger the negative emotions we're 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.760 talking about, like anxiety and worry and fear, um, the 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.680 more the person will enjoy that movie, that bit of 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.720 horror in front of them. And that's where you see 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.240 that the distress and delight really are interconnected because it 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:35.680 is intrinsically a cathartic moment for the person. And another 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:39.040 big thing to point out here is that within five 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.319 seconds of of of bringing in this fearful stimuli, your 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:46.000 nerve cells start to release endorphins to combat the injuries 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.040 that you have probably sustained from the the act building 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.959 maniac on the screen, and so your brain is also 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:56.360 releasing dopamine. The neurotransmitter best known for giving you that 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:01.719 feel good rush. Uh and also some property a neurotransmitter 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.679 that we bring up a lot on the podcast because 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.679 it's one of those, uh, those those key substances that 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:11.520 plays a role in so many different emotional responses to 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:13.480 the world. Yea, and that reminds me to you have 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.440 mirror neurons in on the game as well. We've talked 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.400 about that before, the mirror neurons that are essentially aping 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.840 what they see in front of us in our brains. 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.920 So I always think about this with a clockwork orange 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.559 that the moment in which his eyes are being peeled back, 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.040 I will instinctively, you know, cover my eye and try 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.480 to prevent it because it feels like it's happening to me. Yeah. 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:40.960 I mean, even if it's a bad harmard with poorly 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.640 defined characters, we can't help but invest a little of 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.360 ourselves in that character. And then all the more so 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:50.160 if they actually bothered to to to to develop the 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.120 character and or have somebody you know, competent play that 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.240 character and bring them to life on the screen. And uh. 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.440 And the and the eye thing is interesting too to 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:02.719 note because you see a film that just has injuries 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.120 that consists of say, arms gett chopped offs and its 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.120 getting chopped off. I mean, that kind of gore can 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.760 can certainly have an effect, but so often it's those 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.080 little moments that make the most sense to us and 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.880 touches the most. The character uh scraping their their hand 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.079 or or you know, something jabs into their side or 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.720 they step on some glass. Those little injuries that are 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.440 far more relatable because for the most part, you and 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.120 I cannot relate to an individual getting their arms chopped off, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.839 their head chopped off. It's uh, you know, it's it's 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.280 a real world injury, but it's not something that we 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.960 can say, it's not necessarily WinCE worthy. But it's those 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:38.880 little injuries that we can relate to, and those and 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:40.520 when the more we relate to what's going on in 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.200 the screen, the more we can immerse ourselves and what's happening. Yeah, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.560 that's why the idea of something like saying needle going 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.800 into your eye is so horrific because all of us 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.360 have probably at one point or another hat and needle 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.360 pierce or skin, so we are familiar with that or 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.600 even poke in the eyes. So like the the immediate 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.040 danger to the eye is not something that's beyond the scope. Yeah, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.199 and you pair that with a vulnerability of the eye, 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:03.720 and it just becomes like this terrible thing that you 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:07.880 can't even imagine, but you can't imagine. So there you go. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.760 That's our next science on the web. We'll just deal 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.080 with one only has clips from horror movies in which 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:15.839 injuries are done to eyes. I know, if you guys 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.800 thought that your wax footage about what looked like to 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:20.480 be like a steak of croissant being pulled out of 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.800 a ear was terrible, then you know, you just imagine 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.079 this next video. Who is the really artsy filmmaker who 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:28.880 did the scene with the razor blade in the eye 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.760 that was it was? Ah, I don't know, but did 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.880 you see I just so just to summarize again, do 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.880 you can think of the horror movie experience or even 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.400 the haunted attraction experience as a drug. So bear that 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.520 in mind when we're talking about um people on a 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.640 date partaking of the horror movie. If you're one person 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:49.880 asking another person out on a date to a horror movie, 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.800 you're basically saying, hey, do this drug with me, this 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.440 drug that will have this this physical emotional effect on 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.800 me and you right, and will both experience this to 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.760 other There'll be this communal aspect and we'll both survive 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.200 it together. It will come out on the other hand, 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:06.800 And if you frame it that way, when you ask 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.559 the madame a date, they I don't know. It depends 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.520 on the individual. They might be more inclined to say yes, 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:13.640 but they might be more inclined to say no and 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.640 never speak to you again. But that is what the 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:21.200 proposition actually is. When someone says, Hey, um, I know 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.400 you're in my my physics class and we haven't really talked, 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.640 but why don't you go watch the new Friday to 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:31.680 thirdeenth movie with me? Let's metaphorically survive this together. Yes, yeah, 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.360 I don't know. I might, I might go all right, 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:36.920 So who might be watching these kinds of movies the 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.800 most Well, we've talked about the type T personality before. 