"I'll Never Have a Clown in My House" - Why Movie Horror Lives On

Bibliographic Data

ID4376189
AuthorsJoanne Cantor (0000-0002-6339-8701, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume25
Issue2
Pages283-304
Publication date2004-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoetics Today (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0333-5372 • E-ISSN: 1527-5507
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/03335372-25-2-283
OpenAlexW2143966083
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

To explore lingering effects of frightening media, 530 papers written by students over a three-year period (1997-2000) were reviewed. The students could write about their own fright reactions or about a response they had witnessed in another person. Almost all students (93 percent) wrote about their own experiences, and the overwhelming majority (91 percent) described reactions to realistic fiction or fantasy content (depicting impossible events) rather than to the news or a documentary. The ninety-one papers about the four presentations cited most frequently- Jaws, Poltergeist, The Blair Witch Project, and Scream-were content analyzed. Of the papers, 46 percent reported an effect on bedtime behavior (e.g., sleep disturbances) and 75 percent reported effects on waking life (e.g., anxiety in related situations). Among the prominent effects on waking life were difficulty swimming after Jaws (in lakes and pools as well as the ocean); uneasiness around clowns, televisions, and trees afterPoltergeist; avoidance of camping and the woods following The Blair Witch Project; and anxiety when home alone after Scream. More than one-third of the papers reported effects continuing to the time of the study. These consequences attest to the enduring power of emotional memory even when the viewer is aware that the response is to a large extent irrational. Possible reasons for these lingering effects are discussed

Anxiety · Art · Bedtime · Fantasy · Irrational number · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Visual arts · Witch · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · History · Media Influence and Health · Memory Processes and Influences · Psychology

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