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Articles by Mathias Clasen
The Science of a Good Scare
Fear gets a bad rap. It’s a so-called negative emotion, one that supposedly stands between us and our dreams. It is certainly true that pure fear doesn’t feel good, but that is the whole point of the emotion. Fear tells us to get the hell out of Dodge because Dodge is a bad place. Fear evolved over millions of years to protect us from danger.
How Stephen King writes and why: Language, immersion, emotion
Abstract Many successful novelists offer writing advice, but do they actually follow it themselves? And if so, can it truly account for the success of their novels? We dissect and examine three pieces of writing advice from Stephen King's book On Writing (2000). King counsels writers to (1) write in a simple language to aid readers' narrative immersion; (2) avoid -ly adverbs, especially in dialogue attribution; and (3) avoid the passive voice.
Evil Voices in Popular Fictions: The Case of The Exorcist
The Exorcist The Exorcist, the 1973 film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel of the same title, is one of the most popular and controversial horror films ever made. One reason for its notoriety is given by film critic Mark Kermode, who has done much to document the film's creation and reception. In the midst of the social upheavals in the early 1970s (see Schulman), he suggests: That all-American child, sweetly portrayed by actress Linda Blair, is Regan MacNeil.
Why we love to be scared, according to the director of the Recreational Fear Lab.
This article originally appeared in Zócalo Public Square. Fear gets a bad rap. It’s a so-called negative emotion, one that supposedly stands between us and our dreams. It is certainly true that pure fear doesn’t feel good, but that is the whole point of the emotion. Fear tells us to get the hell out of Dodge because Dodge is a bad place. Fear evolved over millions of years to protect us from danger.
Can Experiencing Horror Help Your Brain? Original
Fear gets a bad rap. It’s a so-called negative emotion, one that supposedly stands between us and our dreams. It is certainly true that pure fear doesn’t feel good, but that is the whole point of the emotion. Fear tells us to get the hell out of Dodge because Dodge is a bad place. Fear evolved over millions of years to protect us from danger.
Like scary movies? It turns out they might be good for your mental health
Mathias Clasen Oct. 24, 2022 Fear gets a bad rap. It’s a so-called negative emotion, one that supposedly stands between us and our dreams. But fear is also the engine in a whole range of pleasurable activities and behaviors — which inspire what we can call recreational fear. Once you start looking for it, you’ll find recreational fear everywhere. From an early age, humans love being jump-scared by caregivers (peek-a-boo!).
Why Sound Is So Important in Horror Movies
By Frederik Lundsgaard Jensen, M.Sc. and Mathias Clasen, Ph.D. Part I of II The world is full of sounds, and sound can affect us greatly. Some sounds are pleasant, like the laughter of a small child or a babbling brook in a peaceful forest. Other sounds are unpleasant, like the wailing of a child or the sound of nails on a chalkboard. And some sounds are decidedly scary, such as a piercing scream in a dark forest. If you want to scare others, sound is a very useful tool.
Without Sound, Horror Movies Just Aren't Scary
Key points Horror movies use sound to frighten audiences. We perceive some sounds as scary because we naturally associate them with danger. Horror movies take advantage of such biologically potent sounds. By Frederik Lundsgaard Jensen, M.Sc. and Mathias Clasen, Ph.D. Part II of II The Fear Centre of the Brain Is Activated Researchers have shown that humans perceive approaching sounds differently than we perceive receding sounds.
Creepiness and the Uncanny
Hejná, M., Eaton, M., Clasen, M., Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, J., Fage-Butler, A. M., Trapp, L., Bohn, O., Joyce, S., Heine, C., Firth, A., Jørgensen, P. E. F. & Christensen, K. R. → Projekter: Projekt › Forskning Clasen, M., Andersen, M., Taranu, M., Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, J., Terkildsen, T. & Scrivner, C. Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond → … Projekter: Projekt › Forskning APA Author BIBTEX Harvard Standard RIS Vancouver
Vampire Apocalypse: A Biocultural Critique of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend
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Horror Movies Can Be Good for Anxiety
There’s a science-backed reason why horror can calm people down Laura Turner was on a road trip in Iceland with her brother when she found an unconventional method to manage her anxiety: watching horror movies. “It Follows and The Thing provided a really great distraction from the reality of having just had a miscarriage; I could totally forget about my anxiety for a while because the movies were just so completely immersive,” she says.
Reverse-mullet pedagogy: valuing horror fiction in the classroom
Are you familiar with the mullet? It’s a distinctive hairstyle—peculiarly popular in continental Europe in the 1980s—in which the hair is cut short on the top and sides but left long at the back. Whatever the aesthetic gravity of the mullet, it comes with a philosophy. The philosophy of the mullet is this: “Business in the front, party in the back.” I’ll argue that the reverse holds true for the horror genre, didactically speaking. Horror fiction is sexy. Horror has zombies.
Horror films reinforce our fear instincts: Q&A with John Carpenter | OUPblog
John Carpenter’s classic suspense film Halloween from 1978 launched the slasher subgenre into the mainstream. The low-budget horror picture introduced iconic Michael Myers as an almost otherworldly force of evil, stalking and killing babysitters in otherwise peaceful Haddonfield. It featured a bare-bones plot, a simple, haunting musical score composed by Carpenter himself, some truly nerve-wracking editing and cinematography, and it spawned a deluge of sequels, prequels, rip-offs, and homages.
Why Are We Drawn to Horror?
What inspired you to write Why Horror Seduces? The book is based on years of research, but it grows out of personal curiosity and fascination. What’s with all the monsters and scary stories in popular culture? Surely, an anthropologist on visit from another galaxy would scratch its tentacled head in puzzlement over the amount of energy and time members of our species put into frightening themselves and each other.
The Difference Between Universal and Prepared Horror
The most effective monsters of horror fiction mirror ancestral dangers to exploit evolved human fears. Some fears are universal, some are near-universal, and some are local. The local fears—the idiosyncratic phobias such as the phobia of moths, say—tend to be avoided by horror writers, directors, and programmers. Horror artists typically want to target the greatest possible audience and that means targeting the most common fears. As the writer Thomas F.
How Evolution Designed Your Fear
The most effective monsters of horror fiction mirror ancestral dangers to exploit evolved human fears. Some fears are universal, some are near-universal, and some are local. The local fears—the idiosyncratic phobias such as the phobia of moths, say—tend to be avoided by horror writers, directors, and programmers. Horror artists typically want to target the greatest possible audience and that means targeting the most common fears. As the writer Thomas F.
Why we love horror (and Halloween) | OUPblog
It’s dark and warm and chaotic. The people in my group are screaming and scrambling to get away from the maniac who’s lumbering toward us with a roaring, smoke-belching chainsaw. I’ve been expecting him, but still, my heart skips a few beats when he emerges in a cloud of smoke and deafening noise. The science journalist next to me looks like he wants to run off and to hell with his assignment. We’re in Dystopia Haunted House, a commercial horror venue open to the horror-hungry public.
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