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:44.080 We're talking about the new philiacs who crave new experiences. 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:48.280 They get more of a jolt and they release more dopamine. 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.800 So it would follow that perhaps a type T personality 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.280 would be more amenable to getting the pants scared off 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.480 of them. Yeah, someone who just is who just goes 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.120 into the theater and says, just push my boundaries, push 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.000 my buttons. You know, they're not They're not worried about 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.880 any of their triggers being pulled on a particular movie. 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.000 If anything, they want their triggers pulled, and they want 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.959 all the triggers possible to be pulled. Yeah, they were like, 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.200 I just jumped off a plan today. Bring it on 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.960 what you got, And it's it's often hard to relate 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.000 to people like that when it comes to U two 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:25.280 movies to fiction written fiction, even because there they seem 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.360 to have at times drastically different expectations of the subject matter. 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.200 You know. But anyway, that's another digression for for another time. 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.240 I think, um, now, who else might be juiced up 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:39.640 by this? Teens and twenty somethings, which flows in nicely 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.560 with the again the trope of the teenagers going to 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.880 the drive in theater and watching something scary and winding 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.880 up arm in arm and lip and lip at least 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:53.319 lip and lip. I like that. Research fear research expert 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:58.640 Edward Campbell says that older people have stimulation fatigue, like, 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.520 for instance, do you have these these real horrors of 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.720 life scaring you? There are things that are actual real threats. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.520 When you get older, like you know, there's looming tough 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.079 that's always unpleasant. Also, you're just more aware of what's 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.400 going on in the world. I mean, like I feel 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:17.280 like I I see a trailer for a film, especially 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.080 a horror film, that has to do with home invasion, 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:20.840 It's like, I'm not going to see that. If I 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.640 want to get frightened about the possibility of home invasion, 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:25.920 you know, I'll just set in my house and listen 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.720 to the news or something that's that doesn't take me 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.960 out of my own experience. I know. My brother keeps saying, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:32.840 you gotta watch Cabin in the Woods, you gotta watch 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.480 the Strangers, And I'm like, you know, I don't want 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.160 to because I like to go to the mountains in 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:39.640 a cabin a lot, and I don't want to now 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:44.320 freight my experience there with these paper tigers. Well, Cavin 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.680 in the Woods you should maybe see. Just know that 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.280 there's a lot more going on than than meets the eye. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.640 It's not just a Cabin in the Woods film. It 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.760 really plays with that trope a lot and goes into 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.080 and ultimately goes into a more fantastic area. All right, Well, 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.320 both of you have really great judgment when it comes 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.840 to media. So I'm obviously gonna have to see this now. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.360 Although you promise this will not ruin my experience in 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.640 the mountains. Unless you're going to a really weird mountain, 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.280 I think you'll be fine. Okay, alright, So anyway, would 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.000 it would make sense that older people are like, you 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:18.880 know what, I don't need this necessarily. I don't find 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.720 it as entertaining as I used to, because you know, 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.720 when I was a young buck of sixteen, I was 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:30.160 more likely to look for really intense experiences. Yeah, I 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.040 mean just physically, you get older and you're maybe not 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.240 up for the adrenaline pumping roller coaster ride of of 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.440 a horror film. It's just you just don't want to 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.520 feel it in your body. Um. And uh, And I'm 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.360 not I'm not quite there yet, but I've I've I've 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.360 certainly heard people make that argument. They say, I just 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.120 can't do it just makes my heart race. I just 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:50.720 don't want to go through it. And and I can 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.520 understand that, especially again, when you think of the horror movie, 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.000 the is the the artificial fear experience as a full 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.880 body event. Yeah, it's funny. Um, I think I've mentioned 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:02.040 this before, but before the birth of my daughter, I 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:05.120 could watch anything, and it really wasn't that difficult for 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.240 me to watch, um, you know, because I could very 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.440 much say, oh, yeah, this is the willing suspension of disbelief, 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.880 it's not real, so on and so forth. But after 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.800 her I had her, I was everything was sort of like, oh, 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:23.400 this is difficult to watch, including horror movies. So I've 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:25.240 come out of that a bit, but it's not the 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:27.360 same anymore. And it's also not the same for the 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.160 people who make it obviously either. I remember reading an 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.880 interview with Clive Barker where he was talking about looking 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.280 back at some of his younger writings and and about how, 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.120 you know now is as an older man, who's who, 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.480 who's known people, who's who has died, you know, death 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.960 has become more part of his reality. And therefore, looking 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.720 back on his view of death in his earlier horror films, 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.160 he says, you know, sometimes it's harder to relate to that. 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.280 It just seems is a different person. Indeed. All right, 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.280 so it's not just me out there having a different 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.320 perspective on this. All right, We're gonna take a quick 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.080 break and when we get back, we are going to 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:10.280 talk about the thematic power of these movies. All right, 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.040 we are back, and uh, you know, all that snack 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.359 talk remind me that we are actually going to talk 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:22.119 about products that eat during scary movies. But before we 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.760 do that, let's talk about the thematic power of scary movies. Yeah, 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.400 because that's another huge thing to think about, because, as 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.440 always um with humans, there's this sort of animal level, 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.600 there's the I'm seeing something scary and then I'm bodily 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.720 responding to it. But of course horror movies have a 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.040 lot of baggage with them as well. Even a bad 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.479 horror movie is is generally coming to you on the 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.680 backbones of long standing tropes, long standing folk tales, long 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.879 standing cultural fears. I mean, it's a it's a complex 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:57.200 there's a complex undercurrent there, even if the director or 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.280 actors or whoever responsible for this piece don't really have 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.000 a clue what they're doing. Yeah, I feel like, um, 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.080 I feel like writers and directors are tapping into these 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:10.080 very ancient stories that we have been telling each other 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.240 as cautionary tales. So you begin to see, obviously the 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.639 tropes pop up again and again. Yeah, It's one of 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.359 the reasons why I probably enjoy bad horror movies and 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.600 bad genre films as much, if not more than than 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.960 good ones, because you do see these accidents of genius. 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.440 They'll be a bad film and like somehow they'll they'll 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.440 have like a perfect scene, or the monster will will 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:34.720 will somehow connect on a on a level that it's 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.280 just out of keeping with the rest of the film, 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.920 because they'll they'll they'll accidentally at times get it right. Um, 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:46.120 they'll they'll tap into these these at times primal feelings. Now, 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.479 I should also say that when we talk about this, 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:54.120 we're talking about a very sort of hetero norm situation 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.800 going on here that horror movies appeal to. So let's say, 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.240 for instance, that your walk during a movie and all 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:04.399 the guys in it generally are cads, right, there's no 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:08.240 sort of night and shining armor. There is this idea, 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:12.880 according to the site Killer Film, that that might put 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:16.560 your male date attendee in a really good light. So, 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.040 for instance, you could be watching all of this terrible 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.760 uh sort of things unfold in front of you, and 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:24.679 you might have this guy next to you who just 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:26.840 took twenty dollars out of your wallet, but you don't 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.879 have to worry about him hopefully gutting you like a 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:33.120 fish later. Yeah, that's true. Um, you know, we're looking 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:35.520 at an article how watching horror movies on dates can 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.840 help you score by Serena Whitney at Killer Film and 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.200 and she does bring up a number of interesting points, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.880 again in a very heteronormal uh sense here, but but yeah, 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.600 you're watching a horror film. All of the men are horrible, 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:53.160 even the ones that aren't bearing machetes. And then oftentimes 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.040 there is at least this misguided attempt to have a 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:57.920 strong female because you have that you have that lone 0:19:57.920 --> 0:19:59.679 survivor that one female that makes it to the end 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:04.200 of the film. And granted, the character development is generally 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:06.239 not gonna beete there. It's not gonna it's not going 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:09.600 to be the kind of character that that feminist essays 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.080 are written on, written about for years and years and years. 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.359 But there's an idea of of female strength and male 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:19.200 lacking there. Yeah. I was thinking even in the scream films, 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.840 or at least the first one, the male that is 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.240 supposed to be the one who is sensitive and perhaps 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.880 the hero turns out to be actually the purp yeah. Yeah, 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.560 so you know, could you can find examples of these 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.160 all day long. Yeah, some of your more interesting films 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.480 are aware of these tropes and then begin to play 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:41.919 with them on some level or another. So so yeah, yeah, alright, Um, 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.520 then you also get this kind of like symbolism that 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.800 that's that's couched in there. So if you look at 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.920 a movie like Predator or even the Alien franchise, what 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.679 do you see? You see these creatures who have uh, 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:59.520 there's no sensitive way to say this. They have these 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:04.560 Jenna Talia like looking creatures that evoke the idea of 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:09.080 vagina dentata ven jhona dentata. I feel like we've probably 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:10.800 mentioned here a couple of times, is the idea that 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:13.480 of Jinna might have teeth and attack you. And it's 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:17.720 this very sort of grotesque rendering of the female body, 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:21.679 and it taps into this fear of females and this 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:26.840